Today we take a look at the 10 most expensive soccer team captains. Nobody immediately comes to mind, right? Or not? Gerrard, Terry, Totti, Lam ...
1. Nemanja Vidic (defender, captain - Manchester United) - 37 million euros
In the first place is located former defender Moscow “Spartak” and the national team of Serbia Nemanja Vidic. The captain of Manchester United is worth 37 million euros. At 30, the center-back is one of the most trusted defensive players in the world. Back in 2004, Moscow “Spartak” bought Vidic from Serbian “Crvena Zvezda” for only 5.6 million euros, two years later Muscovites sold the Serb “MU” for 10.5 million euros. Who would have thought then that Vidic in the future would be worth almost 40 million.
2. Iker Casillas (goalkeeper, captain - “Real”) - 35 million euros
In the second position in the ranking of the most expensive captains in the world is the goalkeeper of Real Madrid. Casillas is now one of the most the best goalkeepers, but in Spain it is definitely the best. Iker is now 30 years old, and for about 5 years he will be able to be the first number of “creamy” ones. It is curious that Casillas has grown so much to the frame of “Real” that few people know that the spare collar of “Real” is called Antonio Adam.
3. Stephen Gerrard (midfielder, captain - Liverpool) - 30 million euros
More recently, Gerrard could go to “Real”. Then Ronaldo, Kaka, Alonso and others moved to “Real”. But Gerrard apparently felt it was better to be a Liverpool legend than a Real Madrid footballer. In the city of Liverpool, Gerrard is idolized by Reds fans and respected by Everton fans. By the way, in June 2009 Gerrard was worth 50 million euros, which was its maximum cost, over the past 2.5 years, Stephen has fallen in price by 20 million.
4. John Terry (defender, captain - Chelsea) - 30 million euros
More recently, various rumors, bad stories circulated around Terry. Especially about Wayne Bridge's friend and her relationship with Terry, but despite all this, John remained the team captain, leader on the field and a fan favorite. Terry's image turned out to be stronger than the scandals around his personal life. Most surprisingly, Terry is one of the most trusted defenders in the powerhouse of the Premier League, but the Chelsea captain is by no means a rude player.
5. Robin Van Persie (striker, captain - Arsenal) - 30 million euros
Over the past couple of years, the Dutchman has become a real star of the “Gunners”. And when Fabregas and Nasri left the team last summer, Van Persie became the real captain of Arsenal. Now it is almost impossible to imagine “gunners” without Robin. Without Van Persie, Arsenal will turn into a real middle peasant. Still, Arsene Wenger has a great talent for finding future stars, in 2004 Robin moved to Arsenal from the Dutch Feyenoord for 4.5 million euros.
6. Philippe Lam (defender, captain - Bayern Munich) - 28 million euros
It's funny that Lam is the shortest of the TOP-20 most expensive captains, the height of Bayern's winger is only 170 cm. Philip argues that the essence of the captain is in charisma and character, and not in anthropometric data or physical strength... Despite the presence of such players as Schweinsteiger, Robben, Ribery, Tymoshchuk, the miniature Lam displays a great German team for every match
7. Vincent Company (defender, captain - Manchester City) - 25 million euros
The “townspeople” include a whole scattering of stars, but the captain is precisely the relatively plain Company. By the way, in the Belgian national team, for which the Company plays, he is also the captain. It is curious that Belgium has a simply gorgeous center of defense: Kompani, Lomberts, Van Buyten, Vermaelen, Vertongen. Russia is worse, in my opinion.
8. Igor Akinfeev (goalkeeper, captain - “CSKA”) - 17 million euros
Now Akinfeev is injured, but there is no doubt that when he returns to duty, the captain's armband will return to him. Igor from the age of 17 has been defending the gates of the “army team” and has repeatedly proved his leadership qualities. It's a shame that Akinfeev has not yet tried his hand abroad. I would like to see him in some strong European championship.
9. Steve Mandanda (goalkeeper, captain - “Marseille”) - 16 million euros
Akinfeev and Mandanda are very similar to everyone except skin color. Both goalkeepers played early for their clubs today, Igor is now 25 years old, Steve is 26, both goalkeepers of the national teams, on the transfer market are about the same. Mandanda is arguably one of the most successful black goalkeepers in the history of football.
10. Benedict Hevedes (defender, captain - “Schalke 04 ″) - 15 million euros
Probably cool to be the captain, playing on the same team with Raul, who is a legend of Real Madrid. Benedict plays as a central defender, he is 23 years old, wore the Schalke 04 uniform all his life, played 6 matches for the German national team.
