It’s not easy to decide who the most talented football player is. But there are ways to determine the success of a player. Daniel Alves from Brazil is the reigning most successful football player with 43 trophies. Lionel Messi from Argentina upped his stance on the list with 42 trophies, including this year’s FIFA Champions Trophy.
Surprisingly, Imran Mohamed, the former Maldives National Team goalkeeper, is third on the list with 39 trophies, alongside Egypt's Hisham Ashour.
With 37 trophies, Spanish midfielders Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué, and Brazil’s Maxwell, come next. Manchester United’s former Captain, Ryan Giggs is next with 36 trophies.
Imran was overjoyed when he saw the Maldivian flag on the lists made public by international media. The rankings, which are skilfully put together, examine success on a national, regional, and global scale. Among the 39 trophies, the SAFF championship Maldives won in 2008 by defeating India by a score of one goal to zero stands out to him.
Imran began his career in 1999 with Club Eagles, and earned his first victory in 2000 while competing in the national league for the Golden Jubilee competition. He switched to the Victory Club in 2001 and amassed a total of 14 championships while representing the team. He later joined the New Radiant Club and won 13 titles while playing for the team. He is the first player from the Maldives to have won two titles for two different clubs. Before retiring in 2018, he also played professionally for Maaziya and VB Addu FC, where he served well for both clubs.
He was added to the Century Club by the association after FIFA took into account the 109 games he played at the national level. He is the first Maldivian player to join the club. The second South Asian to be included in the list is India’s forward Sunil Chhetri, with 115 matches. Next in line to be included in the club is Ali Ashfaq, who currently has 90 matches under his belt.
The former football star is also the recipient of the 2019 national award in the field of sports and promoting professional sportsmanship. In his first game for the national team against Syria in the Asian Cup qualifying rounds, he was named the game's top performer. In the 2004 World Cup qualifying round against the powerful South Korean team, he again put up a good fight. He was also crucial to the Maldives' third-place finish in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
Sign In
