31 October: Van Basten, three Ballons d'Or and an ankle

Marco van Basten

Cruyff's successor

He made his Ajax debut in 1982 coming on for none other than Johan Cruyff, and scored in that same game. He won the European Golden Boot in 1986 and in 1987 the Cup Winners' Cup, heading in the only goal of the final against Lokomotive Leipzig.

Munich, 25 June 1988

He went to the European Championship in Germany just signed by Milan and recovering from injury, as a substitute. He scored a hat-trick against England and the winner against West Germany in the semi-final.

In the final against the Soviet Union, at 1-0, Arnold Mühren hung a long ball up from the left. Van Basten, almost on the byline and with no angle, hit it on the volley over Dasayev into the top corner. It is one of the most famous goals in the history of international football.

Milan and the ankle

With Sacchi's Milan, alongside Gullit and Rijkaard, he won the 1989 and 1990 European Cups, scoring twice in the 1989 final in Barcelona against Steaua. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1988, 1989 and 1992. In 1992 he scored four against IFK Göteborg, one of them an overhead kick, in the first ever group stage of the Champions League.

But his right ankle could take no more. He played his last game in the 1993 Champions League final against Marseille, spent two years in and out of operating theatres and in 1995 announced his retirement. He was thirty and had not played for two years.

Also born on 31 October

Ansu Fati, the prodigy

🎂 turns 24

Born in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, and raised in Herrera, near Seville, he made his Barcelona debut in 2019 aged sixteen. Within months he had broken a string of age records: he became the youngest scorer in Champions League history and the youngest ever for the Spanish national team. He inherited Messi's number 10, but knee injuries stalled his career.

Born31 October 2002

CountrySpain

Positionforward, left winger

Clubs

• Fútbol Club Barcelona since 2019 · 22 goals
• Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club 2023-2024 · 2 goals
• A.S. Monaco F.C. 2025-2026 · 11 goals
• A.S. Monaco F.C. since 2026

National teamselección de fútbol de España

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

🔴⚪ Sporting Gijón players born this day

They played for Sporting Gijón and were born on this same day. There is only their data here: we would rather name them than leave them out, and rather give the bare facts than invent a story.

Another 49 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

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