The FIFA World Cup 2022 has now concluded and India sees another edition go about without taking part. While the Blue Tigers are a long way away from winning a World Cup, many World Cup winners from other countries have played here.
The Indian Super League (ISL), which began in 2014 witnessed some of the biggest stars in world football play in the league. Further, a newly-crowned World Cup winner has also graced the country, albeit once.
So, here is a list of global legends and veterans, who are FIFA World Cup winners who have played in India:
#1 Alessandro Del Piero
Alessandro Del Piero, the former Italian striker, is definitely one of the most dazzling stars to have played in the Indian Super League (ISL). He was signed up by the Delhi Dynamos (currently Odisha FC) in the first edition of the ISL. Del Piero had played in three World Cups the Italian National Team and was a key member of the team that won the trophy in 2006. In a two-decade-long career, Del Piero scored 27 goals for the national team and over 300 goals for various clubs. #2 Robert Pires
Robert Pires, a member of France's World Cup-winning squad in 1998, played 8 matches for FC Goa in the inaugural season of the ISL. He has also been a part of the teams that won UEFA Euro 2000 and Arsenal's unbeaten Premier League season of 2003–04.
#3 David Trezeguet
Yet another 1998 World Cup-winning striker from the France team, David joined Pune City in 2014 for one season. He played for Juventus for a decade and had minor stints in South America. He was instrumental in the Euro 2000, scoring the important extra-time goal in the final. #4 Marco Materazzi
This Italian center-back and 2006 World Cup champion, Marco Materazzi joined Chennaiyin FC for two seasons, 2014, and 2015, as a player-manager and helped them reach the ISL finals in 2015. #5 Alessandro Nesta
Marco brought in fellow Italian teammate Alessandro Nesta in the later half of the 2014 edition for defense. He too had represented the country in 3 World Cup editions (1998,2002 and 2006), winning the final one. #6 Joan Capdevila
Northeast United FC was joined by former Spanish legend Joan Capdevila in 2014. Having won the World cup in 2010, and silver in 2000 Olympics at Sydney, the left-back was an integral addition to the team. #7 Roberto Carlos
Roberto joined the Delhi Dynamos in the capacity of a player-manager for the 2015 season. The 2002 World Cup champion, regarded as one of the best left-backs of all time, is a renowned free-kick specialist who won bronze at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and appeared in three World Cups. #8 Lucio
The former Brazilian represented Selecao for 11 years and played 105 matches. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he was a part of the squad that won the finals against Germany. He entered the ISL through FC Goa in 2015 and led them to the finals that year. He played another season before returning to the Brazilian league. #9 Carlos Marchena
In 2010, Marchena was named to the Spanish squad for the World Cup, where Spain won its first ever title. He was signed on by Kerala Blasters in 2015 for the ISL but played just one match against Delhi Dynamos before quitting the league. #10 Lionel Messi
The newly-crowned World Cup winner, Lionel Messi, played an international friendly between Argentina and Venezuela in Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium in 2011. Arguably considered to be the G.O.A.T by fans across the globe, Messi went on to win potentially the final World Cup match of his career after having appeared in 5 editions of the tournament starting in 2006. 