I tried for you
Any team, even a world class one, needs a leader. In a person who will not only give himself completely to his team, but also make others do it. Some teams (be they clubs or national teams) are far from the fact that they could reach high peaks if they did not have such leaders in their composition.
British portal 90min has compiled a list of the ten most outstanding team captains in football history. Players are randomly listed, not rated.
1. Francesco Totti (Roma)
The legendary "Emperor" ended his career in 2017, having spent 25 years with Roma. The best scorer in the history of the club, the second scorer in the history of Serie A, the owner of the Scudetto and the world champion.
Totti has been captain of the Gialorossi since 1998, having spent his entire career with the Roman team. A loyalty that seems almost unrealistic these days.
2. Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
The Barcelona pupil has also spent his entire career in only one club. He wore the captain's armband for 10 years. As part of Barcelona, he became the 6-time champion of Spain and won the Champions League three times.
3.Stephen Gerrard (Liverpool)
Without Stevie G. Liverpool's famous comeback in the Istanbul Champions League final against Milan Shevchenko would hardly have taken place. It was the captain of the Merseysiders who scored the first goal of his team and earned a penalty. A year later, Gerrard on last minutes equalized in the FA Cup final against West Ham, which ended in victory for Liverpool.
After spending just over a year with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Gerrard retired in 2016.
4. Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
Legendary Kaiser Franz helped Bayern Munich win the European Cup three times in a row (analogue modern league champions), as well as in the FRG national team he became the world champion-1974.
5. Francisco Paco Gento (Real Madrid)
As part of Real Madrid, Gento became a 12-time champion of Spain (of which 6 times - as a captain), and also won 6 times in the Champions Cup. Spent for " royal club"over 600 matches. An incredible achievement that will never be surpassed."
6. Patrick Vieira (Arsenal)
The captain of the team that did not suffer a single defeat in the Premier League in 2003/04. He spent almost 300 matches for Arsenal, after which in 2005, in search of a new challenge, he moved to Juventus in Turin. Ironically, in the 2005/06 Champions League, Juventus with Vieira in the squad was eliminated from Arsenal, in which Cesc Fabregas was just starting to play.
7. Diego Maradona (Argentina national team)
Almost single-handedly led Argentina to victory at the 1986 World Cup. Perhaps he did not always act honestly (remember the famous "Hand of God"), but without him Argentina could only dream of such an achievement.
In addition, Maradona became a legend for Napoli, with whom he won Serie A and the UEFA Cup.
8. Roy Keane (Manchester United)
The Irish midfielder was one of the key figures of Manchester United in the triumphant 1998/99 season, however, he missed final match against Bayern Munich due to disqualification. He spent more than 300 fights with Ferguson's team, after which he played for Celtic for another year and ended his career.
9.Paolo Maldini (Milan)
Legendary teammate Shevchenko was the leader of Milan for 12 years. As part of the Rossoneri, he won the Champions League 5 times and Serie A 7 times. Maldini has more than 900 appearances for his home team, in which he spent his entire career.
10. Bobby Moore (England)
Moore was the captain of the England squad at the World Championship for the Three Lions. At the same time, Moore became the youngest triumphant captain of the Mundial. He played as a central defender, played over 100 matches for the England national team.
In writing this post, the author of these lines was prompted by an interesting discussion on Twitter about the choice of the captain in "Spartak". It was not so much about Parshivlyuk as about the qualities and capabilities of other candidates. After the discussion, I asked myself: - how important is it for the success of the team right choice captain?
To answer the above question, first I suggest referring to Wikipedia. So this is what it says: - Captain, in football - the leader (of the players) football team... These are usually the oldest or most experienced team members, or players who can greatly influence the outcome of the match. Usually the team captain can be distinguished from other players by the bandage on his left arm. According to the rules of the game, the official functions of the captain are to participate in the toss before the start of the match (to determine the goal of the parties and the team that kicks in) and before the penalty shootout. According to the rules, the captain does not have special rights and privileges that allow him to challenge the decisions of the referee, but at the same time he is responsible for the behavior of the players of his team. This is what allows the referee to talk with the captain about the behavior of the team's players. The captain is responsible for the morale in the team: if the morale in the team is lowered, then he should encourage the players in every possible way, thereby raising the morale. The captain often plays a special role in relation to the team with the media and is the first player to lift the trophy won by the team. The appointment of a team captain is usually very important choice for the coach, as the cap is the assistant coach on the field. A good understanding between the coach and the team captain is one of the key conditions for the success of the team. It is important that the cap has a good relationship with the team's fans. The captain can also take on certain responsibilities, such as organizing recreational and morale-boosting events and helping young players.
