There have been many great moments in the last decade which may include Andrés Iniesta’s goal and the competition between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for example, which may define the last decade (2010-2019) in the world of football.
As the Qatar 2022 World Cup kicks off in a few days, you might want to bet on the 2022 World Cup to enhance the fun. With that said, let’s get to the business of the day.
Top 10 Moments of World Football in the Last Decade
1. Iniesta’s Goal
Andrés Iniesta unloaded that cross-shot in the 116th minute and not only gave Spain its only World Cup. It ended decades of frustrations and provoked an outburst of jubilation that had never been experienced throughout the country.
In the World Cup final in South Africa, played against the Netherlands on July 11, 2010, Iniesta’s goal was the reward for a game idea conceived by Luis Aragonés and completed by Vicente del Bosque.
2. The Fall of “Blatterism”
The downfall of Sepp Blatter, who resigned as FIFA president on June 3, 2015 – four days after being re-elected for a fifth term – was the beginning of the end of a way of governing world football.
Beset by corruption and the open judicial process in the United States, Blatter stepped aside and, with him, “Blatterism” feel like a house of cards.
UEFA, Conmebol, and CONCACAF were beheaded after numerous cases of corruption involving their leaders were uncovered. Platini, Leoz, and Jack Warner had to render accounts in court.
3. The VAR
The great protagonist of the decade has not been a player, coach, or manager but the VAR. The video arbitration system has transferred the most important decisions from the play fields to the video rooms.
Implemented in the World Cup in Russia as the first major competition, VAR is already another element of the game. This protagonist has been at the center of the most controversial matches globally.
4. Madrid Crowns River
Andrés Calamaro predicted, “the final is more important than the sinking of the Titanic,” and few can deny it. Because the first final of a Libertadores that faced Ríver and Boca went from being the “match of the century” to “the longest final in the world” and surprisingly led to the Santiago Bernabéu crown “Millo” (3-1 ).
In between, there was a postponement due to a storm, a draw in the Bombonera (2-2), and an attack on the Xeneize bus. From November 10 to December 9, the fans of both clubs experienced all kinds of moods. The outcome in the Madrid coliseum put a team and its coach, Marcelo Gallardo, in history.
5. Messi-Cristiano: the Antagonists
If something characterizes the second decade of the 21st century, the competition between Messi and Cristiano has taken both of them to unimaginable records. They began competing with each other and ended up doing it against history.
In these ten years, only Luis Suárez (2013-14 and 2015-16) and Luka Modric (2018) have been able to snatch a pair of Golden Boots and a Golden Ball from them.
6. Neymar Causes Market Inflation
The signing of Neymar by Paris Saint Germain changed the game’s rules. Backed by the Qatari Ministry of Tourism sponsorship, PSG paid on August 3, 2016, the clause of 222 million euros (262 million dollars) to get the player who was to mark an era.
For the first time, the greats – including Real Madrid and Barcelona – saw their squads threatened, which led them to inflate the termination clauses with each renewal exponentially. In turn, the market suffered inflation, meaning that signings for more than 100 million euros were no longer an exception.
7. The Johan Cruyff Legacy
He was a revolutionary as a player, one of the five greats in history, and the paradigm of total football. Later, he changed football from the benches. Not only did Ajax, Barcelona, and the Dutch national team benefit from Johan Cruyff’s legacy, but he took football to a new dimension. ‘Thanks, Johann’ was a unanimous expression.
8. Miracle in Leicester
5,000-1. This is how the bets were when almost fifty Leicester fans in the summer of 2015 decided to bet on their team winning the Premier. At the time, it seemed like any other way of throwing money away or a gesture of blind love for colors that had struggled to survive in the English top flight the previous season.
Eight months later, the bookmakers were forced to offer “bonuses” to bettors before the end of the season to avoid bankruptcy because there was no one to unseat the “Foxes” from first place. With Claudio Ranieri at the helm, Leicester worked a miracle.
9. The Decade of Women’s Football
Women’s football took a decisive leap forward in this decade. Backed by its vast base of practitioners worldwide, it was no longer a fringe and finally attracted the attention of media, companies, and sponsors.
FIFA gave the Women’s World Cup in France the status of a major event with a cumulative audience of one billion viewers.
10. The AMA Removes Russia from the World Cup
Tired of tricks, the World Anti-Doping Agency proposed on December 9, 2019, to sanction Russian sports for four years out of international competitions. After verifying new manipulations in the data from the Moscow laboratory, the AMA decided on an exemplary sanction against what it considers systematic doping promoted by the State.
Nineteen months after Infantino declared that the Russian World Cup was the best in history, the country’s soccer was excluded from the World Cup in Qatar unless the CAS said otherwise. However, the Russian-Ukraine war is another reason Russia won’t appear in Qatar.
Conclusion
These are the few global moments in football that shook things up. Many events have created permanent changes in the sporting world, but these we mentioned are just a few most important, in our opinion. Is there any event you think we should add? We’ll love to have your input.
