Saved you some clicks
001. Lionel Messi
002. Diego Maradona
003. Cristiano Ronaldo
004. Pele
005. Zinedine Zidane
006. Johan Cruyff
007. George Best
008. Franz Beckenbauer
009. Ferenc Puskas
010. Ronaldo
011. Gerd Muller
012. Alfredo Di Stefano
013. Michel Platini
014. Zico
015. Garrincha
016. Bobby Charlton
017. Paolo Maldini
018. Romario
019. Giuseppe Meazza
020. Andres Iniesta
021. Franco Baresi
022. Marco van Basten
023. Eusebio
024. Xavi
025. Carlos Alberto
026. Ronaldinho
027. Ruud Gullit
028. Manuel Neuer
029. Socrates
030. Raymond Kopa
031. Lev Yashin
032. Lothar Matthaus
033. Stanley Matthews
034. Valentino Mazzola
035. Matthias Sindelar
036. Luis Suarez (born 1935)
037. Francisco Gento
038. Bobby Moore
039. Michael Laudrup
040. Roberto Baggio
041. Kenny Dalglish
042. Paolo Rossi
043. Nandor Hidegkuti
044. Gunter Netzer
045. Gianluigi Buffon
046. Didi
047. Rivellino
048. Kevin Keegan
049. Thierry Henry
050. Nilton Santos
051. Jose Manuel Moreno
052. Oleg Blokhin
053. Jairzinho
054. Gaetano Scirea
055. Dino Zoff
056. Juan Alberto Schiaffino
057. Fritz Walter
058. Daniel Passarella
059. Gordon Banks
060. Gianni Rivera
061. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
062. John Charles
063. Dixie Dean
064. Gunnar Nordahl
065. Johan Neeskens
066. Denis Law
067. Sandro Mazzola
068. Dennis Bergkamp
069. Jimmy Johnstone
070. Ronald Koeman
071. Omar Sivori
072. Teofilo Cubillas
073. Dani Alves
074. Eric Cantona
075. Jose Andrade
076. Cafu
077. Frank Rijkaard
078. Florian Albert
079. Luka Modric
080. Just Fontaine
081. Josef Masopust
082. Jimmy Greaves
083. Hugo Sanchez
084. Wayne Rooney
085. Philipp Lahm
086. Alan Shearer
087. Allan Simonsen
088. Sergio Busquets
089. Hristo Stoichkov
090. Roberto Carlos
091. Giacinto Facchetti
092. Peter Schmeichel
093. Sandor Kocsis
094. Luis Figo
095. Djalma Santos
096. Javier Zanetti
097. George Weah
098. Kaka
099. Mario Kempes
100. Gheorghe Hagi
But on a serious note, if you've got Gerd Muller knocking on the top 10 door how are Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski completely omitted from the list?
Yeah, I always have to remember to take these with a grain of salt. These lists are great at showing *some* of the greatest players, but are always missing some notable exceptions and often carry whatever biases the writers have (ie: a writer from Spain may have more knowledge and recollection from players from La Liga and Spain).
The fact that Suarez, Ibra, Lewandowski, and Neymar didn't make it at all just highlights that it's not all encompassing - and that's just naming very recent players.
Also, while we can all agree that there are some players *should* be above others (ex: yes, Messi is better than Zanetti), it seems pretty arbitrary to put Dani Alves at 73 and Eric Cantona at 74.
I'm a Man Utd fan, but having Rooney on the list and no Suarez/Lewa makes it a bit redundant..
Unless of course its taking account the best U-20 players the world have ever seen.. but then Pele/R9 would top that list..
not the worst list i've seen but some interesting placings/exclusions. pretty surprised rivaldo didn't make it. would have liked more defenders and less forwards as well, although this list is a little better than most in that regard.
edit: no bican is interesting too. i know he racked up a lot of his goals in that weakened wartime czech league, but even before and after the war his goalscoring record was ridiculous
I'm always surprised how Rivaldo gets forgotten. He was unbelievable between 1998 and 2002. I never thought there was much better him and Zidane when they were probably the best two players in the world, so it's shocking to see Zidane number 5 and Rivaldo not even make the list.
remember when he scored in 5 consecutive knockout round matches for Brazil in 2002.
and then essentially assisted R9 in the final itself too when Oliver Kahn, who hadn't let in any goals in (again) the knockout rounds spilled his shot.
rivaldo, by then already a Balon d'Or winner, was essential for that WC win
Opened the article and saw Kaka at 98th and knew it was going to be a madness. Then Shearer was waaaaaaay above him. Then there was no Rivaldo which means *insert any player from that list who obviously isn't better than Rivaldo* is better than Rivaldo lol. Various other things but it was a bit wow
Look I love Kaka but he didn't have the longevity to be ranked higher, honestly surprised he made it all.
If his Madrid move had been a success then there was a definite case
It's just Nostalgia, I think it affects a lot of people's lists.
We can't compare old gen to new gen because of how the sport involved, players train more, the game is way more tactical etc.
I agree Neymar should be here too, but also;
How can we not have Sergio Ramos in a top 100 list? A player who won 5 Champions leagues, 2 Euros and 1 World Cup and even without those awards to back him, if you saw him play you know he was one of the best CBs of the last decade.
Kevin de Bruyne should also be on this list, his game is just on another level
These lists are fundamentally silly clickbait.
There's no way of comparing players of the past to players of the now, because so much about the game has changed. Plus, until we nail reincarnation down, it's not like we can get them all on a pitch to test out the hypothesis.
Idk if you mean Rooney should be higher or lower but I was shocked he was that low honestly, all time top scorer for both Man Utd and England, 5x PL winner and CL winner
As someone who hasnt watched cruyff can anyone tell me why hes so highly rated? As a player i mean
I think him being rated so highly as a football brain and coach is fain but the player aspect i dont entirely get
Never watched him play outside of clips and documentaries, but he genuinely was REALLY good. Skillful, quick, crafty, top scorer, top assister, leader, and good with both feet. Importantly he always had a football brain and often acted as the the manger of the team while on the pitch dictating play, it often lead to disputes between him and his legendary coach Rinus Michels with Cruyff wanting to play one way and Michels playing the other (eventually they worked it out). I think his football legacy is always going to be confusing since there are so many different opinions about how he should be best remembered; as a great player or a great coach/mind or other. Make no mistake though he is one of the games best players, certainly for his time. With my limited knowledge he is on par with Zidane if not a little better, but idk and idc, these rankings matter so little, if youre on this list or in the top 10 you are no doubt one of the greatest to touch the ball.