From all of the above, it can be determined with precision that the captain of a football team must have a number of both playing and individual qualities. Let's start with the game, the defining ones include: intransigence, the ability to win a fight, good physical fitness, a vision of the field and, preferably, a sense of the pace of the game. The absence of other qualities does not go in favor of the captaincy, but you cannot call them fatal either. By itself, the figure of the captain on the field is abstract, it does not carry any tactical and game sense. The importance of having such a person is acquired only within the team itself, and in it the personal qualities of a football player come to the fore, the main of which is the elusive charisma - it either exists or it does not. Charisma, in turn, consists of a whole set: - appearance, adherence to principles, ability to speak and persuade, etc. In addition to playing and personal qualities, other things are also important, such as: time spent in the team, knowledge of the language of the country in which the player plays ... List the qualities for an ideal captain football club you can endlessly, but the meaning will not change. A cap is a piece thing, you cannot educate and appoint him, they need to be born into the world.
In my opinion, it is important to separate the concepts of a captain and a team leader. Although both of these words are often applied to the same person, the leader is still the best football player, based on purely playing qualities, he leads the whole team to success, has a huge impact on the game, in fact, the leader is the soul of the game model teams. The captain is rather the soul of the team. For example, I propose to consider the St. Petersburg Zenit, the captain in it Anyukov, but the leader of the team is Danny, and you can imagine the Portuguese in the role of a cap, but this option will be much worse than the existing one.
I would also like to note the importance of the position in which the team captain acts. Ideal for this role, in my opinion, is the position of the defensive midfielder. There are a number of advantages here. Firstly, the supporting half is always in the thick of things, and secondly, this position itself requires all of the above qualities. The defenders and other players in the center of the field are coping well with the role of the captain of FC. In my opinion, the worst option for a cap is the now fashionable cap goalkeeper and a rare cap striker. In the minus, the first is its limited radius of presence on the field, and the second is let down by selfishness, because good striker almost always an egoist, and this goes into conflict with those personal qualities that should have a captain's armband on his sleeve.
Now, from the standpoint of all of the above, I will try to analyze the captains in the top RFRL clubs. Let's start with the three leaders of the championship. Anyukov, Ignashevich (at the moment) and Semshov are ideal footballers to wear the captain's armband in their teams, they are experienced and are the leaders of the lines in which they act. Rubin has a good choice of captain, in my opinion, Sharonov is getting into the top ten, there is nothing more to add here. But the rest of the top teams are not all so rosy, so more about them.
In "Spartak" the captain, as we know, is chosen by universal suffrage and the choice of Parshivlyuk is not surprising in principle. After Alex left, the coveted bandage went to the vice-cap Sergei. He is a graduate of the club who has become a base player, honest, well-mannered, loves the team with all his heart, but at the same time he lacks charisma and a simple ability to talk to the press. Perhaps, over time, Parshivlyuka will grow up and all the disadvantages will disappear, but the team captain is a role for “here and now”, so it would be more logical to appoint other players to this role. In my opinion there are three candidates: - Dikan, McGeady and D. Kombarov. At the same time, the first is the goalkeeper, and the second is a legionnaire, but he speaks excellent Russian. All three are militants, endowed with a whole heap of the necessary qualities and it looks like they are not on a drum for a diamond on their chest ...
If I can accept Captain Parshivlyuk, then Captain Sychev is only at gunpoint. I can't say who specifically appointed Dmitry to this important position in the team, but this is outright nonsense. Sychev is known for a number of controversial points in his career and problems in relation to the case, which, in theory, should interfere with his captaincy. It's not for me to decide, but when guys like Denis Glushakov and Dmitry Torbinsky play in your team, there shouldn't be any problems with the choice of cap. Smorodskaya and Kouseyru, I am sure, are thinking about it.
And finally, let's look in the direction of "Anji" - in this club the choice of the captain seems to be conditioned by one single criterion - who is paid more by that and the captain. This is "Oh, of course, is good in every sense, but he only plays for money, what kind of cap is this? I'm sure there will be more worthy candidates in the club."
I apologize for so many words. The thing is that the topic of captaincy is very complex and amorphous. By the way, at the beginning of the post I asked myself a question and now I can confidently answer it: - the correct choice of the captain is very important for the team's results. Just look at RFPL table now you will understand everything. Perhaps this is the secret of success ...
P.S. In the end, I would like to ask you: - Who, in your opinion, is the ideal captain? My answer is in the photo.
It was not possible to establish the name or names of the team captains at its “prehistoric” dolokomotiv stage, marked with the symbols “Kazanka” and KOR. According to various sources, it was either a player of the Moscow national team Nikolay Artyomov, or top scorer Boris Dementyev, or Boris Zagryadskov, one of the brothers - the organizers of the team.
