Greatest Soccer Players in the World | Best Soccer Players of all time Big ups for mentioning Ronaldinho..He’s definitely in my top 5 ! the bais What? No George best in a list of the top ten? And he didn’t even get an honourable mention? Sorry but your list is Bulls£&it Peiman.R. The best 11 : Yashine / F. Beckenbauer / B.Moore / P.Maldini / D.A.Maradona / J.Cruyff / Z.Zidane / Pele / A. Di Stefano / Eusebio sub.: L.Messi / C.R./ M.F.Bastenn / J.Facetti / M.Pelatini /G.Muller / D.Zoff Pure24 This team can get CREAMED! No defensive midfielder? No defenders in the subs??? How in the world can this team stand against a team like say, Chelsea? Park the bus, hit on the counter, goal!!!

Classic mistake to base team strength on individual strength – the right dynamics is essential too (think Busquests+Mascherano in the current Barca squad) Marioluiggi Anyone that puts Maradona above Pele is being 100% biased or based on subjective opinions. There are absolutely no basis on statistics to even consider that: Pele scored 1281 goals – Maradona 345 (less than 1/3). Pele won 3 world cups – Maradona 1. Pele won 40 club titles (!) Maradona won 9. Per game, Maradona had a lower scoring ratio than Pele. Maradona could only kick with one leg (Pele scored with either leg) and Pele was also the reserve Goalie and caught 2 penalties in official games for Santos (!). Pele joined the Brazilian National team at 16 years of age and was 2nd top scorer in 1958 World Cup at age 17 when he also scored 2 goals in the final. Pele was the most complete, skilled and successful player for all time.

Maradona is nothing but a long distant second best that impressed the most recent generation and that is the only reason why some sites even dare to mention Maradona in the same level as Pele. MATTHYYY football is not only about statistic….. there’s also the fact that diego never played with superstars on his team and still he was able to conduct any MEDIOCRE team to victory in any kind of tournament :):):):):):):) Luis Gutierrez False, Maradona played 14 international matches and won two. He played 21 tournaments and won two national championships !!!!! His achievements are very small compared with Pele. Julian Thatuser Well, first off, Pele didn’t win 3 World Cups. He won 2. In 1962, he couldn’t play past the group stage because of injuries. It was Garrincha who led Brazil to win in 1962. Anyway, Pele never got to show his true talent outside of the World Cup, where he had a very talented squad to back him up with players such as Garrincha and Jairzinho.

Maradonna pretty much single-handedly won the 1986 World World Cup for Argentina. Additionally, we can be sure of his talent, because he went to play in Europe, where he won the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Cup, having consistently showed his skill on the field. On the other hand, we won’t know how well Pele would have fared had he gone to Europe. I’m not here to suggest that Maradona is better than Pele, or the other way around, I am just suggesting that the comparisons you are drawing aren’t particularly accurate. Joseph Moore Additionally, Maradona used drugs to perform his best skills and had to use his hand to win a world cup. Maradona is a cheating, hand-balling, cocaine sniffing. Pele is the best player ever, at 17 he did stuff that is way beyond and in the world cup as well, Maradonnas name does not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence. 1- Pele won 3 World Cups during his career and was in possibly the greatest ever Brazil team. Maradona on the other hand has only won 1 World Cup. It does not matter if he was injuried or not.

2- Pele’s goal scoring record. Pele scored a rather sensational 1282 goals in 1366 games. Pele averaged a goal every 0.94 games.. 3- He helped Santos become World Champions in the 1960’s. 4- Maradona’s scoring ability was nowhere near Pele’s. 5- Messi is better than Maradona, but not Pele. Most goals: Pele Not using drugs: Pele rye relb Not really. I have watched old football extensively. Diego Maradona had a much nicer style and dynamics. His attitude and conduct was terrible but the show he used to put was like what Messi does today and what brazillian ronaldo did before. Pele was a great scorer just like cristiano ronaldo is. It is not only about scoring goals….

wisam pele never played in euorpe if pele played in eorope he would of been on the bench, will never be another diego look at the skills maradona have vision ball control speed, he owned the ball, maradona was a midfielder not a stricker, if pele played for teams like napoli and argentina he wont even be able to take them to 10th place, dont ever compare anyone to the greatest soccer player of all time god of footbal like italians say diego armando maradona was better then a game of soccer rats123 You make some good points but Messi is better than both. Mess is the greatest football player of all time. K Shriv Football is never ever about an individual. Please don’t use cups won by their respective teams to compare two individuals. The ability to change game or orchestrate moves against high order teams is what really counts, not the number of times they found the net. And true, world cups are grand and important events but the difficulty level is much higher in competitions like UEFA because it’s a match between giant clubs with best players from the entire globe gathered in each club.

So the gameplay of each individual needs to be analyzed in tight situations and their approach before declaring any player as world’s best. What abt beckham? U have zero knowledge abt football Nicholas Chow Its a super old comment, but I really do think that Beckham shouldn’t be on the list. The list in itself is called “Top 10 Greatest Soccer Players”, we aren’t talking about “Top 10 Best-Looking Soccer players” or “Top 10 Soccer Players Who Became Great Entreprenuers”. Sure, Beckham is definitely one of the best players of all time…but in top 10? Not likely. He had an eye for amazing (No, brilliant.) shots and passes, something you should be keen for as a midfielder, but that is really all there is to Beckham in terms of on-field strengths. The only other “pro” would be that he holds appearance records on multiple stages, but that really isn’t as important. The only reason, IMO, that people adore David Beckham really isn’t his on-field play or extreme shots, but because of his global image.

Long before his retirement he has already been acknowledged as potentially the most marketable soccer player of all time, striking outrageous deals with companies and his good looks only bolstered it. His wife is a global sensation, his children are also becoming global sensations, HE is a global sensation…but for how he markets himself (and his looks, obviously), and not his on-field play. Levan7 I think the person who created the list has no idea what football is Kern Jeremiah You know this all time top ten is a joke when David Beckham is in it.They did not even list what Pele and Maradona did. They were the Messi’s of there era’s, if I may insult them in that way. Messi has one more step to make to truly stand in the top three debate. i would like to hear from you your desire top 10 list……… plz Kern Jeremiah Thank you. These people know nothing about football. ebola Alfredo di Stefano? Johan Cruyff? A top 10 list not talking about Cruyff or Di Stefano can only be considered a joke! GOOOOAL this is a absolute shit!!!

where is “THE BOMBER” ie GERD MULLER.., nauj Worst list ever Beckam better than Ronaldinho, Puskas, DiStefano, Maldini, Franco Barezzi and hundred more?????….. don’t make me laugh rye relb Excellent list. I only disagree with Cr7 being before Brazillian Ronaldo though. It would have been great to have : Messi-Pele/Maradona-zidan-brazil ronaldo-cr7-etc… Also I think Beckham has absolutely no place in this list! Common hehe rye relb You just do not get it do you 🙂 Sniffing cocaine does not make you play better football. Trust me!.. in fact, it might have slowed him down. Pele won 2 world cups not 3. Read what the gentlemen wrote before and if still in doubt, do some research.

