9 Greatest Footballers Of All Time (Who Never Went To A World Cup)

Lionel Messi has done more than enough at this point to be regarded as Barcelona's greatest ever player, but the one time that the club's fans were formally polled on the subject (in 1999 in celebration of the club's centenary), László Kubala was the man named as such. Hungarian by birth, Kubala actually represented three nations internationally, making six appearances for Czechoslovakia before earning citizenship in Spain and representing them.

Had Kubala stayed in Hungary he likely would've appeared at a number of World Cups, as the Hungarian side were widely regarded as the best in the world throughout much of the 1950s. The only match they lost between May 1950 and February 1956 was the 1954 World Cup final, where they were bettered 3-2 by West Germany.

Hungarians, like all citizens of countries that fell behind the 'Iron Curtain' of Soviet influence, were not permitted to travel to the West. As a result the aforementioned Hungarian team was composed entirely of players from their domestic league and fell apart after many key players fled the country after the 1956 revolution against the ruling Communist regime that was quelled by Russian intervention.

Ahead of the curve, Kubala had defected from his homeland in 1949, beginning a career with the Catalan giants a year later that would see him net 131 times in 186 appearances.

After 1950, Spain didn't qualify for another World Cup until 1962. Like Di Stefano, however, Kubala missed this due to injury.