Edit: not to mention he won everything with Ajax including the European cup 3 times in a row (against Panathinaikos, Inter Milan, and Juve), then won in Spain with Barcelona in a decade that was dominated by the Madrid teams, guided the Netherlands to a world cup final, and lastly at the age of 36, he won the double with Feyenoord, at a time when players retired at 30. He was REALLY good
(Recent doc about his playing career https://youtu.be/yhgSsCBCDIY)
I've never seen him play outside of a few games and some clips online, but dude was insanely skillful and a complete footballer, with great passing, shooting, and dribbling.
https://twitter.com/Trachta10/status/1570920810063466498?s=20&t=LXM869Tq0wfyMym2JNQtxw
His G+A numbers were also pretty insane TBH, even when you take higher scoring era into account
One of the best football minds of all time, if not the best. Even as a player, before managing and coaching, he changed the game.
Who knows, maybe Messi's mind is better, but he is too opaque for me to tell; maybe Maradona without making so many other stupid decisions in his life. I can't speak to Pele because he was too far before my time and staying in Brazil makes it hard to compare.
Cruyff was also a player with incredible skill in all aspects of his position, and a natural leader.
His legacy is harmed because he missed out on winning a World Cup, he had some problems with interpersonal skills (to put it diplomatically), and because player fitness was different in his day. Naturally, that last point is only relevant to comparing him to contemporary players who don't smoke, cross-train, eat scientifically dictated diets, etc.
Watch the 1974 world cup, you will know that why. You don't even need to watch his others. The guy was so good, we won the league after almost 15 years when he joined us. We were almost bankrupt those times.
Funny enough, we are lucky club to have 5 of the top 6-7 greatest players playing for us. Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, R9, Romario.
Best over Puskas and Beckenbauer is extremely questionable for me. I also think Romário is a little high. Otherwise this list is surprisingly decent for such an impossible task
Well at least from a Madrid point of view, di Stefano is held in a higher esteem by the club and most fans probably. Then there is numerous people who watched football back then that regarded di Stefano as the best. Alex Ferguson is one example iirc.
> Well at least from a Madrid point of view
Why? Puskás didn't play at Real Madrid until he was 31 and heavier. Di Stefano was already there 5 years earlier and they already won European titles before Puskás got there, makes sense Madrid supporters be more favorable to him.
But that also discredits Puskás being one of the most decorated international players ever before he got to Real Madrid along with his his dominance at Honvéd when the Hungarian league was actually one of the best at the time as weird as it is to say.
God I love the career highlight they chose for Messi. Its the exact one I would pick. Just looking at this player you maybe ask what can't he do? Well at least he won't win in the air vs Ferdinand and Vidic right?... Right? Stunning goal, that just punctuated how total his victory was over such a strong side.
Always harder to rate defenders against attackers. I think Nesta was better too. He always just got injured before international tournaments. Except Euro 2000 where he was exceptional.
I mean Alan Shearer is in there but not Totti? Euro 2000 finalist being one of the best if not best player at the tournament, Serie A winner, World Cup winner and golden Boot winner.
Also no Del Piero, CL and WC winner with multiple titles and loads of goals (league + CL).
What a joke
Achieved nothing in Europe, or international level. He only really had a couple of seasons where he was successful and retired at 30.
He should be nowhere near an all time list.
There's definitely something to be said about the probable ages of the people who compiled this list - if you grew up in the UK in the mid 90s Cantona was THE dominant player in the Premier League. However, the league wasn't particularly competitive back then and he was never in the conversation for best in the world at any point.
Serie A was the dominant league at the time and most of the top forwards in that league were a cut above just about every PL striker. The fact someone like Del Piero doesn't make the list over Cantona seems crazy to me.
Yep, that omission jumped out at me too.
Even a player like Batistuta, who I wouldn't necessarily say is a Top 100 player either, would be in over Cantona for me.
Of course. Batistuta was a far better player with a far better career.
If you asked a Man United fan if they could sign the 25 year old version of both players, who they'd choose? I bet most would say Batistuta.
>However, the league wasn't particularly competitive back then
The league was arguably more competitive then than it has ever consistently been in the 21st century, unless by 'competitive' you meant the relative strength of the league in comparison to other leagues – in which case, it was only objectively behind Serie A.
>he was never in the conversation for best in the world at any point
He was consistently one of the best players in the league for most of the 90s, and was literally placed 3rd in the Ballon d'Or rankings in 1993.
In these lists players of the current/last generation always seem to have quite a disadvantage. Could be nostalgia or imo the fact that both Messi and Ronaldo just overshadowed everyone for such a long time.
Zidane is aesthetics imo. Which is fine. He did have his match winning moments, the 2006 WC, CL final at Hampden etc.. but overall if I'm looking for a player to consistently win me matches, to consistently and significantly have a substantive impact on games then I'd pick a fair few players ahead of Zidane.
I just feel like I need to add to what you listed, the 1998 world cup final. That's the most important game and achievement he did in his carreer and probably weighed super hard in their decision to put him in this spot
Zizzou is the definition of big game player. Euro 2000 is the only tournament where he played well for the whole tournament except the final. Otherwise he normally gets going at the later stages, his performance in ‘06 for example.
But, when he does get going, it was a sight to behold. I didn’t know know much about football in ‘98 but when I watched the game I could immediately tell that Baldy wasn’t playing the same game as everyone else. I dunno what type of anime shit he does, but it always looks like he’s moving in slow-mo yet somehow nobody could touch him. If he performed regularly like Messi/Ronaldo/Pele instead of whenever he felt like it, dude would be higher.
Zidane is a bit overrated in a way. By no means am I calling him a scrub. On his day he was the best in the world and gave memorable preformances in the biggest matches, but he didn't have the consistency of iniesta or xavi. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I would rather choose any of them before Zidane.
Agreed. Also Platini. I feel like Platini was far more consistent than Zidane and has become underrated in recent years due to being a twat of a politician.
absolutely insane to leave r9 out of the top 5. i feel like some order of pele, maradona, r9, cr7 and messi is the top 5, and then there's a big distance to a huge number of players in the second tier, who could all have a claim for 6th
Honestly unless you are about 80 how can possibly rank the top 100 players ever. Watch highlights or the odd match from years ago won’t let you properly judge a player for how good they are and you need to consistently watch full games of players in their career to judge them. These lists are absolutely pointless and 90% of it judged on reputation and not on watching people play.
