Our Favourite Footballers of the 2000s

A list of the Goalhanger's favourite footballers from the 2000's.

With the interweb now in full flow, the 2000's saw easy access to YouTube clips of players from all over the world, so the Goalhanger could have 24/7 coverage of outrageous skills and goals from all sorts of obscure footballers and clubs.

But obviously some of our favourite players from the 2000's weren't the obvious stars, but the likes of Kevin Pressman, Moritz Volz and Steffen Freund, who'd all achieved cult status at various clubs.

So here's a list of our favourites from the 2000's, including the club(s) they were playing at when we really liked them...

Madjid Bougherra

Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Algeria

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Madjid Bougherra Sheffield Wednesday Had decent spells at Crewe, Charlton and Rangers, but it was his season at Sheffield Wednesday where he really stood out - unbelievably good bringing the ball out from the heart of the defence and running at the opposition.


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Argentina

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Pablo Aimar Valencia
Roberto Ayala Valencia
Hernán Crespo Lazio
Kily González Valencia
Claudio López Valencia, Lazio
Lionel Messi Barcelona
Ariel Ortega River Plate
Juan Román Riquelme Boca Juniors, Villareal
Javier Saviola Barcelona, Sevilla
Javier Zanetti Inter Milan


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Brazil

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Cafu Roma, AC Milan
Denilson Real Betis, Bordeaux
Roberto Carlos Real Madrid
Juninho Paulista Vasco da Gama, Middlesbrough
Juninho Pernambucano Lyon If you liked bending free-kicks then you liked Juninho Pernambucano at Lyon.
Kaka São Paulo, AC Milan, Real Madrid
Lúcio Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich Great eyebrows. Great centre back.
Rivaldo Barcelona, Olympiacos Often overlooked in favour of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, the great Rivaldo was just a joy to watch. Great skills on either flank, scorer of great goals, and the archetypal sweet-left-foot.
Ronaldo Inter Milan, Real Madrid A scoring-rate second to none. One of the greatest strikers ever. Simple as that.
Ronaldinho Grêmio, PSG, Barcelona, AC Milan


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from the Czech Republic

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Pavel Nedved Lazio, Juventus Nedved had everything in the 1990's, and even more in the 2000's! More pace, more energy, more skill, more perfect passing. Brilliant at both Lazio and Juventus.


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Denmark

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Jesper Grønkjær Chelsea
Thomas Helveg AC Milan
Dennis Rommedahl PSV, Charlton Athletic, Ajax
Jon Dahl Tomasson Feyenoord, AC Milan


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from England

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
David Beckham Manchester Utd, Real Madrid
Sol Campbell Arsenal
Ashley Cole Arsenal, Chelsea
Kieron Dyer Newcastle Utd
Steven Gerrard Liverpool
Gary Neville Manchester Utd
Michael Owen Liverpool
Kevin Pressman Sheffield Wednesday Received some stick from rival fans for his chunky appearance but he was a top keeper. Sent off after just 13 seconds against Wolves in 2000, a record at the time.
Paul Scholes Manchester Utd
Bobby Zamora Brighton HA


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from France

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Thierry Henry Arsenal, Barcelona
Steed Malbranque Fulham
Zinedine Zidane Juventus, Real Madrid


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Germany

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Michael Ballack Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Chelsea
Steffen Freund Spurs
Oliver Kahn Bayern Munich
Bernd Schneider Bayer Leverkusen
Moritz Volz Fulham


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Italy

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Gianluigi Buffon Juventus
Fabio Cannavaro Juventus, Real Madrid World Cup winning captain who was widely regarded as one of the top central defenders of the decade.
Gennaro Gattuso AC Milan
Angelo Di Livio Fiorentina
Paolo Maldini AC Milan Legendary left-back.
Christian Panucci Roma Great leader and attacking right-back for the Giallorossi.
Alessandro del Piero Juventus Technically gifted forward who scored and created goals galore at Juventus.
Francesco Totti Roma
Christian Vieri Inter Milan Cricket-loving striker who bagged more than 100 goals for Inter.


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Japan

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Junichi Inamoto Fulham, West Brom
Hidetoshi Nakata Roma, Parma
Shinji Ono Feyenoord Attacking midfielder blessed with superb passing ability and vision.


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Mexico

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Cuauhtémoc Blanco América, Chicago Fire
Rafael Márquez Barcelona Elegant central defender, great on the ball. Barcelona's most capped non-European.
Gerardo Torrado Poli Ejido, Sevilla, Cruz Azul All action midfielder.


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Paraguay

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Roque Santa Cruz Bayern Munich, Blackburn Rovers


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Portugal

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Luis Figo Real Madrid, Inter Milan Having been adored at Barcelona in the 1990s, Figo certainly showed some bottle to swap the Camp Nou for the Bernabéu in July 2000. Despite being the focal-point of the great rivalry (culminating in the famous pig's head incident of Nov. 2002), Figo managed to keep doing his talking on the pitch and proved time and again that he was one of the greatest wingers in world football.
Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United, Real Madrid


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Senegal

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Papa Bouba Diop Lens, Fulham, Portsmouth


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Spain

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Rubén Baraja Valencia
Luis Enrique Barcelona Attacking midfielder with an eye for a goal.
Fernando Hierro Real Madrid Fantastic defender whose passing was superb and his strike rate, for a defender, unbelievable. 102 goals for Real Madrid in 439 matches !
Gaizka Mendieta Valencia, Barcelona, Middlesbrough
Fernando Morientes Real Madrid, Liverpool, Valencia
Carles Puyol Barcelona
Raul Real Madrid
Juan Carlos Valerón Deportivo La Coruña


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Sweden

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Henrik Larsson Celtic, Barcelona, Helsingborgs IF
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from Turkey

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Rüstü Reçber Fenerbahçe
Hakan Ünsal Galatasaray
Tugay Kerimoglu Blackburn Rovers Deep-lying playmaker who is one of the finest ball-playing midfielders that the Premiership has seen.
Yildiray Bastürk Bayer Leverkusen
Hasan Sas Galatasaray Exciting left winger who had a great period in the early 2000's for Galatasaray and Turkey.
Hakan Sükür Galatasaray


Favourite Footballers of the 2000's from the USA

Player Favourite Club(s) in the 2000s Why ?
Brad Friedel Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa
Landon Donovan LA Galaxy
Brian McBride Fulham
Claudio Reyna Rangers, Manchester City