Stories
Champions' stories, position by position
How they made it to the top: true stories, with sources, and what you can learn if you play in the same position. Legends, players who started in amateur football, great comebacks and a few curious stories.
🧤 Goalkeepers
Gianluigi Buffon
Italy · 1978
Gianluigi Buffon: the midfielder who chose the goal
From midfield to goal at 14, a Serie A starter at 17, world champion in 2006: how Buffon became one of the greatest goalkeepers ever.
Read the story →Gianluigi Donnarumma
Italy · 1999
Gianluigi Donnarumma: a Serie A starter at 16
From Castellammare di Stabia to Milan at 14, a debut at 16, player of the tournament at Euro 2020 and the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain.
Read the story →Guglielmo Vicario
Italy · 1996
Guglielmo Vicario: from Serie D to the Premier League
The goalkeeper from Friuli who climbed every step: Serie D, Serie C, Serie B, Serie A and then Tottenham. Proof that you can rise one floor at a time.
Read the story →Alberto Brignoli
Italy · 1991
Alberto Brignoli, the goalkeeper who scored a header against Milan
3 December 2017, stoppage time: Benevento's goalkeeper goes up into Milan's box and scores a header. It is the first point in Benevento's Serie A history.
Read the story →Rogério Ceni
Brazil · 1973
Rogério Ceni, the goalkeeper with the most goals in history
Free kicks and penalties: São Paulo's goalkeeper scored more than 120 official goals and made it into the Guinness World Records.
Read the story →🛡️ Centre-backs
Virgil van Dijk
Netherlands · 1991
Virgil van Dijk: dishwasher as a teen, Liverpool captain
Rejected as a full-back, grew 18 centimetres in a year, saved by emergency surgery: the road of the defender Liverpool paid £75 million for.
Read the story →Riccardo Calafiori
Italy · 2002
Riccardo Calafiori: a wrecked knee at 16, then the Euros and Arsenal
An injury that could have ended everything, a restart in Switzerland, a season at Bologna as a centre-back and the Euros: a story of patience.
Read the story →↔️ Full-backs
Javier Zanetti
Argentina · 1973
Javier Zanetti: "too frail" as a boy, Inter captain for 13 years
From the Dock Sud neighbourhood, where he delivered milk, to 858 games for Inter and the 2010 treble.
Read the story →Giovanni Di Lorenzo
Italy · 1993
Giovanni Di Lorenzo: from Serie C to title-winning captain
At 23 he was playing in Serie C with Matera. Then Empoli, Napoli, Euro 2020 and two Serie A titles as captain.
Read the story →🎯 Midfielders
Andrea Pirlo
Italy · 1979
Andrea Pirlo: the attacking midfielder who became a playmaker
A Serie A debut at 16, then a change of position decided by Carlo Mazzone at Brescia: that's how Pirlo became one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever.
Read the story →N'Golo Kanté
France · 1991
N'Golo Kanté: too small for academies, world champion
Ten years at Suresnes, a debut at 21, the French third tier, then Leicester, Chelsea and the 2018 World Cup.
Read the story →Luka Modrić
Croatia · 1985
Luka Modrić: a refugee as a child, "too light", six Champions Leagues
Raised in a refugee hotel in Zadar, rejected by Hajduk, sent to play in Bosnia at 18: then Tottenham, Real Madrid and six Champions Leagues.
Read the story →⚡ Wingers and playmakers
Roberto Baggio
Italy · 1967
Roberto Baggio: a broken knee at 18 and the comeback
Fiorentina were about to sign him when he wrecked his knee. They waited more than a year: then 205 Serie A goals and a World Cup final.
Read the story →Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Georgia · 2001
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia: from Georgia to Napoli's title and the Champions League
A footballer's son, raised in Tbilisi, forced by war to change club: in three years he won the Serie A title with Napoli and the Champions League with PSG.
Read the story →Lamine Yamal
Spain · 2007
Lamine Yamal: from Rocafonda to European and world champion at 19
Joined La Masia at 6, first team at 15, European champion at 17 and world champion at 19: one of the fastest careers in football history.
Read the story →⚽ Strikers
Luca Toni
Italy · 1977
Luca Toni: years in Serie C and Serie B, then the Golden Shoe
Modena, Empoli, Fiorenzuola, Lodigiani, Treviso: Toni made it late. At 28 he scored 31 Serie A goals, at 29 he won the World Cup, at almost 38 he was top scorer.
Read the story →Jamie Vardy
England · 1987
Jamie Vardy: from the factory to non-league, to a Premier League record
Released at 16, a factory worker, a non-league goalscorer: at 28 he scored in 11 Premier League games in a row and won the title with Leicester.
Read the story →Dario Hübner
Italy · 1967
Dario Hübner: the blacksmith who was Serie A top scorer at 35
Top scorer in Serie C1, Serie B and Serie A: Hübner made his Serie A debut at 30 and became a legend among provincial goalscorers.
Read the story →Mateo Retegui
Argentina and Italy · 1999
Mateo Retegui: the grandson of a Sicilian who became Serie A top scorer
Son of field hockey players, called up by Italy while still playing in Argentina thanks to his grandfather from Canicattì: in 2024-25 he scored 25 goals for Atalanta.
Read the story →✨ Curious stories
Goalkeepers who score, strikers reaching Serie A at 30: football can surprise you.
Alberto Brignoli
Italy · 1991
Alberto Brignoli, the goalkeeper who scored a header against Milan
3 December 2017, stoppage time: Benevento's goalkeeper goes up into Milan's box and scores a header. It is the first point in Benevento's Serie A history.
Read the story →Rogério Ceni
Brazil · 1973
Rogério Ceni, the goalkeeper with the most goals in history
Free kicks and penalties: São Paulo's goalkeeper scored more than 120 official goals and made it into the Guinness World Records.
Read the story →Dario Hübner
Italy · 1967
Dario Hübner: the blacksmith who was Serie A top scorer at 35
Top scorer in Serie C1, Serie B and Serie A: Hübner made his Serie A debut at 30 and became a legend among provincial goalscorers.
Read the story →What position do you play?
Ask Stella what to train in your position and which story to read first.
The stories are written by EuroStelle's editorial team from public sources, checking the facts: no sentence is invented or put in the players' mouths. Found a mistake? Write to us from the Contact page. →