Josef Masopust
Czech footballer (1931-2015) · Czechia · Footballers · Died at 84
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Something wrong?The midfielder who opened the scoring in the 1962 World Cup Final and walked away with the Ballon d'Or that year - a peak that planted Czechoslovakia on the map and earned him a nod from Pelé four decades later.
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About this person
Josef Masopust was born on 9 February 1931 and built his reputation in the engine room, the kind of midfielder who could control tempo and arrive in the box. The run to the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final put him on the global stage, and that same year he was named European Footballer of the Year. Across 63 caps he scored ten goals for Czechoslovakia, then moved into coaching after hanging up his boots. In 2003 the Czech football federation named him their Golden Player for the previous half-century, and a year later Pelé included him among the 125 greatest living footballers. He died on 29 June 2015, regarded as one of the finest midfielders the game has seen.
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