A-Z

A celebration of These Football Times’ writers’ favourite stars of the 2000s, from Alonso and Kaka to Zidane and Henry.

A-Z of the 2000s: Zinedine Zidane

Before hanging up his boots for good after the 2006 World Cup, two moments, across six years of this particular decade, defined Zinedine Zidane

A-Z of the 2000s: Xavi

“Xavi is eternal. Even when he is not at his very best level physically, he plays a kind of football that gives oxygen to a team. He is football”

A-Z of the 2000s: Abby Wambach

With two Olympics golds, a World Cup win and a FIFA Player of the Year award, Abby Wambach became the face of US soccer and a cultural movement

A-Z of the 2000s: Juan Carlos Valerón

Valerón will be best remembered for his part in the Depor side of the turn of the 21st century. A quiet, loyal man, his 13-year spell was seminal

A-Z of the 2000s: Tomáš Ujfaluši

Named as one of Fiorentina and the Czech Republic’s greatest defenders, Tomáš Ujfaluši was one of the 2000s most underrated players

A-Z of the 2000s: Fernando Torres

The Fernando Torres of the 2000s may not always have been blessed with world-class teammates, but he was a force like no other

A-Z of the 2000s: Andriy Shevchenko

Football has changed dramatically in the two decades since Andriy Shevchenko burst onto the scene, but his legacy remains unblemished

A-Z of the 2000s: Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney is the best British footballer of this century yet somehow he still doesn’t receive the recognition or accolades that he deserves

A-Z of the 2000s: Ricardo Quaresma

It is for his silky skills, not his various deficiencies, that Quaresma will be remembered as time slowly wears the memories of his fleeting career away

A-Z of the 2000s: Carles Puyol

Carles Puyol was the architect of an enduring legacy that heralds him one of the best defenders in Barcelona and world football history

A-Z of the 2000s: Michael Owen

You can choose to remember Owen in any way you want, but consider yourself lucky that you weren’t playing against him during his golden years at Liverpool

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A-Z of the 2000s: Pavel Nedvěd

Despite falling short of the biggest prizes for both club and country, Nedvěd would go down as one of the best players of the decade, a Juventus legend

A-Z of the 2000s: Paolo Maldini

There’s a reason people who’d seen him play would joke, “If Paolo Maldini was the Minister of Defense, no country would want to attack Italy.”

A-Z of the 2000s: Frank Lampard

Gerrard was a monster, while Scholes was sublime. But if you take the raw stats and impact over a decade, no midfielder can top Frank Lampard

A-Z of the 2000s: Kaká

Unfortunately, Kaká never really belonged to us mere mortal. Nevertheless, so great were his gifts, football could not help but praise him on high

A-Z of the 2000s: Juninho Pernambucano

Try as they might, studying his game as fervently as they can, nobody will ever strike a dead ball quite like Juninho Pernambucano. Nobody

A-Z of the 2000s: Zlatan Ibrahimović

It was between 2000 and 2010 that Ibrahimović reached a peak he would maintain into the next decade and discovered what kind of man he wanted to be

A-Z of the 2000s: Thierry Henry

There are few players who define a generation as adroitly as Thierry Henry, the man who reinvented what it meant to be a striker in England