Worky Look at the famous maradona dribble you will find big terry butcher knocked that one in sorry to spoil the party for all you maradona fans watch it closely big t slides in Og not such a good goal after all heeeee lol in 58 Pele head 17 yers and play 5 min and in 62 he was injured 0 min for real he won 1 title 70 . Nicholas Chow Yet Brazil still won, and if I remember correctly, Pele was on the team. Representing Brazil? Come on people, there are no such rules that determines that a player on the winning team does not get a trophy to his/her name because he was injured or subbed. You can ssay he did not contribute very much, but in reality and statistically, he has won 3 World Cups whether you like it or not. Sarthak Cr7 is best since day 1 never mind CR7 is a great player in history, but ”BEST” i don’t think so.

Harshit YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT FOOTBAL caleb cendrites messi is the best ever Eric You put Messi as the best and then point that Zidane was voted best european player thereby being voted better than Messi. No one has ever matched the way Zidane elegantly and methodically controlled the ball. zidanr Yeaa!!!Zidane all the way he’s my favorite football player TheDudeAbides Who the F$ck are the Knutsens !! Johnny Swoonara David Beckham……….no way, where is Zico and Platini? Sokker1008 AD For god sake stop overrating Messi . I mean he is a great player but putting him above a players like Pele, Maradona, and Ronaldo is too much. They are those who won matches for their team by their attacking skills. I know football is not only about scoring goals but these players are lead their team as a striker. Many experts have been told that players like Pele and Ronaldo were capable enough to destroy any defense. Messi may be one of the most technically sound players who led his team but he is not in the same league a these players. Sorry if i made any grammatical mistake .

I am not an English. rye relb 10. Zidane never mind no MESSI? u should be kidding. owww i get it , it’s the best retired players vava Messi at the top! !? Flip MM Just a wondering question, if there was such a thing as the Ballon D’Or during Pele years, how many would he win? Consecutively? C’mon, Messi is very good, but in comparison, the Brazilian squad alone had many other stars that could win such prize… Not to mention the rest of the world! Placing anyone above Pele is not knowing anything about soccer history! MESSIISTHEBEST How many goals do you think Messi would have scored in Pele’s time how bout that. How many Balon D ors do you think he would win. Don’t get me wrong Pele’s great, a legend, just amazing, but if you put Pele in this time, where football players are better and more fit, Pele would not score as many goals as he did. He definitely would not win a World Cup.

redi i support c.ronaldo but pele has 1280 career goal ,so we clearly know who is the best one orlando acosta lionel messi is the best!!! lagger Backham? Hans Jürgen I think the writer of this list never joined a soccer match,so I will help…nr.1 Pele 2 . Maradona 3 Beckenbauer 4.Eusebio 5 . Bobby Charlton 6.Johann cruyff 7.Gerd Müller 8.Messi 9.Dino Zoff 10.Platini MESSIISTHEGREATEST Good list but Messi, number 8, seriously, really? He’s number 2 at least if not 1.To me he is the greatest of all time. He has done things no other great has other then a World Cup. Yeah that Is a big loss but there are too many positives about him. If you want I can go off and prove he is. Oh and btw to all you Pele fans that say he scored more than Messi and Maradona so he is better, imagine you put Messi in Pele’s time how many goals do you think he would score?

How well do you think he would have played? Excellent. Also, during Pele’s time period the players weren’t nearly as good as they are now, or at least the majority. Football wasn’t that complex back then, now it is. Players back then weren’t able to run 90 min constantly( besides Pele). You know what I mean. I could write paragraphs if I want but I wont. Anyway I think Messi is number 1, but you still had a good list. By the way dude it’s football. Andy75 Messi is great , no doubt. But He always palyed for Barcelona, the best team in the world over the last decade,along side to great masters like Xavi, Iniesta,Ronaldinho,Eto’o,Piquet,Puyol,etc without him Barcelona would have won titles and cups the same way…If Messi wants to be the greatest of all time he must go playing for a mediocre team and take it to the victory like Maradona did in the 80’s when he came to Italy in Napoli (the team of the city of Naples), that was a mid-chart team struggling to remain in Serie A.

And i’m not a Napoli fan , I’m a Juventus fan, but he was without discussion the greatest, he won a Serie A title against our team that was plenty of ’82 world champions plus Platini, Boniek ,etc and another title against the great Milan of Arrigo Sacchi….Plus Maradona won a World Cup with a not so great Argentina in ’86 and got to the final in ’90…. Other reason Messi can’t be the greatest is that rules changed in late ’90 making the game more favourable for the strikers, gollkeepers can’t take the ball with hands when a team mate pass him the ball (at Maradona ‘s time this was possible) and hard playing by the defenders is more punished with red and yellows cards …. Leo WTF? David Beckham? For real? Roc Spent a lot of time watching new and old football matches…. Pele barely edges out the super talented Zidane…. 3 would be the Brazilian Ronaldo…. Then Ronaldinho… Cr7/Messi depending on your view followed by Maradona… Old Mueller, Beckenbauer and Platini completes the list… Beckham, Mathaus and Garrinchar are definitely honorable mentions….

john alvero sir you have a great knowledge about the football great article want to read again thanks for this article and keep it up Nickyboy I am amazed at how many comments here from some people is beyond a joke with their claims, yet some surely know their football. Statistics do not form an outcome to who surely is the best player ever, yes they help in terms of achievements as do winning trophies, but lets talk pure football here, people will always be influence by the genius of players, so the list can be more then 10, but in terms of greatness, this is always measured by the influence of an individual to change a game or result, his contribution his to get the best out of a team that most probably don’t match his own level of performance, an example of this has been mentioned Maradona no matter what you think of him, I’m not a fan, but he had everything in his locker, genius, skill, influence, desire and a winner, a average National team became World champions and Napoli a mediocre serie A team champions, this is how greatness is determined, on this basis my top 10 are: 1.Pele How could you forget about Ronaldiniho????!!!

Yo author go kill yourself Gabriel Díaz You cant put Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo and not put Ronaldinho, your list sucks Nix It’s 2015 Pele is kinda history many have pasted him and plus he didn’t have any competition ebo no one ever heard of George Best? or is he too obvious? Bruno No Ronaldo? The Brazilian Ronaldo? Arguably the greatest footballer that ever played the game …if it wasant for his injury he’d be greatest than overrated Pele …. Top 3 – Pele Maradona Ronaldo in no particular order. mivico Cristiano Ronaldo-The best all times. Ali Chaudhry 5-Beckenbaur MitchDeKid First off all, pele is a great player with fluent talent, but I think that we can all agree that Bobby Moore is the is the best player of all time. He captained England to the World Cup and won the competition with England. Also led England to the World Cup semi-finals when they played argentina but obviously to the doupy ref, maradona hand balled the back of the net.

