Has Nigeria Ever Produced A World Class Player?

Who does all this ratings ?  Fastest man, Best winger, reh reh reh by which authority.

Fastest man so David odonkor is world class?

Ronaldinho was the best player in the world by FIFA and UEFA.

George Weah was best Player in the world by FIFA and UEFA

Etoo was 3rd in the world by FIFA

Do the same for Tijani, Finidi and Okocha and get back to me.

No

Really,none of our guys can be termed World class.
None makes the shortlist for Ballon D'Or/Player of the year,
None commands world-class fees in the transfer market.
None,save Kanu/Finidi played at the highest level (90's Champions league)
The standard for world class in my opinion-Zidane,Ronaldo de Lima,Figo,Raul,Weah,Maldini,Gullit,van Basten,Matthaus,Laudrup Brothers,Romario.
Can our best rub shoulders with these?I doubt seriously

oga, after reluctantly admitting something, why the anger!!!

tkb,
Laugh in Fulani for all I care.
Has any of our players met the criteria?
Read my post.
It's only Kanu and Finidi that come close to that category.
The players you listed cannot come close to the ones I listed.Maybe standards have fallen,because I'm yet to see what the players you mentioned have done to be titled World-class.Apart from maybe their transfer fees.
And I maintain.Kanu cannot rub shoulders with Zizou and co.But he is a great player.His trophy cabinet speaks for itself.

Taribo?At best he was efficient.
Oliseh?Maybe we could make a case for him.
Okocha?Enough said on him.


Being world class makes it an elite group.Stop adding every johhny-come-lately to it.

ill expect you to be scientific with arguements next time you wanna respond to this arguement.
Why shift the goal posts? one, you can make a case for some, Finidi came close, Kanu came close, Okocha?, they commanded huge transfer fees!!! what are you now talking about?

u said i should look at your criteria? why should i use your criteria? why not mine? your criteria are the ones from FIFA abi or UEFA?
think through before u send stuffs.

If those guys are not world class, then like i said Ballack isnt a world class player and anyone who says Ballack isnt a world class player should be quarantined from any soccer forum

zizou? what are u talking about? how many players can rub shoulders with Zizou? even Messi cannot so what are u driving at?
in Zizous time only Ronaldo and Ronaldinho can rival him means we had no world class players in that era?

im lost here. stop forming unnecessary definitions of world class players, i have listened to many top notch commentators and football afficionados that call the likes of Drogba, Kanu and co world class. your definition will not count anyway, that was just your opinion i guess

guy,
what has ballack done to warrant him that title?
I'm not shifting any goalposts.It's my opinion so stop ranting through your anus.
Maybe Ballack now is world-class,to you,but to me,I'm not yet impressed at him.
Like it or not,I won't follow the bandwagon of calling Okocha world-class,just because he dribbled his senses out in France 98.Oliseh was decent,decent enough to get into any team,but world class for his is an overstatement.
Finidi & Kanu are the closest to world class we've seen but will they make an all-time first eleven?Probably,but then probably not too.

Men stop this your approach.If you cared to read through my original post,you would see I was expressing my own opinion.Don't force yours through to me.
Call everybody world class,even you, and that's your problem.I know for a fact that that list is few,and only for an elite gruop.

Only a consummate idiot would say no Nigerian player is world class.

Kanu Nwankwo
George Finidi
Jay-Jay Okocha
Rasheed Yekini


U don't have to win Ballon d'Or to be a world class player.
Batistuta, Vieira, Raul, Roy Keane, Henry never won the Ballon d'Or. . . . .So it means they are now world class??
How daft can some people be?

The parameters and indices for measuring world class players aint exclusive and if we are to use the Ballon d'Or and other awards as the ONLY yardstick,then a lotta players will not even be mentioned.These awards are most times the opinions of the majority.

To say Nigeria as a nation has not produced world class player in the game of football is blasphemous.

The USA 94 team is replete with many of them, Amunuke,Amokachie,Oliseh,Okocha et al are by any standard GREAT footballers.