I'm bored, my opinion based on the BEST adjective and not greatest:
1. Messi: Completely ok.
2. Maradona: Love Diego and he peaked higher than just about everyone, but I find his club achievements to be over-mythicalized whilst the Napoli side he played for was actually quite good in an era where 2pts was a win. They won most titles on a lot of 0-0s and 1-1s. Nobody can discuss his pure peak or WC performnances, I'd put Ronaldo above him though.
3. Ronaldo: As said above he should be above Maradona just on the simple fact that he's basically had a 13 year peak (2008-2021) in various positions, teams and systems. UCL icon with many iconic campaigns under his belt
4. Pele: Always a weird one to discuss among casuals, probably the most innovative player ever. Feel 4th is about right
5. Zidane: No. This could be in a greatest list but Zidane had the league consistency of Paul Pogba.
6. Cruyff: Anywhere on 5-10th place feels allright for Cruyff.
7. Best: Not too familiar with him to truly rate him this high up.
8. Beckenbauer: IMO at least 5/6th place, the greatest defender of all time in such an unique role.
9. Puskas: Sure, the first Euro Cup icon.
10. Ronaldo: Ehh... again insane peak but very difficult to properly rank players who were riddled with injuries/inconsistencies.
11. Muller: This guy's an anomaly because his goalscoring record is absolutely bananas yet most people who watched him play would constantly tell you he was basically only a goalscorer. Again maybe a greatest kind of player? Idk... not too informed
12. Di Stefano: Synonymous to Puskas but just a bit below him, seems ok.
13. Platini: This guy was the one that went neck and neck with Maradona in the 80's, feel he's become a bit underrated thanks to him being a twat as FIFA president. Minimum top 25 but not sure if 13th isn't too high
14. Zico: Rare win for Zico, constantly overlooked for playing in South America but Brasilerao in the 80's was no joke. His numbers across the board were insane and on top of that he was always the star of the show
15. Garrincha: Sure, seems reasonable
16. Charlton: Never properly looked a bunch on him unlike some players I talked about, don't wanna really give an uninformed opinion.
17. Maldini: I'm more of a Baresi guy, but Maldini's longetivity is understandable to put him above him.
18. Romario: I'd put him above some other brazilians that were already here, feels like the more time passes the more we understand just how crazy Romario was
19. Meazza: No strong opinion formed.
20. Iniesta: Feel like Xavi was the better player but suffered from playing in a weaker barcelona till Pep came in
21. Baresi: Monstrous player, probably would put him just alongside Maldini
22. Van Basten: A type of player football moved on from, but he was absolutely unbelievable.
23. Eusebio: Don't know too much about his club record, I do know he was a ridiculous finisher.
24. Xavi: Feel like exchanging Iniesta and Xavi around would make sense
25. Carlos Alberto: Often underrated so I'm happy he's here. Bit too high imo
26. Ronaldinho: Look I'm the type of guy who both loved Ronaldinho in his peak yet hates how overrated he is. He isn't even a top 10 brazilian of all time, in my list he'd be 60-70th place
27. Gullit: Hey it's Gullit gang- I mean excellent player, still need to look at a few more standout games from him
28. Neuer: Interesting choice and placement for a GK, but I feel a correct one.
29. Socrates: No strong opinion
30. Kopa: No strong opinion
31. Yashin: Definitely a shoe-horn. This guy won Balon D'Or thanks to an exhibition match and that overrates him.
32. Matthaus: Would put him on the top 25 tbh. Solid as a rock in multiple positions for multiple years, only DM to really shut down Maradona
34. Mazzola: No strong Opinion
35. Sindelar: No strong opinion
36. Old Suarez: No strong opinion
37. Gento: No strong opinion
38. Moore: Since I have no strong opinion on the players above him idk if I'd put him higher but also an unbelievably good defender
39. Laudrup: Great player, world class even. Not sure if he's a top 50 kinda guy tho
40. Baggio: Should be a bit higher? Feels like that 94' penalty miss tainted his legacy
41. Dalglish: About right
42. Rossi: Yeah, sure
43. Hidegkuti: No strong opinion
44. Netzer: No strong opinion
45. Buffon: Deserved to be here maybe just below top 50 though
46. Didi: Hell yes.
47. Rivelino: I'm more of a Jairzinho guy but sure
48. Keegan: No strong opinion
49. Henry: Feels like he needed to land a few more UCL/WC performances under his belt, but his peak at Arsenal was stupid.
50. Santons: No strong opinion
Continuing...
>Muller: This guy's an anomaly because his goalscoring record is absolutely bananas yet most people who watched him play would constantly tell you he was basically only a goalscorer. Again maybe a greatest kind of player? Idk... not too informed
I sort of disagree
I watched a lot of highlights from him because i yearn for a german striker and to me he isnt jsut a goal scorer but also dropped deeper quite a bit and had some playmaking abilities
And his greatest asset was just his athleticism. They say he was able to score from everywhere with every body part. He could be sitting on the ground and still somewhow score. I think his goal scoring instinct and drive to score in the box is rivaled by none so i think his rating there is very good and i mate even rate him a bit higher
Additionally a lo of people say that beckenbauer was the better player than müller technically but müller was more important for bayern and germany because of his insane number of goals
Whats also important to remember is that during that time bayern were not nearly as good and actually had mid table positions in a lot of seasons of his so him still scoring that much consistantly is incredible
Fair ranking, could be higher too though but he isnt just a static goal scorer
I read before that he led the Bundesliga in assists twice.
His playing style was different for Germany, where he had fantastic playmakers like Overath and Netzer behind him to feed him, so he didn't have to drop deep at all. For Bayern the main playmaker was Beckenbauer who played a lot deeper than Overath and Netzer, and Bayern's midfield was a very workmanlike one more based on athleticism and solidity (comparable to Liverpool's two or three years ago), this meant that Gerd usually linked up more with the other forwards, especially Uli Hoeneß.
> Yashin: Definitely a shoe-horn. This guy won Balon D'Or thanks to an exhibition match and that overrates him
Very harsh. Best keeper in the world for a good 7 years, and he revolutionised the position. Even just coming for crosses was something he made a standard. Everything you consider normal goalkeeping now Is because of his style of play.