He weren’t the most well know for pace but if you were to look at him, he has the most amazing ball control and his reading of th game was exellent. Now what has pele done to compete with that, recieved loads of threw balls and scored. Pure24 Honorable Mentions: (20). Gerd Muller (19). George Best (18). Sir Stanley Matthews (17). Xavi Hernandez (16). Sir Bobby Charlton (15). Marco Van Basten (14). Ronaldo de Lima (13). Eusebio (12). Michel Platini (11). Zinedine Zidane 10. Lev Yashin – 2 YEARS without conceding? 150 penalty saves? Ballon d’Ór for a GOALKEEPER? Come on, this position not only deserves recognition, but also because he is one of the most absolutely underrated best players ever! 9. Ferenc Puskas – Commanding leader, outstanding player. He led Hungary to the World Cup FINAL. Yes, the scene was different back then, but we see FIFA recognizing him by naming the best goal of the year award after him.

Not many people have influenced the scene enough to be granted this honor. 8. Paolo Maldini – Can I name a better defender? Well, yes I can!!! Beckenbauer. Can I name another? Definitely not! While many good defenders have a great year or so. . . a decade if he is great, Maldini won the UEFA Champions League as a teenager and was still featuring in UEFA’s best squad at the age of THIRTY NINE. Enough said. 7. Johan Cruyff – Isn’t the name alone sufficient? Alright, what about ‘Total Football’? ‘Three Ballon d’Ors’? Or maybe you know of a player who has dribbling moves named after him – Messi? He graced Ajax Football Club and won UEFA. Then went to Barca and, that’s right, won UEFA. Then after retiring he gave management a go and – yep, won the UEFA freaking Champions League! 6. Alfredo di Stefano – This was a close one with Cruyff. You could interchange them and I’d never mind. The only factor that turned this guy in my favor is FIVE UEFA Champions League trophies. In a row.

If it wasn’t for the great Eusebio’s Benfica, di Stefano’s Madrid would have gotten La Decima on their own. Oh, and he was captaining the side. He makes Luka Modric look like – well, like a Liverpool midfielder! 5. Cristiano Ronaldo – Ah, I must be nuts! Don’t care what you think, its my opinion. And in my opinion, a player who can score 63 goals/season in an era where we celebrate 20 goals/season (like Hazard etc. . .) is just outstanding. A maestro, and anybody would be crazy to say that Ronaldo is overrated. When he has a bad game, the entire Portugal has a bad game. And he is their top scorer. You know a player is good when he drags his entire national team into the top ten FIFA rankings. Add an inaugural Puskas Goal award *wink* and THREE Ballon d’Ors, jointly the second highest EVER. Plus nobody has scored more goals than CR7 in the 21st Century – I don’t see how any player below him can compare 4. Franz Beckenbauer – Yes, a defender in the top five.

A defender is actually ranking higher than CR7. Gerd Muller is a German World Cup winner, and yet Beckenbauer is considered EASILY better than him. He is the greatest German to ever grace the game, east or west. Even the legendary Karl-Heinz pales in comparison. He captained the squad which was the only one to successfully stop Puskas’ team; guess who was the main defender responsible for halting the Magyar’s march? He not only won the World Cup TWICE, but came back as Germany manager and won it yet again!!! I could rumble on and on. . . #4 3. Lionel Messi – maybe they are right, but whoever thinks Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Messi is clutching at straws. At best, what makes Ronaldo better than Messi is because he is a DIFFERENT kind of player. Let’s put this into perspective: I am a Man Utd fan. My second favorite club is Real Madrid. My best player of ALL TIME is Cristiano Ronaldo. But nah man, this guy is another one. You just MIGHT argue that Ronaldo benefits from his team.

The second you do that with Messi, he goes ahead and dribbles half the opposition on his own. FOUR Ballon d’Ors, three Champions League trophies and like 7 league titles or so. . . surely one of the greatest ever. If only he could find a way of deceiving today’s UHD camera’s for a hand-of-God kind of goal, maybe he could win the World Cup too. . . 2. Diego Maradona – Maradona managed the only thing Messi has failed to do; score with his hand in a World Cup semi final. Oh, and win a World Cup too, but that’s not really important. Hehehe, but what many forget is that it was in the exact same match that Maradona went on to score what FIFA has awarded as the GOAL OF THE CENTURY. Messi copied the exact same goal. You know, the same way Messi copied Maradona’s style. Seriously, get any videos of the two side-by-side and see. Messi refined, but Maradona created. Messi’s football, regardless of how mesmerising, is but an image of Maradona’s: it can’t get much more epic than that.

Okay, let’s try it from another angle – Maradona has no Ballon d’Ors. WHAT??? Yeah, for two reasons (1). Racism. Name me South American’s to have ever won the Ballon d’Or prior to the 90s? Maradona started his game in an era when Zimbabwe was still colonialized, Apartheid was at its climax, Falklands War in Argentina etc. . . but more importantly (2). The Ballon d’Or was for EUROPEAN PLAYERS ONLY until recently when the rules changed. Yet, it still stayed an award for players playing in Europe only until 2008 when it was combined with the FIFA World Player of the Year award to become the FIFA Ballon d’Or. But what Maradona had was Cristiano’s ability to drag a mediocre team to the finish line coupled with Messi’s ability to cross the finish line. Maradona is the only player of note in in the 1986 World Cup winning squad (unless you can name me another without Googling). Today, even without Messi, Argentina are easily favorites in any tournament. Okay, a third angle?

Alright: Diego Maradona DID play in Europe for a little club known as Napoli. Napoli has only won Serie A once and it was in the year that Maradona joined. Do you see the Cristiano Ronaldo-esque ability to win no matter where he’s playing in? When he left – well, Higuain is still trying to win another Scudetto with Napoli. Ha! As if. . . not even drugs can diminish Maradona’s stock. Firstly, those were narcotics, not performance enhancing. Secondly, performance enhancing drugs don’t actually enhance SKILL (this is why many football players don’t bother to dope. That’s for, say, athletics and cycling sportsmen who don’t use as much finesse. Oh, and also American sportsmen because American sports are dumb and American’s are dumb). Goals and yada yada. Yeah yeah yeah, of course. Of course. You can’t expect Maradona to beat Messi in EVERY field possible. Peter Crouch has more headed goals than Messi – see what I mean? 1. Pele. Even though he has never been eligible for the award, he was considered to be so good he was given an honorary Ballon dÓr.

He is the FIFA Ambassador to FOOTBALL. Recipient of the Football Player of the 20th Century. KickTV, Sky, BBC, ESPN and FIFA itself named him the greatest football player of all time. He is often compared to the likes of Mohammad Ali (Boxing), Jesse Owens (Athletics), Jack Nicklaus (Golf), Ayrton Senna (Motorsport) and even the stars of dumb sports (Babe Ruth – Baseball, Michael Jordan – Basketball). Messi is compared to Maradona. Maradona is compared to Pele. Pele is compared to OTHER sports; can you get higher than that? I haven’t even gone on to the stats. Pele could give a World Cup medal to Ronaldo and another one to Messi and still remain with one more! When Messi was 17, he was setting records at La Masia (since broken by Bojan Krkic) and playing in the Barcelona C team; Ronaldo was a skinny kid who had recovered from heart problems and was attempting to break into the Sporting Lisbon first team. Pele was winning his first WORLD CUP. Ronaldo has around 14 major trophies. Messi has 19.

