Learn from the past, then kick history's ass!

The wise Martin Luther King once said: "Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great".

Yeah, we know it's a bit of a cliché, but we do believe that hard work and perseverance separate a normal person from a great one.

And of the best to ever kick a football is none other than David Villa.


A prolific striker and goalscorer, Villa has struck fear in the hearts of defenders and goalkeepers since making his professional debut in 2000.

In a career spanning almost two decades, he's played for some of the biggest clubs in the world. He is now currently the captain of New York City FC.


Villa will have his story told on 'HISTORY Of Football' -- a seven-day, 26-hour documentary series dedicated to the most beautiful game in the world -- which is currently showing on History Channel (Astro Ch 555/575).

Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, which is set to take place in Russia later this month, we spoke to the man himself (he called in all the way from New York one Thursday morning) to pick his brain on footballing matters.

The importance of history

If you're a hardcore football fan, you would have heard of the name David Villa.

Regarded by pundits as one of the greatest forwards of his generation, the 36-year-old is currently Spain's all-time leading scorer with 59 goals.


He's also picked up several individual accolades, such as the Spanish Player of the Year (2005), the La Liga Assist Leader (2006) and the UEFA Euro 2008 Golden Boot (2008).

So, we just had to ask him: what makes him so good at what he does?

One of his 'secrets' to being the best he could be, he told us, is that he learned from the very best.

That includes studying the history of football and picking up skills from the greats who've done it before him, he said.


"Because if you want to be successful, in anything that you do, you need to learn about whatever you want to be successful at," he pointed out.

So, if you want to be a kick ass footballer, you would need to know as much as possible about the history of it.

"It makes everybody want to be a better player".

Playing at the World Cup

David Villa has played for some of the world's biggest clubs -- Barcelona, Valencia and Atlético Madrid, to name a few -- and has scored more than 371 goals for club and country.

Despite all his accomplishments, he told us that there's only one moment from his illustrious playing career that stood out the most to him.

"It’s the 2010 World Cup Finals, that’s when we won," he recalled.

The 2010 World Cup was when his home country Spain won the entire thing, and the victory was extra special for Villa.

He started at centre-forward during the final, and it wasn't until extra time when his fellow countryman Andrés Iniesta scored the lone and winning goal to help Spain clinch the trophy.

As icing on the cake, Villa also bagged the Silver Shoe trophy for scoring five out of Spain's eight goals throughout the entire tournament.

“The feeling of winning the World Cup and being there itself is the highlight of my career."

Words of wisdom

For many Malaysians, playing at the World Cup is, unfortunately, a distant dream.

Currently ranked 171 in the world, Malaysia has never made it to the advanced qualifying stages. The closest they got was Round 2 of the Asian qualifying stages (2006, 2014 and 2018).


Despite the huge mountain of a roadblock, Villa reminded our local footballers to not give up on their dreams and give their hundred per cent: the exact same message he's been drumming into the heads of his students at his very own football academy in New York.

"They have to learn and have to practice and work hard, it’s the only way to succeed," he said.

Catch the repeat of 'HISTORY of Football' exclusively on History Channel (Astro Ch 555/575) every day at 7.15pm.