Top 5 Greatest Uruguayan Footballers
The Greatest football players in Uruguay’s History
Uruguay are one of the most successful football nations in South America, with a record 15 Copa America triumphs tied with Argentina.
La Celeste are two-time FIFA World Cup champions, beating continental rivals Argentina and Brazil respectively. The win against Argentina came in the inaugural World Cup with a victory over Brazil in 1950.
With such a rich history, Uruguay boasts some incredible players of the past. These are not just not legends and icons in the eyes of Uruguayans, but they are up there with the greatest to play the game.
Besides World Cup victories, the nation has also competed in 14 World Cup tournaments, achieving many impressive finishes. Uruguay are very much the third powerhouse of South America alongside Argentina and Brazil, genuine powerhouses in the world’s most popular sport.
In this article, find out about the top 5 football players from Uruguay.
5. Obdulio Varela
Caps: 45
Goals: 9
Obdulio Varela, following the example of Jose Nasazzi, became the second and final Uruguay captain to receive the Jules Rimet trophy when his team upset the odds against Brazil in 1950.
Host Brazil needed a mere point in the tournament's deciding match, with Uruguay needing a win.
Varela spurred his team to overturn an early deficit against the hosts in front of a boisterous Maracana crowd exceeding 200,000 people. They ended up winning the cup 2-1.
Varela was also successful at club level. He was a six-time Uruguayan champion with Penarol, at a time when Uruguay was one of the strongest domestic leagues.
The holding midfielder was named one of the 13 best South American players of the 20th century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.
4. Diego Forlan
Caps: 112
Goals: 36
Diego Forlan was a consistent goalscorer wherever he went, and he is regarded as one of the greatest forwards of his generation.
He is a two-time winner of the Pichichi trophy, which is the award for the La Liga top scorer. He’s also won the European Golden Boot twice. Forlan first left South America for Manchester United, where he was underwhelming.
However, a move to Spain ignited his career and he managed to score 128 goals in 240 games across his time at Villarreal and Atletico Madrid.
Forlan was part of the team that won the Copa America in 2011, but his best performance came in the 2010 World Cup.
His efforts earned him the Golden Ball and a spot on the Tournament All-Star Team that year, as Uruguay advanced to the semi-finals.
The forward is remembered for his iconic free-kick goal, striking the Jabulani into the net from a set piece against Ghana in the quarter-final.
3. Luis Suarez
Caps: 132
Goals: 68
Suarez’s emergence onto the European football scene interlinked with Forlan’s peak- and the two were dangerous together!
Many would argue that Suarez reached higher heights than Forlan, and he was a freakishly good footballer.
Suarez was a key member of Uruguay's Copa America-winning team in 2011, scoring four goals. He was also named Player of the Tournament, as the country won the title for the fifteenth time.
Suarez has won 7 league crowns and 8 cups in four different nations. This includes the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona, as well as the subsequent UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
In 2013/14, he came close to leading Liverpool to their first Premier League title. Suarez was crowned FWA and PFA Player of the Year for his efforts in 2013-14, finishing the season with a record-tying 31 league goals.
2. Hector Scarone
Caps: 51
Goals: 31
For 81 years, Hector Scarone held the record for the most goals in Uruguayan history, scoring 31 times in 51 international games.
Scarone was instrumental in Uruguay's success in the 1920s and early 1930s, winning the Copa America four times and two Olympic gold medals, as well as being a major member of the team that won the inaugural World Cup in 1930.
His success in the competition earned him a spot on the All-Star squad.
Scarone played for Barcelona during his club career. He also played for Inter Milan while he was in Europe, but he spent a significant proportion of his career with Nacional.
He scored 163 goals in 191 games for his hometown club, winning eight league crowns.
1. Juan Alberto Schiaffino
Caps: 21
Goals: 9
Juan Alberto Schiaffino is seen as one of the greatest players to ever play football!
At club level, he maintained an impeccable goalscoring record for a creative midfielder, managing 138 goals across 415 games for his hometown club Penarol, as well as AC Milan and AS Roma in Italy.
His most successful club tenure was with San Siro, where he won three Serie A titles and a Latin Cup. He was defeated by the dominant Real Madrid in the 1958 European Cup final.
Schiaffino played for Uruguay in both the 1950 and 1954 World Cups. He made a massive impact in the 1950 final, when he scored the equalising goal against Brazil to assist Uruguay in winning the title for the second time.
He was known for his skill and vision, and he was an absolute magician with the ball. He was able to make space for himself and others with ease.
According to the IFFHS, he is the seventeenth best player and the sixth best South American footballer of the 1900s.
The playmaker controversially switched allegiances to Italy in the latter part of his career, due to his grandfather being from Genoa.
The fact that he could break into another ridiculously strong national team demonstrates the incredible ability of Schiaffino.