Pele has THIRTY SEVEN major titles, and thats minus the international trophies Copa America and World Cup. Neither Messi nor Ronaldo have an International trophy to their name (well, Messi has Olympic gold at least. Football was not an Olympic sport in Pele’s time). Pele came out of retired at the age of 36 and was the top goal scorer, leading New York Cosmos to the league title. Will Messi and Ronaldo be high flyers in the MLS at the age of 36? Goals then – Messi has a total league tally of 286 (46 international goals). Ronaldo has 225 (55 international goals). Maradona has 259 league goals (and 34 international goals). Pele scored 650 goals, with 77 International goals. Come on guys, this is not even a competition! Pele wipes the floor with the backside of almost every other player. You could argue that Pele played in an easy league blah blah blah. . . then why is he the ONLY player with such high stats? If defenders were so easy to score against, then why didn’t strikers score more goals?

How can players TODAY break records (BPL record is 34 goals set in the 1990s)? Doesn’t matter your excuse: on a personal level, it wasn’t easy to recognize Messi above Ronaldo – but because stats don’t lie, I had to. And surely the history books are pretty clear that Pele is simply on another level. It’s like comparing Anthony Martial to Arjen Robben. Who is Martial? Exactly!!! Jackson No Ronaldinho or Henry, I think not a real football watcher best player of the football is definatly lionel messi no one can play as messi beetwin this tactical nowdays football if pele playin nowdays he never can do anything and in the best situations he play as suarez or david villa this football is so deferent from previuse dont forget this in that times there was no tactical team if yoou see old worldcup games you will laughing a real football watcher the best football player in the history is diffinatlly lionel messi he play unbleliveable in this tactical football nowdays .

no player could play as him if he was in this situation of football this football is so tactical and different teams have defferent defence tactic but messi break this impossible defences by his beautiful dribbles teams as bayern munich . real madrid . manchester united and … if pele . bekham . and other old players was in nowdays fottball in the best situations they was as villa or suarez or naymar .not better you have to belive this now days have so tactical teams messi is the best in history callmeshortyy bruuuuuuuuuuuh. what is this list? brazil players could make a top 10 list alone, atleast include ronaldinho, ronaldo, cafu, roberto carlos, kaka, robinho, romario, rivaldo, or dunga. smh Yoshi Maeshiro The text says Messi is # 1 and Pelé # 2, but the arrow keys say Pelé is # 1 and Messi is # 2. Make up your minds!

Justin LeGross The 100 greatest players of all time - Page 12 of 16 - Football Pantheon Sorting the history from the hysteria The 100 greatest players of all time Towering above: "I seemed to leave everyone else behind," Maradona once said 10. Giuseppe Meazza Country Italy: 53 caps, 33 goals Clubs Inter, Milan, Juventus, Varese, Atalanta, Inter Position inside-right, -left Medals 2 World Cups, 3 Italian titles, 1 Italian cup “Having Meazza on the team,” the great Italian manager Vittorio Pozzo once declared, “was like starting the game 1-0 up.” That was just as well because there’s an easy joke to be made here about Meazza scoring before he even got on the pitch. The striker became famous for going to a brothel the night before games and was often late for training because of his love “for champagne and women”.

Former teammate Peppino Prisco argued that “Meazza was great, unbeatable, even if he would occasionally run into a frightful crisis caused by his intense sexual activity and passion for the game.” He always got away with it, though, because he had the ability to make up for his errant behaviour. On another occasion, he arrived at the Inter stadium five minutes before kick-off after another hectic night. “I could hear the directors saying ‘We’ll deal with him after the match’. Luckily, I scored a hat-trick so afterwards no one said a word!” It was a frequent occurrence. The match-winning goals, that is. Because, while many of these stories may be apocryphal, the accounts of Meazza’s ability are not. Short and stocky but with a “bullfighter’s grace”, he also possessed outstanding individual technique. At a time when the game was still developing, Meazza’s 21st century dribbling ability proved truly devastating. His speciality was the “goal by invitation” whereby Meazza would draw the keeper out and effortlessly round him. On one occasion in April 1930, he had done this twice to Roma keeper Ballante within the first 20 minutes.

So, when it came to the third, the keeper stayed firmly on his line. Meazza still scored. But Ballante loudly celebrated the fact that he wasn’t deceived. A natural showman, Meazza still combined entertainment with end product. His 31 goals in 33 games delivered Inter the Serie A title in the competition’s inaugural season. “He was a born striker,” Pozzo enthused. “He could read the game understand situations and make the whole attack work by applying a concept of the game was based entirely on technique.” It was for that reason that Pozzo positioned him on the wing for the 1934 World Cup. Meazza’s ingenuity would prove influential. Having knocked out Spain in the quarter-finals with the only goal of the game, his through balls would provide the winners in both the semi-final and final. But Meazza’s annus mirabilis was undoubtedly 1938. Having again won Inter the title with 28 goals in 30 matches, he assumed the captaincy of his country for their World Cup defence. And he performed imperiously, as Pozzo’s team glided to the glory. Italy became the first team to retain the trophy.

And Meazza confirmed his status as football’s finest pre-war player. Ability 89 Country France: 108 caps, 31 goals Clubs Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus, Real Madrid Position attacking midfielder Medals 1 World Cup, 1 European Championship, 1 Champions League, 3 domestic titles (2 Italian, 1 Spanish) Very infrequently, football provides the kind of symmetry that can seem supernatural. Forty-two years after Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas had produced one of Real Madrid’s – and, indeed, football history’s – finest ever performances in Hampden Park, Zinedine Zidane rose to the same level in the same stadium. The volley which won the 2002 Champions League final was a decisive moment of the highest possible quality on the highest possible stage. The only way it could actually have been improved was if it came under the highest possible pressure – the last minute. Otherwise, it was a perfect example of transcendental ability. But, the curiosity of Zidane’s career is that his quality still seemed to require that kind of confirmation.

Because, although some of his career had surpassed both Puskas and Di Stefano – particularly the international medals – many other aspects suggested significant inferiority. In truth, Zidane was never quite consumed by the kind of battle rage that saw many other great player absolutely dominate games on a consistent basis. Sure, he did have a temper as we saw in the 2006 World Cup final and a series of other red cards. But the fact that they were isolated instances is also representative of the more positive side of his career as a whole. For the majority of his many games, Zidane was a cool, controlling presence. Astutely, Rob Smyth described him as a “cerebral genius” and “avant-garde footballer”. And, along the same lines, Alex Ferguson once said that Zidane “didn’t hurt teams”. While that could be construed as a criticism, it was likely more a reference to the fact that Zidane would tend to withdraw and dictate teams rather than decide them. As Thierry Henry said, “he is the guy we can always count on, the one who really takes control”. But the first part of Henry’s sentence is just as important.

Because, as in the 2002 final and as with the occasional moments of anger, Zidane would save his most decisive moments for the most demanding occasions: the 1998 World Cup final, the entirety of Euro 2000, the last two minutes of France’s Euro 2004 group game with England, the knock-out rounds of the 2006 World Cup. In that, he was the ultimate big-game player. Ability 92 Country Argentina: 63 caps, 18 goals Clubs Barcelona Medals 3 Champions Leagues, 5 Spanish titles, 1 Spanish cup Too high, too soon? Only because of the fact he has too much quality. Without doubt, Messi’s abilities are up there with football’s genuine immortals. In terms of fundamental technique, there’s probably no purer indication of quality than the capacity to dribble past a player – or a series of them. And very few in football history have done this as effortlessly or as excellently as Messi. “Once he’s on the run,” Arsene Wenger has said, “Messi is unstoppable.

