Part of me doesn't want to share who I collect because it just will increase the prices I have to pay for their cards. Like I once heard, when someone asks strangers "where's the best fishing hole" they'll never get a response (unless it's a lie).
That said, I really believe the best way to help soccer cards grow as a hobby is to share the knowledge we have all accumulated, as it will increase the interest in soccer cards and all boats will raise together.
As such, I will share the names I collect. It's worth noting my interest is Vintage Soccer. I chose these players because they seem to have the most history and interest. I actually know next to nothing about soccer and am really just a baseball card collector, but have found a lot of enjoyment dabbling in soccer because it is soooooo much less expensive to find really cool old cards of famous stars. So here is my list of more vintage players:
#1 I collect Pele because everyone has heard of him and he's the Babe Ruth of Soccer.
For vintage (pre-1930s) British cards I collect Billy Meredith, Steve Bloomer & GO Smith. Meredith & Bloomer seem to be early stars and GO Smith I latched onto because he has a small cult following.
Nasazzi & Andrade - these are players on the original 1920s and 1930s Uruguayan soccer squad that won the first World Cup (1930) and the 1928 Olympics. There are also others on the squad worth collecting
For the early Spanish league, I collect Zamora and Alcantara, who were early Spanish stars from the 1920s. Zarra also gets honorable mention as he had the most goals before Messi and Ronaldo came along (although he is more '40s - '50s). And definitely DiStefano is on this list.
For the Italian league, Piola and Meazza are the big names I have honed in on as worth collecting from the '30s.
Additionally, other more modern stars (40s - 80s) worth noting would be Dixie Dean, George Best, Eusebio, Maradona, Ronaldo, Baggio, Puskas, Yashin, Nordahl, Garrincha, Zico, Beckenbauer, Platini, & Cruyff.
You can see a full list of what I collect in the Soccer Roll Call Thread which I recommend you post in if you haven't already:
http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=258087
Good luck and happy hunting! Hopefully you don't price me out