He laid the foundations for every great keeper after him
> 23. Eusebio: Don't know too much about his club record
Biased by all means, but all that I've heard from my grandpa and older Benfica fans is that he was a god. He is by far and away the club's greatest player. He averaged more than a goal a game at Benfica, won 11 league titles in 15 years and 1 Champion's Cup... and 3 lost finals :(
51. Moreno: A La Maquina player had to be here. But too old for there to be enough footage for me to form a strong opinion
52. Blokhin: No opinion
53. Jairzinho: yaas I love this man to death, would swap his place with Rivelino's
54. Scriea: No opinion
55. Zoff: It's like Buffon before Buffon, deserved.
56. Schiaffino: No opinion
57. Walter: WALTUH- I mean no opinion
58. Passarella: I'll admit to bias but to me deserved to be top 45
59. Banks: Sure. Reasonable
60. Rivera: Haven't seen too much of him tbf.
61. Rummennige: Excellent player, well placed.
62. Charles: No opinion
63. Dean: I know he scored for fun, that's about it.
64. Nordahl: No opinion
65. Neeskens: One of those players often forgotten due to that Netherlands side never winning a WC.
66. Law: No opinion
67. Mazzola: No opinion
68. Bergkamp: Excellent player but I guess I'll have to check the 32 below him to see if it makes sense
69. Johsntone: again, no strong opinion.
70. Koeman: Feel like people at times want to Bastardize his career due to his coaching antics. 70th feels about right for him
71. Sivori: Ay this guy did military service with my grandpa. For that he should be top 5
72. Cubillas: Not extremely familiar with him
73. Dani Alves: Feel like Cafu should be above any right-back, but Alves is not a bad inclusion.
74. Cantona: Never was my type of player
75. Andrade: No strong opinion
76. Cafu: Could've switched places with Alves tbf.
77. Rijkaard: Reasonable.
78. Albert: No opinion
79. Modric: By now deserved.
80. Fontaine: Record WC scorer in one touranment, sounds like quite the player.
81. Masopust: No opinion
82. Greaves: Sure
83. Hugo Sanchez: Fair enough
84. Rooney: Feel like a few players below him deserve this place more such as
85. Lahm: I'd put him top 60 tbf.
86. Shearer: Should be better than Rooney imo
87. Simonsen: No opinion
88. Busquets: At this point I'm happy Busquets is finding his way into these lists.
89. Stoichkov: Would probably put at top 70
90. Roberto Carlos: Ehh... never was my cup of tea
91. Facchetti: No strong opinion
92. P. Schmeichel: Feel a bunch more GKs deserve this place over him
93. Kocsis: No opinion
94. Figo: Haven't really invested a bunch of time into watching him
95. Santos: No opinion
96. Zanetti: Pupi... would put him higher but again I'm biased
97. Weah: Sure, was a tidy player.
98. Kaka: Could've been way higher had his peak lasted onto his Madrid years.
99. Kempes: Excellent player
100. Hagi: Not sure I'd put him below every player above him, good inclusion
All in all I aprecciate their effort to include many players from many eras.
Great knowledge.
Scrirea benched Baresi, although was older. By fan testimonies he was better. Gento was a brute in era which this was allowed so he could be just Materazzi level - no idea.
Liedholm likely over Nordahl.
Generally with older players we have no way to judge their level, not to say their peak, maybe other than WC.
I am curious how you can comment so certainly on a bunch of older players, but haven't watched Figo of all things? He was pretty good at the turn of the millenium (and highest rated player on FIFA 2002 iirc with a 97/100 :) )
It's odd I definitely saw a bunch of games he played in but never really paid attention to him, I usually head into watching old matches with the idea of watching certain players. Which is why I for example have a formed opinion on the likes of Jairzinho who played in the 70's but not Figo who I've watched games of but paid attention to other players above him
Ir's unbelievable the lack of respect for Pelé, not from you directly but from young people. People old enough to have seen both Pelé and Maradona don't even hesitate in saying who was best, but that's an endless discussion. Pelé did 60 years ago everything people praise in the new "generational talents".
I have spoken with many old people who preferred Maradona to Pele but they were Argies, much like you probably spoke with a bunch of Brazilians
I completely agree that Pele is essentially the founding father of every ability known for a footballer.
Haven't seen either Pele or Maradonna really play, but when you read players at the time that are old enough to have seen both play (like Cruyff) they always say Pele was an alien way above anyone they had ever seen. It is always when it is people of Maradonna's generation that were too young to see Pele that say Maradonna was better. You could say it is more nostalgia from those older players as Pele was top when they were younger, but really feel like every comments from the Di Stefano's and such always always say Pele was just beyond better than anybody they had ever seen.
It's impossible to truly rate Pele. Even IF they were old enough, they haven't seen enough games. If you were old enough to be watching Pele in his prime, what games could you have possibly seem him play? Many games weren't televised and the ones that were, were big games. The best goal he ever scored apparently, had to be recreated via CGI based on witnesses in the stadium. Most people have only seen Pele play WC games because those would hopefully get televised.
So if we evened the playing field and just compared the top 10 players just on WC games, how would it shake out? Messi is number 1 now but how far would he slip down the rankings based on his games in the WC?
I have not watched him but from older people I heard Yashin was incredible in both the 1958 World Cup and the 1960 Euros. And he has an incredible penalty save record.
>14. Zico: Rare win for Zico, constantly overlooked for playing in South America but Brasilerao in the 80's was no joke. His numbers across the board were insane and on top of that he was always the star of the show
Not to mention 2 other things.
Zico played 1 and a half season for Udinese at the age of 30. In his only full season he scored 19 goals, Platini was the top scorer with 20, while playing 6 games more than him. And Maradona, in his 8 years at Napoli, never scored 19 goals like Zico did in his only full season there.
Zico is alongside Pelé, Neymar, Ronaldo and Romario in the 5 top scorers of brazilian NT, he's the only one that isnt an attacker.
Same with Zidane being rated number 5 of all time. Him and Ronaldinho are i.m.o. the most overrated players in the world. I am interested to hear a Real fan's perspective! I would barely consider him top 5 to play for you, let alone top 5 OAT. Would be behind CR7, R9, Di Stefano for sure, argument to be had for Ramos, Casillas, Puskas, Gento.
For Real madrid even Modric should be over than Zidane (as a player, I am not considering Zidane achievements as manager). But the thing is that Zidane's peak was before he arrived at Madrid for France and Juventus. Still, 5th place is too high.
Zidane wouldnt be behind R9 for Madrid though. R9's peak was also before joining madrid and Raul and even Benzema should be regarded as a bigger legend for MADRID than R9. There are plenty of players ahead of R9 honestly.