He’s the only player who can change direction at such pace… he takes advantage of every mistake.” Because, as Wenger also mentioned at the end, even fewer players know how to then use the ball so spectacularly and so often. Over the last few seasons, Messi has provided at least a goal or assist every game. More often than not, he provides both. It’s the highest rate of productivity since assist records started being collected. And that’s another key point in Messi’s career. At 24, he’s won more medals than every single one of football’s immortals (ie, the players ahead of him in this list) except Pele at the same age. And it’s not just about the conquests. It’s about his contribution to them. As barely needs to be repeated, Messi has been the most influential player in one of the greatest teams of all time. Moreover, Messi has now dominated three Champions League seasons – having already decorated three others – in the manner that Maradona did the 1986 World Cup. Of course, until Messi comes close to replicating that feat then it seems that there will always be a caveat about his career.

In truth, though, his international has never been as underwhelming as assumed – even if it hasn’t reached the standards of his club career. In 2007, for example, he was instrumental in Argentina’s run to the Copa America final. A year later, he helped deliver the team to Olympic gold – an achievement with some prestige in South America. Finally, it’s too often forgotten that Messi was thoroughly dynamic in the first four games of the 2010 World Cup – and that despite the chaotic management of Diego Maradona which eventually lead to the defeat to Germany. But the ultimate question is, if Messi does eventually have that World Cup, will he be top of such a list?

As the hero of 1986 himself said, “The Maradona and Pele polemics would end.” Ability 97 Country Hungary: 85 caps, 84 goals; Spain: 4 caps Clubs Kispest, Budapest Honved, Real Madrid Position forward Medals 1 European Cups, 10 domestic titles (5 Spain, 5 Hungary), 1 Spanish cup “If a good player has the ball,” Hungary’s Jeno Buzansky once said, “he should have the vision to spot three passes. Puskas always saw at least five.” To a certain degree, outstanding numbers like that defined Puskas’s career. He ended up with an average of a goal every game: 84 in 85 caps for Hungary, 240 in 260 games for Real, 165 in 164 for Honved. Except it would, of course, do Puskas a huge disservice to reduce his career to mere goals. In the 1950s, he was the “star of stars” as Brian Glanville wrote.

He had “superb control, supreme strategy and above all a left-footed shot which was unrivalled in the world, dangerous from any distance up to 35 yards.” Like so many genuine greats, Puskas was also a pioneer. So regular has the simple drag-back become now that it seems a routine skill. But, in 1953 when Puskas sent Billy Wright running “like a fire engine going to the wrong fire” – in the immortal words of Geoffrey Green – it seemed revolutionary. Puskas had the foresight to think of it first. Indeed, as Buzansky insisted, vision was the Hungarian captain’s greatest virtue. Jorge Valdano claimed that Puskas could easily have been a defender if he wanted because his football intelligence would have “obviated the need to make a tackle”. Instead, Puskas spent most of his career side-stepping challenges – as he illustrated so exquisitely with Wright. The 7-3 win that moment came in the middle of, of course, was one of the high points of Hungary’s sensational 49-game unbeaten run.

And they might well have crowned the sequence had Puskas not got injured against West Germany in the group stage. The big debate before the final was whether he would play. Eventually, Puskas did so with a hairline fracture. But that debate has seemingly never finished as so many involved with the team continued to argue about it for years after it. In his defence, Puskas did say that – despite his immobility – he still scored and had another potential late equaliser disallowed in highly controversial fashion. Having already delivered Honved to five titles in the days before the European Cup, however, Puskas would go on to win the international medals he finally deserved at Real Madrid. And, there, he provided so much more than goals. As well as a divine partnership with Alfredo Di Stefano, he provided one of the game’s great spectacles in 1960.

Ability 88 Country Brazil: 50 caps, 12 goals Clubs Botafogo, Corinthians, Portuguesa Carioca, Atletico Junior, Flamengo, Olaria Position winger Medals 2 World Cups, 3 Brazilian state championships “Remember,” Vicente Feola told his anxious Brazilian team ahead of their crucial 1958 group game against USSR, “the first pass goes to Garrincha.” Still without a win in the World Cup at that point, the Brazilian squad were somewhat intimidated by their own imperfect history. So now, requiring a win against the USSR, Feola realised the only solution was to face the challenge head on and intimidate the opposition. And he had just the player. Having initially been dropped from the side for showboating against Austria in a World Cup warm-up, Garrincha’s outrageous technique was enough to unnerve any team. When in the mood – which, at that point, was often – he was simply impossible to play against. That day, it took Didi 20 seconds to get the ball out to Garrincha. And it took Garrincha just three minutes to destroy the Russians and set the tone for the tournament – as well Brazil’s future.

“Garrincha feinted left and went right,” Jonathan Wilson writes in Inverting the Pyramid,” Boris Kuznetsov was left on the ground. Garrincha passed, and beat him again. And again. And then once again put him on the ground. Garrincha advanced, leaving Yuri Voinov on his backside… and fired a shot from a narrow angle that smacked the post.” Mel Hopkins, who was left to ‘mark’ Garrincha in Wales’ quarter-final defeat, explained how exactly how he did. “He was a phenomenon, capable of sheer magic. It was difficult to know which way he was going to because of his legs and because he was as comfortable on his left foot as his right, so he could cut inside or go down the line and he had a ferocious shot too.” It is highly probable, Wilson argues, that Garrincha would have had to adapt his then unprecedented dribbling style in the modern game. But it’s also undeniable he had the sheer ability to thrive in any era. Indeed, the ability to adapt was one of his greatest attributes – as he proved emphatically in the 1962 World Cup.

With the early injury to Pele, Garrincha altered and elevated his game considerably. Having scored no goals in 1958 as the team’s supplier, he then hit two in the 1962 quarter-final and another brace in the semi as the team’s undoubted talisman. It was unquestionably his tournament. And 1957 was unquestionably his club year as Garrincha hit 20 goals in 26 games to deliver the state championship for Botafogo. For all that Garrincha is feted as one of the most important figures in Botafogo’s history, however, it is possible that the sheer difficulty of controlling him in the more day-to-day world of club football meant he didn’t quite have the domestic career he should have. Ultimately, though, it was his ability to improvise so artistically and anarchically that marked him apart. He may have been likened to jazz musicians and all manner of impresarios. But, in truth, he was utterly unique.

