Just wanted to start this topic to discuss which people revolutionized football. Here are some suggestions I made up myself.


Jean Marc Bosmann

Changed Europes transfer system after he was dissalowed to transfer to club in the 2nd french division. After the famous Bosman sentence players were allowed to choose a new club after their contract ended.


Karl Wald

A german (how else could it have been?) referee who invented the penalty shootout. Before Walds idea the refs had to flip a coin to find a winner if two teams drawed after extra extra time. The first PK shootout ever took place in a south german derby between Bad Tölz and Benediktbeuern. The first major trophy that was ever decided by a PK shootout was the 1976 Euro final which Germany lost to Czechoslovakia.


Edward Freedman

He made customers out of fans by making Manchester United the first football club that has a professional merchandising section


Andrew Webster

Is he the next Bosmann? Only time will tell if FIFA Paragraph 17 that allows players to leave a club besides an ongoing contract will be an important variable on the upcoming mercatos.


Herbert Chapman

One of Englands best coaches ever. Changed football by beeing the first one strenghten the defense by creating the world famous WM system.


Franz Beckenbauer

The "Kaiser" reinvented the Libero position by interpreting it as one that links up offense and defense of a team (like Andy P does it today). The Libero might not be as important in modern football than it was in the 70ies but Greece Euro victory (with Traianos Dellas as Libero in Otto Rehagels system) showed that the Libero can still be an important position in football.


Now what to you people think? Who turned the game upside down?

William McGregor

In my opinion he is possibly the most important person in the history of the sport, but it is a slightly biased opinion!

In the early days of football, there was only the FA Cup, many teams were getting knocked out early or playing rubbish teams so nobody was being attratced to the sport, this lead to many teams basically going bust and giving up due to the financial difficulties of only playing 1 competitive game a year. William McGregor then bought forward the idea of creating a league so that teams would have a schedule and a guaranteed amount of games, making sure that they'd the teams would bring in enough income to 'survive' and continue. McGregors sent his proposal to 11 teams who along with his own team, Aston Villa, agreed on. So on September 8th 1888 the World first ever footballl league was created and was a huge success, 4 years later a 2nd division was formed, and it went on from there. Without this, football may not have even existed into the 1990s. What a wonderful thing he's created!

This is one great thread!

I haven't read into this one too much yet, but if it's what I think it is, it's completely wrong. So a player has a right to pay off his own contract to become out of contract and got by anyone on a free? I wouldn't like that, but it could help put a stop to these ridiculous prices flying around.

He has that right after playing 3 years for the club he wants to leave nad yep...I don't think it's a good idea too. A contract should be a contract.


Here's another suggestion though:

World Cup Willie

Ten minutes were enough to create a questionable habit....the WM mascot. Willie was a top seller besides some his succesors like the mascot of the WC 2006 Goleo which ruined the company that produced the lion.

The rule applies to players that have spent three years in a club if they signed when under the age of 28 or two years if they signed when 28 or over, regardless of how long their contract is. They have to pay compensation to do this, calculated using a formula based on wages and their original transfer fee, but it means they can effectively "buy out" their contract.

great thread... history lesson for me

Ok...then here's another one:

William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick:


Prest and Creswick were the first people to have the idea of a club which is purely dedicated to the beautiful game (football of course ). The result was Sheffield FC (established in 1857) the first football club in history.

Unfortunately Sheffield FC no longer exist, which is a shame, it would be nice if they were still around. Though there are still some teams in Sheffield - Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

I think the oldest team still going is Notts County, they're looming very close to being relegated from League 2 into the Conference this season though.

Wiki says the team still exists it's just no a professional one anymore. Here

Oh, never knew that. I guess Notts County are the oldest professional team. I bet there's probably a few hundred older pub/ametuer teams around.

history!