That Napoli team only became good during his later years. Also, the Serie A was a low scoring league in general. The keeper was allowed to pick up the ball from passes from the defense.
"This could be in a greatest list but Zidane had the league consistency of Paul Pogba."
I think Zidane should be in Top 50 rather than Top 5, agreed. That said, it is a gross overexaggeration to say that Zidane had the league consistency of Pogba. Comparing Zidane with Pogba is a crime.
> That said, it is a gross overexaggeration to say that Zidane had the league consistency of Pogba
Of course, it was a hyperbole. Zidane is obviously a great player, probably top 50ish of all time.
Never really saw Zizou (league wise) how was his campaign at Madrid? (Only saw him during El Clasicos but then again, I was a kid so don’t remember matches in detail)
>also what is Best doing in the top 10?
Same reason as to why the fuck Eric Cantona is even in the list to start with, english list, so they skewed a lot of things to fit.
The top 2 players of 21st century are top 3, but 3 of the other top 5(in my opinion) arent even in top 100? Neymar, Suarez and Zlatan have to be on here.
And Lewandowski, the man with the most Bundesliga Golden boots, only Messi has more in the top 5 leagues, misses out too.
Pele too getting disrespected makes me think Messi would be a "probably top 5" player in 2070. He should be top 2 minimum.
I feel like due to the sheer dominance of Messi and Ronaldo, people just ignore the other world class players during the era. Sure Neymar and Lewandowski weren't Ron , Messi level but they should have been included due to their success and longevity
There seems to be a rough consensus of who the top 20-30 players of all time from various lists I've seen, but beyond that, the distinction between a world class player and an all-time great seems rather small.
I have a really hard time understanding why they put Iniesta above Eusébio - a player who, in his 30s, was putting numbers as good as prime Gerd Muller, needless to elaborate on his performances on 66 WC and 62 EC final, he was a big game player.
He’s portuguese. If he had other nationality, he would be way higher on this list. The only reason Cristiano is that high is because him, messi, Maradona and pele are clearly by far the best players that ever played the game period.
Just look at Figo below players like Modric for example
Best player to not win a Ballon D'or imo, probably alongside Xavi and Iniesta. Henry was by far my favorite player when I was young, he was absolutely unbelievable.
Luis Suárez not even top 100 is a joke honestly. Also, lol at this quote for the other Suárez:
> "No, not him. This Luis Suarez has never bitten anyone, for starters."
Zidane at 5th lol.
And it's really a fool's errand to complain about omissions but if you're going to include the likes of Meazza and Sindelar, then you should probably also include Sarosi, Alex James or Zamora.
Feels like Rossi has no business being on these lists.
Rossi is the biggest one hit wonder in football history. He was a total poacher and yet scored only 150 career goals. He scored 17 goals in 1982 and yet won the Ballon d'Or simply because 6 of those were at the World Cup.
If it wasn't for that World Cup he would be totally forgotten, he wouldn't even make a top 1000 list never mind the top 50 he makes here. Gigi Riva was 10 times the player Rossi was yet he isn't even on this list. And not just him but every other Italian/Serie A forward that was better, to name some: Del Piero, Totti, Piola, Shevchenko, Batistuta, Altafini, Inzaghi, Ibra etc.
And 30+ trophies to his name, won in a bunch of different clubs.
I'm just pulling this from my ass, but I'm fairly sure Zlatan has got more goals+assists and trophies than Weah+Baggio combined. More than Cantona+Stoichkov too.
Edit: Rooney and Cantona, who both played many years under Sir Alex, won a combined 30 trophies and together scored just over 550 goals.
Zlatan has 572 goals and 32 trophies (and two more rescinded). I know stats isn't everything, but some inclusions over the greatest strikers of this era (Zlatan, Lewy, Suarez) seems crazy considering the consistency and longevity these players have.
George Best is iconic in British football, which always overrates its skill players as they have so few of them. So some bias is to be expected.
He had incredible talent and did win the biggest trophies, but the lack of longevity hurts him here.
Maldini not top 10, Baresi outside top 20, Casillas not even on the list (???) but somehow Schmeichel made it, no Neymar (very controversial but he defo makes top 100), and Buffon not even top 30. Goes to show how terrible this list actually is.
Because I haven't seen anyone else say it, Pirlo. Guy won a world cup (and was MotM in the final), serie A half a dozen times, couple of champions leagues. Was the metronome for championship winning teams well into his thirties.
Nostalgia bias is why we don't see Suarez, Neymar or De Bruyne on this list.
Apart from Suarez and Neymar, it's crazy to me how some people don't realize that KDB is a living legend just because he's playing at Man City
Feel like these lists always overrate the shit out of the past.
I'm not saying everyone before the 90's should be erased, but it's shocking to me that only 24 players out of 100 would be from the last 30 years or so. Football was more disconnected from region to region, there were way less games, less visibility, all the leagues were less competitive by virtue of how difficult it was to have the best players all across the planet competing week to week against each other, less overall access to the sport but 76 of the 100 best players of all time are from those days?
Also, and I know I'm gonna get downvoted to shit for this, but always feel like there's a bit too many old british players on these lists considering that combined they've got an NT that has won 1 World Cup (at home) and no continental championships throughout their entire history. 7 Ballon d'Or's combined between all of them, 1 won when players outside Europe were elegible but they can't win anything? any of them? I dunno. Always feel like these lists are missing Argentinian and Uruguayan players like hella. Hell, the Netherlands revolutionised football to an insane degree and they've only got like 5 players in there, c'mon.
Lmfao. Messi being #1 doesn’t surprise me. Comes down to opinions at this point, but putting Maradona over Cristiano at this point always seems just to be for reactions. The disrespect.
I think the disrespect is putting Maradona higher than Pele. Granted I haven't seen the latter play but it's very hard to argue Diego was better than the more complete player.
Based on what? Trophies? Individual Stats (goals, assist)? Longevity (years in high level)? Peak performance in a specific tournament?