Ability 92 Country West Germany: 103 caps, 14 goals Clubs Bayern Munich, New York Cosmos, Hamburg Position sweeper Medals 1 World Cup, 1 European Championship, 3 European Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 8 domestic titles (5 Germany, 3 USA), 4 German cups Dettmar Cramer was going blue in the face. But Helmut Schoen just wouldn’t be moved. Ahead of the 1966 World Cup final, Cramer – the West Germany assistant manager – insisted that making Franz Beckenbauer mark Bobby Charlton would rob the Germans of most of their creativity. Cramer was to be proved right. But the debate itself, with Beckenbauer just 20 years old, was testament to his abilities. And, very soon, he would find a way to combine – and maximise – all of his qualities. Indeed, within four years, he would be effortlessly eclipsing Charlton. Because, by that point in 1970, Beckenbauer had carefully studied the game of Giacinto Facchetti. He realised that, when playing in defence, he need not be so confined by the traditional interpretations of defence.

So, the role of libero was launched. And so was Beckenbauer’s truly elite status. From that point and that position, the fittingly-nicknamed Kaiser would exert almost unprecedented influence on games. And not just while on the pitch. In 1974, as a broken Schoen struggled to cope with the new financial demands of the German squad, it was Beckenbauer who stepped in to prevent their World Cup descending into complete chaos. He convinced the rest of the squad to accept an offer and then essentially took over as co-manner. From there, Uli Hesse wrote in Tor!, “Beckenbauer was in great form and had become the boss both on and off the pitch”. In the final itself, he took command while Johan Cruyff took effective leave of the pitch. And it marked only the peak of a sensational period for captain, club and country. Beckenbauer was the key influence in two of the greatest sides of all time, as he personally collected a clean sweep of the game’s major honors. Ability 90 4.

Alfredo Di Stefano Career span 1945-66 Country Argentina: 6 caps, 6 goals; Colombia: 4 caps, 0 goals; Spain: 31 caps, 23 goals Clubs River Plate (Huracan), Millonarios, Real Madrid, Espanypol Position forward Medals 1 Copa America, 5 European Cups, 13 domestic titles (8 Spanish, 3 Colombian, 2 Argentine), 2 domestic cups (1 Spain, 1 Colombia) To put it quite bluntly, there has simply never been a club career as perfect as Alfredo Di Stefano’s. Many clubs like to cite the arrival of certain players as key points in their histories. At Manchester United, Eric Cantona’s innovation initiated the current spell of success. At Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish defined a dynasty. At Barcelona, Johan Cruff changed the culture. But by dint of the fact that Di Stefano effectively combined all of those individual eras, he overshadows every one of them. No-one has had an influence on any one club like the Argentine had on Madrid.

On arriving – somewhat controversially – in 1953, he didn’t just complete a team or claim a first trophy. His attitude altered the club’s entire ethos. His ability immediately elevated their overall quality. And his consistency created the most spectacular spell of success that club football has ever seen. As the most elementary example of his influence, Di Stefano scored in all five of the club’s victorious first European Cup finals – culminating perfectly with the hat-trick at Hampden Park. Moreover, he is the competition’s third most prolific scorer after Gerd Muller and Ferenc Puskas. And that from a player who could never be described as a striker. But, then, Di Stefano’s emphatically complete club career was in keeping with the exquisitely complete nature of his game. “I think nothing of popping up at centre-half or full-back,” Di Stefano once said himself. “We are all footballers and as such should be able to perform competently in all 11 positions.” In effect, he was describing Total Football – a full 15 years before it was thought of. “And has there ever been a footballer so superbly equipped to play it?” Brian Glanville enquired.

“Pointing, shouting, gesturing,” Glanville added, “Di Stefano ran the show – a more or less benevolent despot.” Bobby Charlton went further. “He’s got the ball all the time. Everything’s happening around him. He takes it off the goalkeeper, the defenders.” Real teammate Jose Santamaria concurred. “He was the most complete player ever, something I’ve never seen anywhere else. And I’ve seen a lot of players.” Just as valuable, however, was the influence he had on everyone else. “It was on and off the pitch,” Santamaria continued. “On the pitch because he was everywhere. Off the pitch, because he showed like no-one else how much he loved and respected Real Madrid and he transmitted that respect to all his teammates.” The most remarkable part of all of this, of course, is that it took place after resoundingly successful periods with River Plate and then Millonarios. Prior to Madrid, he had already enjoyed the kind of career that would put a player in the top 50 of this list. Indeed, with Argentina, he even won a Copa America – indicating his international career wasn’t quite as underwhelming as though.

Ultimately, though, he never appeared in a World Cup. And it is open to debate whether that’s down to poor timing. In the 40s there was no World Cup, and he didn’t declare for Spain until 1957. There is no denying, however, that he belonged on the stage. Ability 95 Country Holland: 48 caps, 33 goals Clubs Ajax, Barcelona, LA Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante, Ajax, Feyenoord Position forward Medals 3 European Cups, 10 domestic titles (9 Dutch, 1 Spain), 7 domestic cups (6 Dutch, 1 Spain) While Alfredo Di Stefano may have greatly influenced the entire history of a club, Johan Cruyff helped create an entire football philosophy. The charismatic Dutchman was not, of course, the originator of Total Football. But, as Ajax assistant manager Bobby Haarms always insisted, “Cruyff had a massive input… you could say it was [Rinus] Michels and Cruyff”. Primarily, that was through his elementary – but also elevated – on-pitch intelligence.

Cruyff’s innate knowledge of where to run and what pass to make essentially set Total Football in motion. As Haarms added, “he could do everything… and with such speed”. The famous Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, meanwhile, was awe-struck by Cruyff’s movement, proclaiming that both his body and mind were supernaturally swift. And, even in Ajax’s early, imperfect development, that had a devastating effect. In the 1966-67 European Cup finals, with the team still a long way from the telepathic interchanges of the early ’70s, Cruyff scored twice at Anfield to annihilate Bill Shankly’s Liverpool. But it was as the young playmaker gradually accumulated such experience and began to talk about, that his career – and Ajax’s unique approach – really accelerated. Cruyff began to discuss with Michels the finer points of the game, what players worked where, whether others had unseen talents for different positions. Crucially, though, he also applied such thought to his own play. Although Cruyff possessed a similar level of sublime raw talent as Pele and Diego Maradona, he seemed to use his more calculatingly.

Whereas they often appeared to know what to do with a ball by pure instinct, Cruyff used intuition. Such was the calculated purpose of some of his touches that it seemed he had instantaneously done the geometry in his head. This exquisite first touch on the turn, against Den Haag in January 1972, is the perfect example. Little wonder renowned journalist David Miller described as “Pythagoras in boots”. And, like all true innovators, the Ajax captained patented one particular piece of genius: the Cruyff turn. “At that moment,” Swedish defender Jan Olsson said of his encounter with Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup, “I thought ‘I have him’… I thought I’d win the ball for sure. But he tricked me. I was not humiliated. I had no chance. Cruyff was a genius… it was the proudest memory of my career.” At that point, of course, Cruyff was enjoying the very peak of his own career. The evolution of Total Football had eventually reached the stage where Ajax almost effortlessly won three successive European Cups. And, throughout each campaign, Cruyff wasn’t just imperious.

