Di Stefano, Giggs, Cantona: 15 all-time football greats to never play at a World Cup

As the 2022 tournament fast approaches, a look at some legends who never graced international football's largest stage

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  GREAT FOOTBALLERS WHO NEVER PLAYED AT A WORLD CUP: Neville Southall (second right). Multiple-trophy winning goalkeeper for Everton was named among the 100 players of the 20th century by World Soccer magazine. But his Wales side never played at a major tournament. Getty

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  Kazuyoshi Miura: Still playing professionally aged 55. Forty years ago, he left Japan to try his luck as a footballer in Brazil. It launched a storied career which took in Santos, Palmeiras, Genoa, and 89 caps for Japan – although none in a World Cup. Reuters

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  Liam Brady: An Arsenal legend, his club career included stints with Juventus, Sampdoria and Inter, and his international one might have ended with an appearance at Italia ’90. But Jack Charlton opted against recalling him after he reversed his decision to retire. Getty

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  Jari Litmanen: Captained Finland for 12 years, but was unable to lead them to a World Cup. His club career took in trophy-laden spells at Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool. Getty

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  Bernd Schuster (right): Nicknamed the Blond Angel, but a devil to deal with for managers. Enjoyed club success with Real Madrid and Barcelona. Won the European Championship with West Germany in 1980, but retired from international duty in a huff aged 24. Getty

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  Duncan Edwards: Played 177 times for Manchester United and won the league with them twice, establishing himself as a great, even though he was aged just 21 when he died in the Munich air disaster. Shutterstock

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  Ian Rush (right): Liverpool’s second leading scorer of all-time, Roger Hunt, won the World Cup with England in 1966. But the player who tops the list, Ian Rush, never featured in it at all. Shutterstock

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  Gunnar Nordahl: Top scorer at the 1948 Olympics. AC Milan’s all-time top marksman. A five-time leading scorer in Italy’s top division. Yet prevented from playing at a World Cup due to Sweden’s rules against professional players at the time. Getty

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  Laszlo Kubala: Fled Soviet-occupied Hungary in the back of a truck. Moved to Barcelona, via Austria and Italy, and became one of the club’s greats – so much so the Camp Nou was constructed to accommodate everyone who wanted to watch him play. AFP

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  Eric Cantona: The greatest influence on the early years of the English Premier League, but the Manchester United forward had a chequered international career. He even said he ended up supporting England at World Cups rather than France. Getty

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  Abedi Pele: A European Cup winner with Marseille, one of Africa’s all-time greats, and he ripped it up in the UAE league with Al Ain, too. The World Cup is absent from his CV, though. AFP

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  Ryan Giggs: The 13-time winner of the Premier League did play at an Olympics with Great Britain. But Wales missed out on every World Cup on his watch. Getty

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  George Best: As the often-quoted maxim would have it: Pele good, Maradona better, but George Best. Thirty-seven caps for Northern Ireland. None in a World Cup. PA

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  George Weah: The President of Liberia – and one-time UAE league star with Al Jazira – is rare among Ballon d’Or winners, having never featured in international football’s biggest event. All Sport

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  Alfredo Di Stefano: “Whatever people have told you about him,” one former teammate told the author Sid Lowe, “ignore it. However good they said he was, he was better.” Played for Argentina, Spain, and Colombia, but never at a World Cup. Getty

Erling Haaland might be well on his way to greatness, without yet having featured in a World Cup.

Manchester City’s goalscoring sensation has plenty of time on his side to make good on that with Norway, but plenty of history’s most celebrated players did pass through their careers without appearing on international football’s biggest stage.

Some were unlucky with injury. A few were exiled by unsympathetic managers. Others were lone legends in underperforming sides. And some fell foul of arcane regulations.

Check out the photo gallery above for a list of the greatest players that remained conspicuous by their absence from the World Cup. To move on to the next image, click on the arrows or swipe if using a mobile device.