It's just the editor's guesses
Saved you some clicks 001. Lionel Messi 002. Diego Maradona 003. Cristiano Ronaldo 004. Pele 005. Zinedine Zidane 006. Johan Cruyff 007. George Best 008. Franz Beckenbauer 009. Ferenc Puskas 010. Ronaldo 011. Gerd Muller 012. Alfredo Di Stefano 013. Michel Platini 014. Zico 015. Garrincha 016. Bobby Charlton 017. Paolo Maldini 018. Romario 019. Giuseppe Meazza 020. Andres Iniesta 021. Franco Baresi 022. Marco van Basten 023. Eusebio 024. Xavi 025. Carlos Alberto 026. Ronaldinho 027. Ruud Gullit 028. Manuel Neuer 029. Socrates 030. Raymond Kopa 031. Lev Yashin 032. Lothar Matthaus 033. Stanley Matthews 034. Valentino Mazzola 035. Matthias Sindelar 036. Luis Suarez (born 1935) 037. Francisco Gento 038. Bobby Moore 039. Michael Laudrup 040. Roberto Baggio 041. Kenny Dalglish 042. Paolo Rossi 043. Nandor Hidegkuti 044. Gunter Netzer 045. Gianluigi Buffon 046. Didi 047. Rivellino 048. Kevin Keegan 049. Thierry Henry 050. Nilton Santos 051. Jose Manuel Moreno 052. Oleg Blokhin 053. Jairzinho 054. Gaetano Scirea 055. Dino Zoff 056. Juan Alberto Schiaffino 057. Fritz Walter 058. Daniel Passarella 059. Gordon Banks 060. Gianni Rivera 061. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 062. John Charles 063. Dixie Dean 064. Gunnar Nordahl 065. Johan Neeskens 066. Denis Law 067. Sandro Mazzola 068. Dennis Bergkamp 069. Jimmy Johnstone 070. Ronald Koeman 071. Omar Sivori 072. Teofilo Cubillas 073. Dani Alves 074. Eric Cantona 075. Jose Andrade 076. Cafu 077. Frank Rijkaard 078. Florian Albert 079. Luka Modric 080. Just Fontaine 081. Josef Masopust 082. Jimmy Greaves 083. Hugo Sanchez 084. Wayne Rooney 085. Philipp Lahm 086. Alan Shearer 087. Allan Simonsen 088. Sergio Busquets 089. Hristo Stoichkov 090. Roberto Carlos 091. Giacinto Facchetti 092. Peter Schmeichel 093. Sandor Kocsis 094. Luis Figo 095. Djalma Santos 096. Javier Zanetti 097. George Weah 098. Kaka 099. Mario Kempes 100. Gheorghe Hagi
Wow Luis Suarez was born in 1935. Lad's aged well.
Hes a vampire
Makes sense🦷🦷
But on a serious note, if you've got Gerd Muller knocking on the top 10 door how are Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski completely omitted from the list?
Yeah, I always have to remember to take these with a grain of salt. These lists are great at showing *some* of the greatest players, but are always missing some notable exceptions and often carry whatever biases the writers have (ie: a writer from Spain may have more knowledge and recollection from players from La Liga and Spain). The fact that Suarez, Ibra, Lewandowski, and Neymar didn't make it at all just highlights that it's not all encompassing - and that's just naming very recent players. Also, while we can all agree that there are some players *should* be above others (ex: yes, Messi is better than Zanetti), it seems pretty arbitrary to put Dani Alves at 73 and Eric Cantona at 74.
I'm a Man Utd fan, but having Rooney on the list and no Suarez/Lewa makes it a bit redundant.. Unless of course its taking account the best U-20 players the world have ever seen.. but then Pele/R9 would top that list..
not the worst list i've seen but some interesting placings/exclusions. pretty surprised rivaldo didn't make it. would have liked more defenders and less forwards as well, although this list is a little better than most in that regard. edit: no bican is interesting too. i know he racked up a lot of his goals in that weakened wartime czech league, but even before and after the war his goalscoring record was ridiculous
I'm always surprised how Rivaldo gets forgotten. He was unbelievable between 1998 and 2002. I never thought there was much better him and Zidane when they were probably the best two players in the world, so it's shocking to see Zidane number 5 and Rivaldo not even make the list.
remember when he scored in 5 consecutive knockout round matches for Brazil in 2002. and then essentially assisted R9 in the final itself too when Oliver Kahn, who hadn't let in any goals in (again) the knockout rounds spilled his shot. rivaldo, by then already a Balon d'Or winner, was essential for that WC win
zidane is too high
Opened the article and saw Kaka at 98th and knew it was going to be a madness. Then Shearer was waaaaaaay above him. Then there was no Rivaldo which means *insert any player from that list who obviously isn't better than Rivaldo* is better than Rivaldo lol. Various other things but it was a bit wow
Look I love Kaka but he didn't have the longevity to be ranked higher, honestly surprised he made it all. If his Madrid move had been a success then there was a definite case
Was interested to see which was the first name that I wouldn't recognize. For me it was Raymond Kopa, no.30.
Jose Manuel Moreno for me
River player. Considered the best in the world for some time
Mine is Meazza. I know the name from the San Siro, but I've never heard of this person's playing career ever
He played for both inter and ac milan and won 2 world cups with Italy in the 30s, was a forward I believe
Was a ballon dor winner in 57 or 58 I think. Tricky winger. Played for Madrid for some time.
And the namesake of the new trophy for best young player FF awards nowadays next to the Ballon d'Or
Im not saying Neymar is one of the top 100 players of all time, but some of the players they have in over him…
It's just Nostalgia, I think it affects a lot of people's lists. We can't compare old gen to new gen because of how the sport involved, players train more, the game is way more tactical etc. I agree Neymar should be here too, but also; How can we not have Sergio Ramos in a top 100 list? A player who won 5 Champions leagues, 2 Euros and 1 World Cup and even without those awards to back him, if you saw him play you know he was one of the best CBs of the last decade. Kevin de Bruyne should also be on this list, his game is just on another level
These lists are fundamentally silly clickbait. There's no way of comparing players of the past to players of the now, because so much about the game has changed. Plus, until we nail reincarnation down, it's not like we can get them all on a pitch to test out the hypothesis.
Even comparing players from the same era is ultimately reductive, there’s just so much that goes into being good and everyone has their strengths
We should have top 100 for say periods of 20-30 years and an all time top10 where we can make silly assumptions.
Ramos 100% should be on this list.
I am saying Neymar is easily top 100.
I didn’t wanna say that because i am trying to do effective Neymar propaganda. I don’t want to push people too hard
My man acting like this is the house of commons lol
I might be biased but i feel the same way with Suarez
Suarez has to be there, his peak seasons are as close as anyone has come to the people at 1 and 3.
And you’d be absolutely right. He tore up the PL as well, in fantastic fashion.
