Footballers named after politicians, from Tony Blair to Mahatma Gandhi

“The Costa Rican player Yeltsin Tejeda is named after the former Russian president. Are there any other footballers named after politicians?” asks Peter Strang. “Perhaps a Tony Blair or a Ronald Reagan plying their trade in Serie B …”

“Please can I be one of the no doubt thousands of people to point out that Cristiano Ronaldo was named after Ronald Reagan and has done a bit better for himself than playing in Serie B?” writes Chris Matterface. Indeed, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was named in part after the 40th US president. “My parents named me after him because they both liked this name and thought it sounded strong – my father admired him,” Ronaldo told GQ in 2016 (hat-tip to Sean McHugh).

“Here are two pairs of players named after Lenin and Stalin,” offers Kári Tulinius. “Lenin Steenkamp played his entire career in the USA, while Lenin Porozo has spent most of his career at El Nacional in his native Ecuador. Then there’s Stalin Rivas, capped 34 times by Venezuela, and Stalin Motta, who has played more than 400 games for La Equidad in Colombia.”

“There isn’t a Tony Blair in Serie B, but there is a midfielder in Kosovo called Bler Thaçi, who is named after the former UK prime minister,” notes Dara O’Reilly, who also offers former Brazil Under-20 player Marx Lenin (“a twofer”), Liberian international Chris Roosevelt Jones and a Lazio youth player named after his great-grandfather: Romano Benito Floriano Mussolini.

South America is something of a goldmine for political names. Tom Aldous suggests three Brazilians: futsal star Franklin Roosevelt Bueres, midfielder Mahatma Gandhi and Chelsea’s Kenedy – named after Robert F Kennedy. William nominates teenage Fluminense forward John Kennedy, while Lewis Dalgarno