With an estimated 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football (or soccer) is undoubtedly the most popular sport on the planet. Nothing else comes close. And one of the reasons we love it so much? The superstars who have graced pitches all around the globe, from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro to London, Paris, Madrid and beyond – the players who get us off our seats and entertain and excite us every time they pull on their shirts and lace up their boots; the ones who remind us why we fell in love with the beautiful game in the first place. We worship them, we wear their names on our backs and, when we take to the pitch, we try to be them.