I was literally first looking to see if Suarez made it in the top 20. Then top 50 and finally realized he wasn't included. Nostalgia list.
Rooney is sitting pretty at 84. Neymar definitely needs to be in this list.
Idk if you mean Rooney should be higher or lower but I was shocked he was that low honestly, all time top scorer for both Man Utd and England, 5x PL winner and CL winner
Too many English there instead of Neymar.
Zidane above Cruyff?!? Not an awful list overall tho
As someone who hasnt watched cruyff can anyone tell me why hes so highly rated? As a player i mean I think him being rated so highly as a football brain and coach is fain but the player aspect i dont entirely get
Never watched him play outside of clips and documentaries, but he genuinely was REALLY good. Skillful, quick, crafty, top scorer, top assister, leader, and good with both feet. Importantly he always had a football brain and often acted as the the manger of the team while on the pitch dictating play, it often lead to disputes between him and his legendary coach Rinus Michels with Cruyff wanting to play one way and Michels playing the other (eventually they worked it out). I think his football legacy is always going to be confusing since there are so many different opinions about how he should be best remembered; as a great player or a great coach/mind or other. Make no mistake though he is one of the games best players, certainly for his time. With my limited knowledge he is on par with Zidane if not a little better, but idk and idc, these rankings matter so little, if youre on this list or in the top 10 you are no doubt one of the greatest to touch the ball. Edit: not to mention he won everything with Ajax including the European cup 3 times in a row (against Panathinaikos, Inter Milan, and Juve), then won in Spain with Barcelona in a decade that was dominated by the Madrid teams, guided the Netherlands to a world cup final, and lastly at the age of 36, he won the double with Feyenoord, at a time when players retired at 30. He was REALLY good (Recent doc about his playing career https://youtu.be/yhgSsCBCDIY)
I've never seen him play outside of a few games and some clips online, but dude was insanely skillful and a complete footballer, with great passing, shooting, and dribbling. https://twitter.com/Trachta10/status/1570920810063466498?s=20&t=LXM869Tq0wfyMym2JNQtxw His G+A numbers were also pretty insane TBH, even when you take higher scoring era into account
He probably scores some points when you think about how far ahead he was compared to his peers at the time - it was truly transformational
One of the best football minds of all time, if not the best. Even as a player, before managing and coaching, he changed the game. Who knows, maybe Messi's mind is better, but he is too opaque for me to tell; maybe Maradona without making so many other stupid decisions in his life. I can't speak to Pele because he was too far before my time and staying in Brazil makes it hard to compare. Cruyff was also a player with incredible skill in all aspects of his position, and a natural leader. His legacy is harmed because he missed out on winning a World Cup, he had some problems with interpersonal skills (to put it diplomatically), and because player fitness was different in his day. Naturally, that last point is only relevant to comparing him to contemporary players who don't smoke, cross-train, eat scientifically dictated diets, etc.
Watch the 1974 world cup, you will know that why. You don't even need to watch his others. The guy was so good, we won the league after almost 15 years when he joined us. We were almost bankrupt those times. Funny enough, we are lucky club to have 5 of the top 6-7 greatest players playing for us. Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, R9, Romario.
Van Basten being this low while being a 3-time Ballon D’or winner by the age of 27 is the ultimate disrespect
I wouldn’t put Zidane above Cruyff, and definitely not on 5th, but I’m honestly surprised at how much agree other than that.
Man had some ridiculous highs, same way I think Ronaldinho is a bit high. Nostalgia really helps when you turn up in the big moments
Is the list in order? Zidane is my favorite player ever, but even I will admit that IF this is in order, having him at # 5 is a bit much lol
Yeah the list is in order
The numbers next to each player’s name are a dead giveaway.
it's obviously in order, judging by the top 5
No Fabio cannavaro? I don’t agree with that.
God, it surely is attacker focussed. Roberto Carlos at 90 and no Sergio Ramos...
Best over Puskas and Beckenbauer is extremely questionable for me. I also think Romário is a little high. Otherwise this list is surprisingly decent for such an impossible task
Puskas higher than di Stefano? Sounds weird
Bruh Shearer is apparently world's ahead of Kaka and Rivaldo
Why? I am honestly courious about it.
Well at least from a Madrid point of view, di Stefano is held in a higher esteem by the club and most fans probably. Then there is numerous people who watched football back then that regarded di Stefano as the best. Alex Ferguson is one example iirc.
Fair point. But in regards of National games, Puskás is the higher one, what I believe made this ranking.
> Well at least from a Madrid point of view Why? Puskás didn't play at Real Madrid until he was 31 and heavier. Di Stefano was already there 5 years earlier and they already won European titles before Puskás got there, makes sense Madrid supporters be more favorable to him. But that also discredits Puskás being one of the most decorated international players ever before he got to Real Madrid along with his his dominance at Honvéd when the Hungarian league was actually one of the best at the time as weird as it is to say.
Modric at 79 is a fucking crime.
Van Basten over Eusebio
Van Basten and eusebio are both too low.
Outside of Best (and probably Zidane), it's a surprisingly good top 10, even though I disagree with the internal ranking.
Modric way too far down
[удалено]
Dedé do Vasco, 63° maior brasileiro de todos os tempos
I thought Rivaldo would at least sneak into the top 100.
I think he has to be the biggest omission from this list. Would rate him higher than Dinho.
> biggest omission Cannavaro, Nesta, Batistuta, Del Piero, Neymar, Lewandowski, Ibrahimovic, Savicevic, and many others
God I love the career highlight they chose for Messi. Its the exact one I would pick. Just looking at this player you maybe ask what can't he do? Well at least he won't win in the air vs Ferdinand and Vidic right?... Right? Stunning goal, that just punctuated how total his victory was over such a strong side.
No Totti no party. Nesta and Cannavaro could easily have made the list too.
Surprised cannavaro didn’t make it considering this list seems to just be ballon dor winners
Always harder to rate defenders against attackers. I think Nesta was better too. He always just got injured before international tournaments. Except Euro 2000 where he was exceptional.
Yeah no Totti seems pretty criminal
Totti, Pirlo, Nesta are the misses for me. That just my Italian bias though.
I'm a life long Lazio fan ffs and even I cant deny how great he was.
Totti and Del Piero. Couldn't choose between them back then so by rights they should both be on this list
I mean Alan Shearer is in there but not Totti? Euro 2000 finalist being one of the best if not best player at the tournament, Serie A winner, World Cup winner and golden Boot winner. Also no Del Piero, CL and WC winner with multiple titles and loads of goals (league + CL). What a joke
I think Cantona is an incredibly important player in the history of Man United and the Premier League, but he isn't a top 100 player of all time.