I agree 100%.

Defining world class across the spectrum is very difficult if only because a lot will depend on individual interpretation.
Even if we attempt to restrain any sense of bias and make an objective assessment, we have to first assess whether the basis of that assessment is objective also. There seems to be two strains of thought, at least in this thread - (1) that to be world class the player concerned must have won Ballon d'Or, FIFA Player Of The Year, OR (2) that to be world class the player concerned must be able to hypothetically compete with a World XI.

The latter seems very idealistic and appears relatively easy to categorise such thinking - but it also appears to have fatal flaws in garnering an assessment; the team itself is hypothetical - so we fail to gain a basis anyway as to their talent besides continual circles of argument.
Secondly, the team itself has no concrete opposition except hypothetical equivalents - it would seem very important to judge talent, in all its dynamics, on how it stands up to the pressure of a competitive scenario.

The conclusion is rather simple. . . .that there can be no radically consistent form of assessment for deciding who is world class and who is not as long as the players themselves suffer from an inconsistency we would happily call being human. 
It likely means that either the term world class, as we currently understand it in this thread, under the above scenarios - is too rigid and therefore must contain a larger spread of players to account for raw talent across the spectrum, avoiding practical consistency, or that the group of agreed world class players is in fact exponentially smaller - very few players reaching shocking heights of consistent achievment and performance.

All i know is. . . . . as at 1994, Yekini, Amokachie, Amuneke, Finidi, Okocha, Oliseh, Okechukwu and Siasia would walk into the national team of Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina and Spain.
In 1996 Olympics, Kanu was undeniably the best player in a competition that had Rivaldo, Bebeto, Ronaldo, Crespo, Ortega, Roberto Carlos, Zanetti and Juninho so what are we talking about??

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was never a regular at Man Utd.
He is more legendary than Klose, Toni and Podolski waxed together.
What has being regular gotta do with progidy and skills??

Hall of fame isnt the same thing as world class players
You can be a great player and still might not be considered as a 'member of the hall of fame'
Players like Zizou, maradona, Pele, Franz, Platini and co are some of the players that readily comes to mind cos of personal exploits and achievements. That still doesnt mean the others are not world class players

I agree with sauron, u cannot have a definite description of who a world class player is. Its so ambiguous and the more u try analysing, you will just go round in circles without achieving anything.
A definition that says Tevez, Berbatov, Drogba, Kanu and Ballack are not world class players will not fly.

Dayo
Kanu played for Arsenal and Inter and has won almost everything apart from world cup so tape it

For a player to be considered world class He has to have made a mark in the world of football.

Kanu was the best player in an underaged tournament just Like Sinama Pongole was in a tournament that had tevez,

Ismail Matar was the best player in UAE 2003 where Iniesta played

Niclas Oliveira was the best player in Malaysia 97 where Henry played so what does that drivel you typed about Kanu being the best in Atlanta mean.

What mark has Kanu,Finidi, okocha or anyone made in football Have they ever been considered the top players in their top clubsides. Kanu has never been among the top 4 players in any clubside.

Solskjaer world class? Benched by Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole? Some people are hooked on reefers!!!!

Dont even mention Okocha. Because I rate Ikpeba higher than him. Ikpeba played CL semi finals as one of the top players in Monaco Okocha was the best player in BOLTON escaping relegation. Find the equivalent in whichever player helped Fulham escape relegation last season.

Logical reasoning evade you.

Kanu better than Ronaldo Lima in 1996? or Ronaldo is Asian?

Is Nani a regular player? Ikpeba played for a top club(Monaco, Dortmund) which clubs did Jayjay play for?

World class players play for world class clubs not Bolton and Hull city.

World class players are regular at Big clubs not benchwarmers at Man Utd or Barca.

A world class player might start at a low club but before the end of your career, You would play at a top club.

World class players make impact in the world of football I mean real Impacts nor substitutes, I can dribble the whole world(Denilson, Quaresma) or "Helping bolton escape relegation"