He was seemingly redefining the presumed parameters of performance. While appearing to glide, he relentlessly unravelled a series of established sides. And so it was at the 1974 World Cup too. As Dutch football historian David Winner has asserted, “across four weeks, Holland rendered South American football redundant”. In the 4-0 win over Argentina, the defenders were reduced to rugby-tackling Cruyff in order to keep the score down. And, by then, he had also overturned Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. With a vengeance. With Barcelona winning 5-0, historian Jimmy Burns wrote that “with Cruyff, the team felt they couldn’t lose”. He gave them speed, flexibility and a sense of themselves. Perhaps fittingly for a player that thought so much, though, Cruyff’s career never reached an inarguably conclusion. Holland never won that international trophy. Barca faded after the fantasy of 1974. It’s little exaggeration, though, to describe Cruyff as the most influential player of all time. And not just in single matches. He himself, after all, knew the importance of combining the individual with the collective.

Ability 97 Country Brazil: 92 caps, 77 goals Clubs Santos, New York Cosmos Position forward Medals 3 World Cups, 2 Copa Libertadores, 1 Recopa Intercontinental, 5 Brazilian championships, 10 state championships So ubiquitous is the praise for Pele, and so ingrained is the idea that he was among the very greatest of all time, that his exact talent can – counter-intuitively – be underappreciated. Even taken for granted. But there was nothing to be taken for granted about Brazilian football in 1958. Infamously, they had repeatedly allowed the World Cup trophy to slip from their grasp. And the heightened tension now seemed to have a constant hold on the team. Until, finally – and fittingly – Pele overturned all expectations himself. With the final itself at a particular fraught point on 54 minutes, and Brazil holding a still fragile 2-1 lead, the ball came to the 17-year-old in the Swedish box. “I made as if I was going to run forward but turned back instead,” Pele said. “That confused the defender and he let the ball come through to me.

When I controlled it on my chest he thought I was going to shoot. I got my foot on it and flicked it over his head, which was something the Europeans weren’t used to… it was one of the most beautiful goals of my career.” As we’ve seen elsewhere on this list, Pele was hardly the single reason a weight – and wait – was lifted for Brazil that summer. Indeed, the only actual game-changing goal he got was in the 1-0 quarter-final over Wales. But that was still one of six, with a hat-trick coming in the semi and two in the final itself. And, the truth was that, such was the way Pele’s youthful exuberance washed away all of the old flaws, and such was the manner in which his all-round game represented the apogee of a purposeful evolution in Brazilian football, that he forever became associated with a glorious new era. In essence, he was a symbol. But one with an awful lot of substance. The irony, of course, is that he barely got to exert himself at a World Cup for another 12 years. Pele was injured early in 1962 and kicked out of 1966.

But, in the meantime, he also altered the history of club football. Again, the accepted realities of the modern game mean that can be difficult to truly appreciate. Because of the fact the top South Americans must travel to Europe long before they mature as players these days, the Copa Libertadores no longer possesses the game’s premium talents. But that was hardly the case in the ’60s. Santos represented the very peak of club football. And Pele was at the centre of their reign. He had, of course, started it too. In 1962, he had scored a brace in the final against defending champions Penarol to secure Brazilian football’s first ever Copa Libertadores. But, if that series of games was close – with both sides winning away from home before a play-off in Buenos Aires – the subsequent Intercontinental Cup was anything but. Having scored twice in the Maracana to give Santos a 3-2 lead, Pele then scored a hat-trick in Lisbon to embarrass Benfica 5-2 and completely overshadow Eusebio . As if to only emphasise his obvious superiority then, he humiliated the great Portuguese striker with a nut-meg .

A year later it would be the opposite, with a spectacular Copa Libertadores and a harder fought Intercontinental Cup. First off, Pele crushed his Brazilian teammates Jairzinho and Garrincha with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over a brilliant Botofogo. Then, he rounded off a resounding win over Boca Juniors. Milan would provide a stiffer test. Both sides won 4-2 before Dalma settled a play-off for Santos. But, again, Pele made his mark with four goals over the three games. And, finally, in 1970 he would confirm his legacy. Of that year’s World Cup final, Italian defender Tarcisio Burgnich said: “I told myself before the game, ‘he’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else’. But I was wrong.” And yet, as sublime as Pele was throughout the tournament and the showpiece itself, the moment that most stood out was of the utmost simplicity – a basic, but brilliant, five-yard pass for Carlos Alberto. And the beauty was that it was only a repeat of a similar match-winning delivery for Jairzinho in the earlier game against England.

Essentially, in a tournament that many have described as the closest football has come to art, Pele seemed to be proving Leonardo Da Vinci’s maxim that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. But then, throughout that World Cup, Pele had been so on top of his game that he seemed to be very testing the limits of the sport: the dummy against Uruguay, the shot from his own half against Czechoslovakia. It didn’t matter that they didn’t come off. He was the first to try them. “He was the most complete player I’ve ever seen,” Bobby Moore said. “Capable of everything.” And, as a result, he would be first in this list – except for one reason. Pele undoubtedly reached the very top of the sport but his route there wasn’t exactly huge in range. Indeed, 1958 set the tone for his career. Pele was utterly magnificent but was always ably complemented by magnificent players. In 1962, with Santos and then in 1970. The same could not be said of his rival. Even it if is impossible to say anything else negative.

Ability 99 Country Argentina: 91 caps, 34 goals Clubs Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell’s Old Boys, Boca Juniors Position attacking midfielder Medals 1 World Cup, 1 Uefa Cup, 3 domestic titles (2 Italy, 1 Argentina), 1 Italian cup Given the stage, given the statement of intent and given the staggering number of players left in his wake, there has probably never been a great illustration of individual excellence as Diego Maradona’s second goal against England in 1986. And yet, as unlikely as the run was, there was still a sense of inevitability and destiny about it. Because, as complete as Pele might have been and as innovate as Johan Cruyff was, no-one quite had the elemental mastery of a ball that Maradona possessed. “I remember our early training sessions with him,” former Barca teammate Jose Carrasco said. “The rest of the team were so amazed that they just stood and watched him. Only he could create such a feeling of expectation.” But the anomaly is that it took until 1986 for Maradona to properly fulfil it.

Although he was only 25 at the time, it is incredible to think now how dubious his claims to true greatness were before that World Cup. Essentially, you can take the existing caveats about Leo Messi’s performance in the same tournament and multiply them by five. At that point, Maradona had only won a solitary Argentine title and a Spanish cup, despite starting his career at 15 – the same age as Pele. It was such parallels – as well as such ability, of course – that brought eternal comparisons with his Brazilian predecessor. But, in truth, Pele faced far fewer obstacles than Maradona. While both made their international debuts before the 1958 and 1978 World Cups, respectively, Argentina’s Cesar Menotti didn’t quite have the faith in youth that Vicente Feola did 20 years earlier. As such, Maradona remained something of a rumour. While Pele got to announce his talent. On a similar level, the Brazilian began his career at one of his country’s biggest clubs. By contrast, Argentinos Juniors had never won a professional title.

