11 World Football Superstars Who Spent Time in Obscure Leagues

In the world of teams like Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan, to name a few, there are players that come and go. Then there are players that become the icons that the fabric of the game is weaved out of.

But those players do not always fade away as quickly as people think. Most people forget that so many major icons played in random leagues around the world before their careers ended. Modern-day players like Thierry Henry, having joined the New York Red Bulls as he winds down his career, seem to be following in the footsteps of those before.

However, today's players are a little more remembered for moving to different leagues around the globe thanks to the modern media. But you cannot forget those that have done the same in the past.

The Russian League is not exactly obscure as it routinely has a club or two in the European club competitions.

However, Samuel Eto'o is perhaps the biggest star to grace the Russian Premier League in sometime since joining Anzhi Makhachkala this summer.

He is hoped to be the first of many that could start to raise the notoriety of the league around the world.

At the time that David Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, the United State's professional football league, Major League Soccer, was much less known than it is today.

The exposure that Beckham has brought to the league, as well as the controversy he has driven during foreign loans and training, has brought the face of American soccer to another level.

After a career that saw him score 589 goals for Santos in 605 career appearances for the Brazilian club from 1956 to 1974, Pele then took his show on the road for the final three years of his career in the North American Soccer League for the New York Cosmos.

As the Cosmos are in the process of their rebirth, Pele can look back on his time there from 1975 to 77, scoring 64 goals in 107 appearances. He is now the honorary president of the last club he has played for.

Retired Danish footballer Michael Laudrup is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders to have ever played the game. The most prominent years of his career were when he played with Barcelona from 1989 to 1994.

With his career winding down, Laudrup signed for Vissel Kobe of the Japanese J. League Division 1. He scored eight goals in 24 total games with Kobe before returning to Europe and ending his career at Ajax Amsterdam.

Barcelona's Josep "Pep" Guardiola was a legend for Barcelona long before he became their current tactical mastermind. Having done all he could do as a member of the Blaugrana, he embarked on a tour of multiple leagues and clubs before he retired and went back to coaching.

After a frustrating time in Italy, his first obscure jaunt was with Qatar Stars League club Al-Ahly Doha. Following two seasons on the Arabian peninsula, he took a chance with Mexican club Dorados de Sinoloa before retiring.

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff is known as the father of modern football in many ways. The attacking brilliance he brought to the Netherlands national team, Ajax and Barcelona ushered in a new era of the game.

The Barcelona and Ajax legend already had a storied career by the time he moved to the United States to play for the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1979 and then the Washington Diplomats, for whom he played in 1980 and then again in 1982.

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira is the greatest player in the history of Portuguese club Benfica as well as possibly the greatest in the history of the Portuguese national team. During his time at Benfica, he scored 638 goals in 614 appearances.

Once again Eusébio is another player who plied his trade in the North American Soccer League as he neared the end of his career in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His time spent as an athlete was perhaps the longest of any major star that came across the pond.

His first team was the Boston Minutemen in 1975 and then he headed south of the border to Mexico for a short spell with Monterrey. Afterward, he returned to the Toronto Blizzard for a season, scoring 18 goals in 25 games.

Between his time in the NASL, he also went back and forth between multiple teams in the states and Portugal. The other NASL teams included the Las Vegas Quicksilvers and New Jersey Americans. He ended his career with the Major Indoor Soccer League's Buffalo Stallions.

Brazilian footballer Arthur Antunes Coimbra, known as "Zico" the world over, played the majority of his career with Flamengo. His time in Brazil saw him make 578 total appearances, scoring 400 total goals with a short two-year trip to Udinese in Italy in the middle.

The football legend finished his career with four seasons in Japan with the Kashima Antlers. He scored 46 goals in 65 games, proving he still had his skills till the end of a great career.

Gabriel Batistuta is one of Fiorentina's greatest attackers in history. The Argentine forward scored 207 goals in 332 appearances for the Viola.

Before he ended his career, Batistuta was another of Europe's finest players to spend time in Qatar. From 2003 to 2005, he played for Al-Arabi SC in Doha, scoring 25 goals in 21 total appearances.

Along with Pele, German international Franz Beckenbauer was one of the longest serving players for the NASL's New York Cosmos. Beckenbauer was a legend to Bavarian giants Bayern Munich, with whom he scored 77 goals in 528 games before he made his move to the United States.

During his time for the Cosmos, which was split between a term of 1977-80 and his final season in 1983, he totaled 105 games and scored 17 goals.

Former Liverpool icon Robbie Fowler scored 183 goals during 369 career appearances for the Reds. He would make several other stints around football in the United Kingdom among time at Leeds United, Manchester City, Cardiff City and a brief time at Blackburn Rovers.

However, later in his career, Fowler tested the waters abroad. Twice he played in Australia, making 26 appearances for both the North Queensland Fury and Perth Glory, also scoring nine goals for each club.

Most recently, he continued to experience the life of footballers in the Pacific Rim as he signed with Thai Premier League club Muangthong United as a player coach in the fall of 2011.