Diego Armando Maradona was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award. Maradona's vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling skills were combined with his small stature, which gave him a low centre of gravity allowing him to manoeuvre better than most other players. His presence and leadership on the field had a great effect on his team's general performance, while he would often be singled out by the opposition. In addition to his creative abilities, he possessed an eye for goal and was known to be a free kick specialist. A precocious talent, Maradona was given the nickname "El Pibe de Oro", a name that stuck with him throughout his career. He also had a troubled off-field life and was banned in both 1991 and 1994 for abusing drugs.
Gary Winston Lineker is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has presented the flagship football programme Match of the Day since the late 1990s, the longest tenure of any MOTD presenter. Lineker is also the BBC's lead presenter for live football matches, including its coverage of international tournaments. He has also previously worked for Al Jazeera Sports, Eredivisie Live, NBC Sports Network, and BT Sport's coverage of the UEFA Champions League.
Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for the Scotland national team, scoring 30 goals, also a joint-record. Dalglish won the Ballon d'Or Silver Award in 1983, the PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1983, and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1979 and 1983. In 2009, FourFourTwo magazine named Dalglish the greatest striker in post-war British football, and he has been inducted into both the Scottish and English Football Halls of Fame. He is very highly regarded by Liverpool fans, who still affectionately refer to him as King Kenny, and in 2006 voted him top of the fans' poll "100 Players Who Shook the Kop".
The United States Football League (USFL) was an American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be played in the autumn/winter, directly competing against the long-established National Football League (NFL). However, the USFL ceased operations before that season was scheduled to begin.
The EFL Cup, currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout football competition and major trophy in men's domestic English football. Organised by the English Football League (EFL), it is open to any club within the top four levels of the English football league system – 92 clubs in total – comprising the top level Premier League, and the three divisions of the English Football League's own league competition.
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. With European nations not allowed to host after the previous World Cup in Spain, Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially resigned in 1982. Mexico was selected as the new host in May 1983, thus becoming the first country to host the World Cup more than once.
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires.
Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin, is a former Ukrainian and Soviet football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, Blokhin was formerly a standout striker for Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet Union.
The South Korea national football team represents South Korea in men's international football and is governed by the Korea Football Association. South Korea has developed and emerged as a major football power in Asia since the 1980s and is historically the most successful Asian football team, having participated in nine consecutive and ten overall FIFA World Cup tournaments, the most for any Asian country. Despite initially going through five World Cup tournaments without winning a match, South Korea became the only Asian team to reach the semi-final stages when they co-hosted the 2002 tournament with Japan. South Korea also won two AFC Asian Cup titles, and finished as runners-up on four occasions. Furthermore, the team won three gold medals and three silver medals at the senior Asian Games. The team is commonly nicknamed the "Reds" by both fans and the media due to the color of their primary kit. The national team's supporting group is officially referred to as the Red Devils.
Howard Matthew Moses Long is a former American football defensive end, actor, and sports analyst. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons and spent his entire career with the Raiders franchise in Oakland and Los Angeles. Selected by the Raiders in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft, Long received eight Pro Bowl and three first-team All-Pro selections while helping the team win a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XVIII. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Patrick Anthony Jennings is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 119 international matches for Northern Ireland in an international career which lasted for over 22 years. During his career, Jennings played for Newry Town, Watford and in the top division with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, winning the FA Cup with both of the north London rivals. In total, Jennings made over 1,000 top level appearances, and despite being a goalkeeper he scored in the 1967 FA Charity Shield.
Shane Patrick Conlan is a former professional American football player. He played college football at Penn State University, where he won two national championships in 1982 and 1986, although he was red-shirted prior to the start of the 1982 season and did not play that season. In 1981, prior to his Penn State career and after his senior season at Frewsburg High School in which he played under head coach Thomas Sharp, Conlan was voted Western New York high school Player of the Year. During his career at Penn State, Conlan had 274 tackles, including a school-record 186 solos. He finished his football career as a three-time all-pro with the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams.
Marius Mihai Lăcătuș is a Romanian football coach and former professional footballer. He is by far the most successful footballer ever to play for Steaua București and was part of their European Cup victory in 1986. Lăcătuș is the all-time top scorer for Steaua with 16 goals in European competitions. On 7 July 2021, Steaua retired his shirt number 7 at the inauguration match of the new Steaua Stadium.
Oscar Alfredo Ruggeri is an Argentinian former professional footballer who played as defender. Nicknamed El Cabezón, Ruggeri achieved success at the international level with the Argentina national team, being part of the teams that won the 1986 FIFA World Cup, two editions of the Copa América and the 1992 King Fahd Cup. At the club level, Ruggeri's most successful stint was with Argentine club River Plate, where he won the 1986 Copa Libertadores the 1986 Copa Interamericana and the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. Known for his rough style of play when marking opposing players and aerial ability, Ruggeri is considered one of the all-time best defenders to come out of Argentina. Following his retirement as a player, Ruggeri turned to managing, where he held posts in Argentina, Mexico and Spain. His last job as a manager was in 2006 with Argentine club San Lorenzo. Since then, Ruggeri went on to have a career on Argentine television, as commentator on football shows. He is currently a member of 90 Minutos de Fútbol, which airs in Fox Sports Latin America.
Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos is an Argentine former football player, coach, and the former general manager of Real Madrid. He is currently working as a commentator for beIN Sports. Nicknamed "The Philosopher of Football", he played as a forward.
The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, New York. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.
John Patrick Platten is a retired Brownlow and Magarey medal-winning Australian rules footballer, who played for Hawthorn and Central Districts in the 1980s and 1990s.
The 1986 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, on 7 May 1986 that saw Steaua București of Romania defeat Barcelona of Spain in a penalty shoot out after 120 minutes of play could not separate the two sides. Barcelona had all of their spot-kicks saved by Steaua goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam, who was later dubbed "The Hero of Seville". It was the first European Cup final to finish goalless and remains Steaua's only European Cup triumph, and the first of only two won by an Eastern European club.
The 1986 UEFA Cup Final was an association football tie played on 30 April and 6 May 1986 between Real Madrid of Spain and Köln of West Germany. Madrid won 5–3 on aggregate and, in doing so, successfully defended their UEFA Cup title from the year prior.
The 1985–86 FA Cup was the 105th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who defeated local rivals Everton 3–1 at Wembley in the first ever Merseyside derby final. Liverpool thus became only the fifth club to win the league and FA Cup double.