And even when Maradona delivered a title to Boca Juniors in his only season there early on – thanks to 28 goals in 40 games – he arguably made the wrong move in going to Barcelona. At that point, the Catalan club were often more moral victors than the outstanding champions of today. Still without a European Cup, Barca saw more decade-long droughts than league titles and seemed to perpetually stumble from crisis to crisis. And it was into another that Maradona walked in 1982. Biographer Jimmy Burns wrote that “in Spain, both during the World Cup and in Barcelona, Maradona’s game had often been so undermined by bad refereeing as to become almost unplayable.” Indeed, an infamous Andoni Goikoetxea assault put him out of action for three months in 1983-84. And that only followed a bout of hepatitis in his first season as well as an ongoing personality clash with president Josep Lluis Nunez. Because of so many external complications, Alfredo Di Stefano argued that Barcelona only saw 20% of Maradona’s full potential. But it was still enough to score 38 goals in 58 games.

Still enough to beat Real Madrid in a Spanish cup final. Still enough for Bernd Schuster to argue with Steve Archibald about who wouldn’t wear the number-10 shirt in his departure. It was also still enough for Carrasco to see what really drove the player. “When I was with him he seemed all too conscious of his roots. I’d realised how much he’d struggled to get where he was and how much he felt he still had to achieve to secure his family’s future.” It was a narrative arc that was to apply to his greatest achievements. Because, when Maradona went to Napoli in 1984, they had only won a solitary cup in their history. They were the unloved urchins of Italian football. At the same time, Argentina hardly looked like world champions. They had won less than 40% of their matches in the four years leading up to the 1986 World Cup. Worse, they didn’t even have a system. And, yet, Maradona lifted both to the greatest heights in their histories. Because this is the real point about his career. In Mexico, Maradona didn’t just fulfil expectation. He finished it.

As Hugh McIlvanney wrote of the tournament, “Never before has the talent of a single footballer loomed so pervasively over everybody’s thinking… Maradona’s impact goes far beyond the simple realisation that he is indisputably the best and most exciting player now at work in the game. It is in inseparable from the potent sense of declaration inherent in almost everything he has done in the field here in Mexico.” Sure, Michel Platini’s goals may have been statistically more decisive in Euro 84. But, quite simply, no one influenced an individual tournament like Maradona did in 1986. But, as emphatic as his five goals were – from the Hand of God to the highlight reel against Belgium in the semi-finals – it was a more understatement performance in the final that truly illustrated the depth of his quality. Throughout the game, Lothar Matthaus was charged with man-marking Maradona. But, realising that playing his normal game in such restrictive conditions would greatly diminish – and damage – his team, Maradona decided to go so deep so as to draw Matthaus from his anchor role and completely destabilise the Germans.

It worked perfectly as Argentina roared into a 2-0 lead. Typical of the Germans, though, they exploited the team’s main weakness by scoring twice from set-pieces. But it was to prove their momentum. With momentum behind them, West German abandoned their restrictive approach in order to win the game. Instead, it took Maradona just three minutes to exploit the extra space. With a divine through ball for Burruchaga, he settled the World Cup. Four years later, Maradona would prove almost as impressive as he dragged Argentina to the final again. And, in between, he won Napoli the first two titles of their career as well as the Uefa Cup. Given their history of failure, it is arguably the player’s equivalent of Brian Clough lifting Nottingham Forest to a European Cup. And most impressively, amid the shackles of Italian football at the time, Maradona sustained his irrepressible, evasive style of play. Of such moves in general and the goal against England specifically, Maradona once said “I seemed to be able to leave everyone behind.” He may as well have been talking about football history.

Ability 100 Top 100 Greatest Ever Footballers | Sportslens Blog People Andriy Shevchenko Top 100 Greatest Ever Footballers Top 100 Greatest Ever Footballers Marco Pantanella 7 November, 2007 Andriy Shevchenko , Brazil , Bundesliga , David Beckham , Diego Maradona , England , English Premier League , Italy , La Liga , Lists , Michael Owen , MLS , Roy Keane , Serie A , Spain , Thierry Henry It’s that time of the year again. The time when a random (ok, let’s call it ‘well-respected’ if you prefer) football publication makes an “All Time Best” ranking that never fails to create controversy and offend a few people. FourFourTwo did one of those last month, this time it’s the turn of the ‘Association of Football Statisticians’ to make its Top 100, after studying every fact and figure from the beautiful game over the past 100 years. Points are given for goals scored by forwards and clean sheets for defenders. Players also get awarded marks for trophies won, captaincy and the level they played at throughout their career.

It should come as no big surprise to see Pelé at nº1 spot (the Brazilian legend totalling 16,799.44 points), but the names and rankings further down the list are bound to raise some eyebrows. The analysis of The Sun highlights the biggest problems in English Premiership terms: Manchester United legends George Best, Denis Law and Eric Cantona don’t make the top 100. Ali Daei‘s 109 goals in 149 games for Iran puts him at 26th — ahead of players like Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho. Diego Maradona is ranked only 6th. The publishers explain to The Sun that Best misses out because he never participated in a World Cup tournament, and had a fairly short career, while Ali Daei won his place by scoring 109 goals in 149 international matches for… Iran. The Daily Star takes a look the UK players , and finds out that England’s top star is Bobby Charlton in 23rd spot, two places above Scotland’s Kenny Dalglish.

David Beckham is 44th, Kevin Keegan at 46th, Gary Lineker 56th, Welsh ace Ryan Giggs 62nd, and Michael Owen 68th. Alan Shearer misses out of the top 100. Further analysis of the ‘Best 100’ reveals that the top 3 trio is 100% Brazilian (with Ronaldo 2nd and Romario 3rd… and Cafu closing down the Auriverde block at 10th). Figo is 4th, Zidane 5th, and other big names such as Platini (13th), Maldini (15th), Zico (16th), Gullit (18th) and Cruyff (21st) are excluded from the Top 10. TThe most represented nation is France (with 16 players), followed by Brazil (11), Italy and Germany (10). England totals 7, Argentina 5 (Messi not included). Also, in terms of overall football career, the most represented European league is the Serie A.

Indeed, most of the Top 100 players worked at one point or another in Italy: Serie A totals at least 58 players in that ranking, closely followed by La Liga (44), and the EPL (36). Other represented leagues include the Bundesliga (22), the French Ligue 1 (22), the Dutch Eredivisie (20), and the Portuguese Superliga (5). As for South America, the Campeonato Brasileiro counts 11 players while the Argentine Apertura/Clausura only 8 (most of the Brazilian/Argentine stars obviously beginning their career back home). An interesting note is the total of 13 players who played in the MLS /USL (mostly at the end of their careers), making North America the destination of choice for footballers close to retirement.

As for the Italians, aside from the aforementioned Paolo Maldini the remaining 9 players in the list are Paolo Rossi (43rd), Alessandro Costacurta (49th), Dino Zoff (51st), Alessandro Del Piero (60th), Demetrio Albertini (64th), Giacinto Facchetti (75th), Franco Baresi (77th), Gianni Rivera (78th) and Roberto Baggio (79th). The Top 100 is revealed in the book Greatest Ever Footballers , on sale next week by Headline publishers for £14.99 (â‚¬21.50). Here’s the full list. Any thoughts? 1

Question: In association football, Bobby Moore, Franz Beckenbauer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, are considered among the greatest (What?) besides among the greatest players of all time?
Answer: Captains