The year 2020 has been a strange year to the entire world. From the forest fire in Australia to the global pandemic, 2020 probably is the only year we all wish to pass soon. And in just one year of 2020, we have said farewell to so many legends.
The very first legend in the list of legends that the entire world said farewell to in 2020 was Don Larsen. The former famous baseball pitcher of New York Yankees died at the age of 90 in Jan. 2nd after a long time suffering with esophageal cancer.
Hans Tilkowski (Germany) and Luís Morais (Brazil) are the next ones to be named in the list. The two former soccer players were parts of their national teams in World Cup 1966 and 1954 respectively. Tilkowski died in Jan. 5th, while Morais passed away in Jan. 6th. Khamis Al-Dosari was the next soccer player joined the list of athletes that passed away in the year 2020. The former Arabian athlete said goodbye the entire world in Jan. 7th.
The list of soccer players died in the year 2020 extends by Juan José Pizzuti, Efraín Sánchez, Pietro Anastasi, Theodor Wagner, Alfred Körner, and Rob Rensenbrink. All of them died in January.
Kobe Bryant, a legendary athlete of the basketball world, was the next one that the entire world said goodbye to. Perhaps, he was the most infamous name that has died in January of 2020. Bryant passed away in January. 27th caused by an airplane accident.
He was a legend of NBA, a legend of LA Lakers, and a legend of the sport basketball. Bryant’s death was the very first shock for the sport world in the year 2020 .
Many tributes have been sent to him and his family. And even soccer players, who work in different field of sport, gave tributes to Kobe Bryant. The list of soccer athletes that have given tributes to Bryant and his family includes the two biggest figures of soccer world: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I have no words,” Messi wrote in his Instagram post. “All my love for Kobe’s family and friends. It was a pleasure to meet you and share good times together. You were a genius like few others.”
via Messi’s Twitter
It was an empty feeling for a whole LA Lakers fandom and the LA Lakers team. Kobe Bryant was an idol for most LA Lakers’ fans, a legend for basketball fans, and a legend of the national team who has won two Olympic Gold Medals with the United States Olympic team.
The next icon of the sport world that passed away in 2020 was Roger Mayweather, uncle of famous unbeatable boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was the champion of WBC light welterweight, IBO light welterweight, IBO welterweight, and a member of Mayweather Boxing Family.
Uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr. died in March. 17.
Luciano Federici, Lorenzo Sanz, Benito Joanet, and Orlando McDaniel are another athletes that passed away in the year 2020. All of them were famous figures in the soccer world, and they enlarged the list of legends that passed away in March.
Then in September, we said farewell to Anfred Riedl – the former coach of Vietnam national team. He led the nation to the silver medals at Tiger Cup 1998, Sea Games 22, and Sea Game 23 and the quarter-final of Asian Cup 2007.
Riedl was also in the top 3 most successful foreign coach of Vietnam national team. The Austrian coach left Vietnam in 2007 but continued to work in the Southeast Asia region before coming back home in Austria.
The biggest shock of the soccer world and also the sports world absolutely have to be the death of Diego Maradona in Nov. 25th. It was totally the worst nightmare of Argentina soccer and also the club Napoli of Italy.
In the blue jerseys of Napoli and Argentina national team, Maradona has won the World Cup 1986, the silver medal of World Cup 1990, the Scudetto of 1986/1987 and 1989/1990.
The former legend of Argentine soccer passed away at his hometown after suffering from cardiac arrest.
In just one year of 2020, we have said farewell to a gigantic number of legends in a variety of sports. From baseball to soccer, we have observed so many deaths in just a year, and it was definitely the most forgetful year of sports.
So many big events have to be postponed to the next year, while a lot of legends passed away in missing, tears, and regret. Recently, the list once again was expanded with another legend – Paolo Rossi.