Yearender 2021: Five football icons who passed away

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Kolkata, December 24: The year 2021 celebrated the return of fans to full stadiums following pandemic-disrupted seasons a year ago.

However, it has also experienced some major footballing icons leaving for their heavenly abodes, leaving behind a huge void and radiant heritage.

As 2021 is inching towards the end, here we have looked at such five big footballing heroes who passed away this year.

1. Jimmy Greaves

One of England's greatest strikers ever, Greaves, died at the age of 81 this year. Greaves was a member of the squad that won the World Cup in 1966. He scored 44 goals across 57 senior appearances for the Three Lions. He is still the highest-scoring player at the top level of English football with 357 goals while he is also Tottenham Hotspur’s highest scorer with 266 goals.

2. Gerd Muller

The German goal machine died aged 75 after a long illness this year in August. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, Muller is still the all-time highest goalscorer for Bayern Munich with 566 goals in 607 competitive games. He is the third-highest goalscorer of all time in the history of the World Cup while he scored an astonishing 68 goals in 62 games for the German national team. Smashing records left, right and centre the German striker won almost every possible accolades during his illustrious career.

3. Jean-Pierre Adams

Former PSG and French footballer Adams died at the age of 73 this year. Regarded as one of the most tragic incidents, Adams was in a coma for the last four decades before passing away this year. At the age of 34, in 1982 he slipped into a deep coma following an anaesthesia error during routine knee surgery at Lyon Hospital. Adams was regarded as one of the pioneers of French-African footballers paving the way to the European circuit.

4. Novy Kapadia

One of India's most eminent football experts, commentator and author Kapadia passed away in November this year due to prolonged health complications. He was 68 at the time of his demise. The former Delhi University professor was famously known as the voice of Indian football due to his commentary skills.

5. SS Narayan

Former Indian goalkeeper SS Narayan who was part of the team which played in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, died in 2021 aged 86. He also was part of the Santosh Trophy-winning Maharashtra team of 1964. He also played in the India side that finished second in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, and the 1958 Asian Games where India finished fourth.