Lokomotiv became the last but the main club in Granatkin's career. For the railroad team, Valentin Alexandrovich played 89 matches from 1936 to 1943, after which he moved to the position of a sports official. The ex-goalkeeper of Loko has grown to the first vice-president of FIFA and has forever made his name in the history of world football. When in 1936 Lokomotiv won the first ever USSR Cup, it was Valentin Granatkin who came out with the captain's armband. In addition, he is the only athlete in Russian history who defended the gates of the USSR national team in hockey and football tournaments.
Antonevich managed to play in many teams, including Dynamo Minsk, wandered around Dynamo Moscow, Spartak and Torpedo for some time, but did not play any of them official match... And the defender ended his career at Lokomotiv, for which he played 114 matches (more than for any other club) from 1947 to 1951. After completing his player career, he worked for three years in coaching staff Lokomotiv.
Gennady Zabelin played his entire career for Lokomotiv. He was the captain of the team in 1953-1955 - at this time, the railroad workers won the USSR Cup for the second time in history, beating Spartak 1: 0 in the final. Before the final, Zabelin broke his rib, but there was no equivalent replacement for the defender, and the captain with a fracture led the team to the victorious match. The wife of Gennady Stepanovich Zabelin, Berta Grigorievna Panova-Zabelina, was the DFL coordinator for many years and supported her native team at the stadium in Cherkizovo until the end of her life. On October 3, 2008, Gennady Zabelin's star was unveiled on the Avenue of Stars near the stadium in Cherkizovo.
Artemyev played for Lokomotiv for 10 years: from 1953 to 1962 he played 210 matches for our team and scored 7 goals, winning silver medals in the 1959 USSR Championship and the 1957 Country Cup. Moreover, in 1956 and from 1960 to 1962, Vitaly Sergeevich was the team captain. Vitaly Artemiev remained in football and at the end of his playing career, he became an active football figure. Vitaly Sergeevich headed the Lokomotiv school, and then was the chairman of the Moscow Football Federation. With the active participation of Artemiev, in 2011 the club's museum was opened, with which Vitaly Sergeevich shared exhibits from his personal collection. On October 4, 2009, Artemyev's star appeared on the Avenue of Stars on the territory of the stadium.
Boris Petrov scored only 11 goals in 110 matches for the club - a low figure for a striker. However, as noted by the famous coach Serafim Kholodkov, "it is difficult to name the role of this ubiquitous player." Indeed, Petrov could play both the role of a clean forward and “close” the flank, and in case of failed attacks he retreated to defense. This versatility and efficiency allowed Petrov to become a captain immediately after joining Lokomotiv in 1965 and remain with the club for all four years.
The future legendary "railroad worker" Zoltan Miles was born in the Hungarian town of Mukachevo, which later became part of Soviet Union... Miles came to Lokomotiv at the age of 25, but took up his “post No. 1” only after a while, when our club flew to the USSR First League - there Miles demonstrated his best qualities: tenacity, jumping ability and lightning-fast reaction. Subsequently, Miles was compared with Ruslan Nigmatullin, and Ruslan - with Zoltan. Miles died in 1997, he was only 53 years old.
Vladimir Mukhanov played for Lokomotiv for three years - from 1980 to 1983. The striker scored 55 goals in 157 matches, which is a good indicator. After the end of his career, Mukhanov took up coaching, having managed to train clubs from Ramenskoy Saturn to Kazakhstani Tobol. At present, Mukhanov trains "Okzhetles" from Kokshetau.
Bazulev played almost a hundred matches for Moscow's Spartak and Kirov's Dynamo, but the peak of Sergey Vasilyevich's career was at Lokomotiv. He played 106 games for the railroad, showing excellent defensive qualities - apparently this prompted Spartak to return the defender to his team, where he became the USSR champion in 1989.
Kosolapov started his career in the double of the Moscow "Spartak", after which he was invited to the Latvian team "RAF", for which he played almost a hundred matches, scoring 34 goals. In 1992, Kosolapov plays only one match for Moscow Spartak, after which he leaves for Dynamo-Gazovik, where he is noticed by Lokomotiv. For our club, Aleksey plays 146 matches and after a year in the team he becomes its captain, which he is until his departure in 1997 to Sporting from Spanish Gijon. Kosolapov finished his player career in 2009 at the Kazakh Aktobe, where he worked in the coaching staff.
Igor Chugainov moved to Lokomotiv twice. And if the first time he stayed at the club only for a season, then Chugainov's second coming to Loko was truly fateful. The defender who has not received yellow cards for years is Chugainov. The person who competed in the national team with the "untouchable" Viktor Onopko in those years is Chugainov. The one who scored not just goals, but the most important goals for Lokomotiv, is Chugainov.
