World Football Day: 5 iconic moments from the pages of history

With the FIFA World Cup 2026 days away, football is on everyone's mind. Today, on May 25, 2026, on the occasion of World Football Day, is the perfect time to flip through pages of history and remind ourselves of the few of several iconic moments the beautiful game has given us.

One of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game, Pelé won the World Cup at just 17 years of age and forced the world to take notice of the young black player who would go on to change football. With six goals in the knockout stages he was the youngest player to score in a World Cup final.

Pelé was a revolutionary in the sport, paving way for Black players who faced years of discrimination. The 1958 World Cup was the beginning of his immortalisation in the football and beyond.

The God of Argentina, Diego Maradona took the 1986 World Cup by storm, bringing the World Cup home. During the iconic quarterfinal against England in the tournament, the legendary No. 10 scored a controversial goal where he seemed to touch the ball with his hand.

Later, when asked, the player called it the "hand of God" and the rest is history. Maradona's 1986 World Cup run will forever be etched in history books, with or without the disputed goal.

While football is the most popular sport in the world, the women's game has only began to gain prominence. While the world has come to know about the beauty of women's football recently, the seeds of revolution were sown long before.

In May 1881, the first officially recorded women's football match was played between England and Scotland in Edinburgh. Needless to say, there was immense social backlash, but many fans gathered to watch the game. Unfortunately, the match had to be stopped because violent mobs invaded the pitch and chased off the players.

When Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup trophy with his team after a glorious victory against France in the 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar, it felt as if a circle had completed. A passionate and emotional World Cup campaign by Argentina had borne fruit.

In what is widely said to be the greatest final in the history of the tournament, Messi put an end to a series of defeat in the Finals, which had begun in the 2014 World Cup with a heart shattering loss to Germany. Having won the World Cup, Messi, one of the greatest footballers to have ever graced the field, now has every major trophy.

The genius of Cristiano Ronaldo is not a secret. A player, who makes and breaks records on a daily basis, won his first major international trophy with Portugal at Euro Cup 2016. What made the victory more emotional was what happened during the iconic final.

After being stretchered out due to injury in the early minutes of the match, Ronaldo had tears in his eyes and did his fans. However, he refused to leave his team alone and made sure he made a difference from the sidelines, as he coached his teammates and led them to a historic victory.

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