Julián Álvarez Is the Leader: the Players Who Are Champions of the Most Important Soccer Tournaments

The Copa Libertadores, the Champions League and the World Cup are considered the most important competitions in football. That is why only 5 players in the history of this sport can boast of having won the title of these three tournaments. It is an aspect that automatically enters the Olympus of world sports. Four Brazilians and now the Argentine striker Julián Álvarez make up this list. In this article, we tell you the story of these outstanding footballers.

Cafú

'Cafú' is a former Brazilian soccer player who played as a right back. He is the footballer with the most games played with the Brazilian National Team, and also the only one to play three consecutive World Cup finals. He was twice consecutive champion of the Copa Libertadores with São Paulo, the first time in 1992 and then in 1993, a team in which he made his debut in 1989.

In 2002, he was part of the Brazilian National Team, champion of the World Cup in Korea and Japan along with Dida and Ronaldinho. However, he already knew what it was like to win a world championship, since he was also in the team that won the world championship in 1994 and was runner-up in 1998.

Already at the end of his career he won the Champions League playing with Milan AC of Italy in the 2006-2007 season.

Dida

Nelson de Jesús e Silva is a 49-year-old former Brazilian goalkeeper, better known by the nickname 'Dida'. He played in Vitória do Brasil, Cruzeiro, Milan, Corinthians, Portuguesa do Brasil, Gremio and Internacional. In 1997, he won the Copa Libertadores while wearing the Cruzeiro jersey from Brazil. In 2002, he was world champion with the Brazilian National Team in Korea and Japan.

The UEFA Champions League won it twice. The first came in the 2003-2004 season and the second in 2007-2008. He got both championships with the Milan shirt, when his career was going through its best moment. There he also won the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

Roque Júnior

José Vítor Roque Júnior is another Brazilian player who made it to the history books for his outstanding performances as a footballer. The central defender won the Copa Libertadores with the Palmeiras jersey in 1999, a team that saw him born as a professional.

The Champions League was obtained with the Italian Milan shirt in the 2002-2003 season. Lastly, this defender was part of the 2002 world champion Brazil team, which is considered one of the best at history.

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Ronaldinho Gaucho

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira is the first name of the renowned Ronaldinho Gaucho, one of the most important players in Brazil and for many the historical idol of soccer. This player won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, at that time he played for Paris Saint Germain in France before reaching his golden age at FC Barcelona.

He won the Champions League with Barcelona in the 2005-2006 season at the most stellar moment of his career, scoring 7 goals and giving 9 assists in this competition. That same year he won the Ballon d'Or and established himself as one of the great players of the season. He played until 2010 with the Spanish team, accompanied by great figures such as Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto'o.

As for the Copa Libertadores, the last title he had as an active player, he obtained it in 2013 with Atlético Mineiro from Brazil. There he was the top assistant and best player in the Cup in those years. 'Dinho' retired in 2018 and in March 2020 he had to face legal problems for falsifying documents that led him to be arrested in Paraguay. However, there, imprisoned, the Brazilian star did what he knows how to do best and played a futsal championship, in which of course his team was champion.

Julián Álvarez

The Argentine striker made his debut in the River Plate shirt of Argentina. He won the Copa Libertadores in 2018 with the team shirt that saw him born as a professional. He made his debut that December 9 in an international tournament in extra time in the remembered final against Boca Juniors at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Spain.

A round season would arrive in 2022, because thanks to his outstanding performance, he was in the sights of big European clubs. In January, they confirmed him as a new Manchester City player, and it was in that year that he established himself as world champion with the Argentina National Team in the World Cup in Qatar.

After a year with the English team, his most recent title was on June 10, when he lifted his first and only Manchester City Champions League. Thus, he also became the first young Argentinian player to score a goal in the Champions League semifinals, against Real Madrid.