Dmitry Loskov - the captain, under which Lokomotiv achieved its highest successes, twice became best team Russia and went to the playoffs of the Champions League. Loskov's statistics also speak for Loskov - in the history of Loko there has never been a more productive player, and it is almost impossible to find players with such a pass and understanding of the game. It is no coincidence that, after the departure of Igor Chugainov, the question arose of whom to entrust the captain's armband, everyone agreed that Loskov was the most suitable candidate for this role. In the summer of 2010 Loskov, who by that time had ended his contract with Saturn, was again invited to Lokomotiv. On September 12, for the first time after returning to our club, Dmitry entered the field in the starting lineup and immediately in the role of captain. According to Sychev, he gladly gave the bandage to a more experienced partner.
Although the Brazilian goalkeeper Guilherme came to Lokomotiv back in 2007, for objective reasons he made his debut for the main team only in 2009 - in the game with Tomu. However, with his confident actions on the field, he quickly won the place of the actual first number of the team, and from the next season he already received a "one" for his goalkeeper's jersey. Guilherme also confidently joined the team, quickly becoming one of the leaders of Lokomotiv. As a result, by the end of 2012, the Brazilian had accumulated about a hundred matches as part of the "railroad", and at the next winter training camp head coach the red-greens decided to make Guilherme the team captain.
At the end of the 2014/2015 season, Lokomotiv defender Vedran Chorluka was recognized by the fans the best footballer teams and entered the list of 33 best players according to the RFS. At the training camp before the start of the 2015/16 season, Vedran received the captain's armband. In the summer of 2017, Igor Denisov was appointed captain of the team, and shortly before the start of the 19/20 season, Chorluka again became captain.
All Lokomotiv captains
| Year | Captain |
| 1936 | Valentin Granatkin, Dmitry Maksimov |
| 1937 | Ivan Andreev |
| 1938 | Ivan Andreev, Vladimir Moshkarkin, Nikolay Ilyin |
| 1939 | Vladimir Moshkarkin |
| 1945-1946 | Victor Lakhonin |
| 1947-1949 | Mikhail Antonevich |
| 1950-1951 | Vladimir Osipov |
| 1952-1954 | Gennady Zabelin |
| 1955 | Evgeny Rogov |
| 1956 | Vitaly Artemiev |
| 1957 | Victor Voroshilov |
| 1960-1962 | Vitaly Artemiev |
| 1963 | Valentin Bubukin, Ivan Sorokin |
| 1964 | Ivan Sorokin |
| 1965 | Boris Petrov, Boris Belyakov |
| 1966-1967 | Boris Petrov, Vladimir Radionov |
| 1968 | Vladimir Basalaev, Boris Petrov |
| 1969 | Boris Petrov, Boris Kokh |
| 1970 | Valery Sheludko, Rudolf Atamalyan |
| 1971 | Rudolf Atamalyan, Boris Zhuravlev |
| 1972 | Boris Zhuravlev, Vyacheslav Klykov, Nikolay Goncharov |
| 1973 | Nikolay Maslov |
| 1974-1975 | Zoltan Miles |
| 1976 | Yuri Semin, Vladimir Ryakhovsky |
| 1977 | Vladimir Ryakhovsky, Evgeny Alexandrov, Alexander Averyanov |
| 1978 | Vladimir Ryakhovsky, Alexander Averyanov, Alexey Ovchinnikov |
| 1979-1980 | Vladimir Mukhanov |
| 1981 | Evgeny Alexandrov |
| 1982 | Vladimir Mukhanov, Alexander Khomutetsky |
| 1983 | Sergey Baburin |
| 1984-1985 | Alexander Bokiy, Vladimir Shevchuk |
| 1986 | Victor Shishkin |
| 1987-1988 | Sergey Bazulev |
| 1989 | Sergey Gorlukovich |
| 1990-1991 | Evgeny Mileshkin |
| 1992-1993 | Sergey Podpaly |
| 1994-1997 | Alexey Kosolapov |
| 1998-2001 | Igor Chugainov |
| 2002-2007 | Dmitry Loskov |
| 2007-2009 | Diniyar Bilyaletdinov |
| 2009-2010 | Dmitry Sychev |
| 2010-2012 | Dmitry Loskov |
| 2013-2015 | Marinato Guilherme, Alexander Samedov |
| 2015 - 2017 | VEDRAN CHORLUK |
| 2017 - 2019 | Igor Denisov |
| 2019 - N.V. | VEDRAN CHORLUK |