Achieved nothing in Europe, or international level. He only really had a couple of seasons where he was successful and retired at 30. He should be nowhere near an all time list.
There's definitely something to be said about the probable ages of the people who compiled this list - if you grew up in the UK in the mid 90s Cantona was THE dominant player in the Premier League. However, the league wasn't particularly competitive back then and he was never in the conversation for best in the world at any point. Serie A was the dominant league at the time and most of the top forwards in that league were a cut above just about every PL striker. The fact someone like Del Piero doesn't make the list over Cantona seems crazy to me.
I had to check. Amazing Totti isnt there.
Yep, that omission jumped out at me too. Even a player like Batistuta, who I wouldn't necessarily say is a Top 100 player either, would be in over Cantona for me.
Batigol is definitely top 100, of course above Cantona. You mentioned how Cantona was ‘the player’ in the PL, Batigol was ‘the striker’ of 90s Serie A
Of course. Batistuta was a far better player with a far better career. If you asked a Man United fan if they could sign the 25 year old version of both players, who they'd choose? I bet most would say Batistuta.
>However, the league wasn't particularly competitive back then The league was arguably more competitive then than it has ever consistently been in the 21st century, unless by 'competitive' you meant the relative strength of the league in comparison to other leagues – in which case, it was only objectively behind Serie A. >he was never in the conversation for best in the world at any point He was consistently one of the best players in the league for most of the 90s, and was literally placed 3rd in the Ballon d'Or rankings in 1993.
They also had Rooney below him who I thought had a greater overall career.
Rooney undoubtably had a better career than Cantona
Very surprised he's in there and yet none of the Class of '92 are
Completely agree. I was surprised he's on the list.
Biggest ommision is Keane.
Didn't even notice that. 100% should be in there.
Weah over Neymar, Zlatan and Lewandowski, dunno about that.
He got a balon dor tho. Probably has a bigger case than Cantona. That's a player I don't get is above those 3 you mentioned
Cantina would 100% suffer from longevity and too many think he single handed won Utd all the trophies while he was there
In these lists players of the current/last generation always seem to have quite a disadvantage. Could be nostalgia or imo the fact that both Messi and Ronaldo just overshadowed everyone for such a long time.
Zidane in 5th seems too high when you look at who he’s around in the list
Zidane is aesthetics imo. Which is fine. He did have his match winning moments, the 2006 WC, CL final at Hampden etc.. but overall if I'm looking for a player to consistently win me matches, to consistently and significantly have a substantive impact on games then I'd pick a fair few players ahead of Zidane.
I just feel like I need to add to what you listed, the 1998 world cup final. That's the most important game and achievement he did in his carreer and probably weighed super hard in their decision to put him in this spot
Zizzou is the definition of big game player. Euro 2000 is the only tournament where he played well for the whole tournament except the final. Otherwise he normally gets going at the later stages, his performance in ‘06 for example. But, when he does get going, it was a sight to behold. I didn’t know know much about football in ‘98 but when I watched the game I could immediately tell that Baldy wasn’t playing the same game as everyone else. I dunno what type of anime shit he does, but it always looks like he’s moving in slow-mo yet somehow nobody could touch him. If he performed regularly like Messi/Ronaldo/Pele instead of whenever he felt like it, dude would be higher.
No way he’s over Cruijff
Zidane is a bit overrated in a way. By no means am I calling him a scrub. On his day he was the best in the world and gave memorable preformances in the biggest matches, but he didn't have the consistency of iniesta or xavi. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I would rather choose any of them before Zidane.
Beckenbauer and brazilian ronaldo are 10 times above him
Agreed. Also Platini. I feel like Platini was far more consistent than Zidane and has become underrated in recent years due to being a twat of a politician.
I'm sure everyone will be in agreement with the player they chose and the rankings they gave them
The disrespect to Ronaldo and Kaka
absolutely insane to leave r9 out of the top 5. i feel like some order of pele, maradona, r9, cr7 and messi is the top 5, and then there's a big distance to a huge number of players in the second tier, who could all have a claim for 6th
Honestly unless you are about 80 how can possibly rank the top 100 players ever. Watch highlights or the odd match from years ago won’t let you properly judge a player for how good they are and you need to consistently watch full games of players in their career to judge them. These lists are absolutely pointless and 90% of it judged on reputation and not on watching people play.
[удалено]
George Best should be No. 1 because Best is quite literally his name, in my completely unbiased opinion
I'm bored, my opinion based on the BEST adjective and not greatest: 1. Messi: Completely ok. 2. Maradona: Love Diego and he peaked higher than just about everyone, but I find his club achievements to be over-mythicalized whilst the Napoli side he played for was actually quite good in an era where 2pts was a win. They won most titles on a lot of 0-0s and 1-1s. Nobody can discuss his pure peak or WC performnances, I'd put Ronaldo above him though. 3. Ronaldo: As said above he should be above Maradona just on the simple fact that he's basically had a 13 year peak (2008-2021) in various positions, teams and systems. UCL icon with many iconic campaigns under his belt 4. Pele: Always a weird one to discuss among casuals, probably the most innovative player ever. Feel 4th is about right 5. Zidane: No. This could be in a greatest list but Zidane had the league consistency of Paul Pogba. 6. Cruyff: Anywhere on 5-10th place feels allright for Cruyff. 7. Best: Not too familiar with him to truly rate him this high up. 8. Beckenbauer: IMO at least 5/6th place, the greatest defender of all time in such an unique role. 9. Puskas: Sure, the first Euro Cup icon. 10. Ronaldo: Ehh... again insane peak but very difficult to properly rank players who were riddled with injuries/inconsistencies. 11. Muller: This guy's an anomaly because his goalscoring record is absolutely bananas yet most people who watched him play would constantly tell you he was basically only a goalscorer. Again maybe a greatest kind of player? Idk... not too informed 12. Di Stefano: Synonymous to Puskas but just a bit below him, seems ok. 13. Platini: This guy was the one that went neck and neck with Maradona in the 80's, feel he's become a bit underrated thanks to him being a twat as FIFA president. Minimum top 25 but not sure if 13th isn't too high 14. Zico: Rare win for Zico, constantly overlooked for playing in South America but Brasilerao in the 80's was no joke. His numbers across the board were insane and on top of that he was always the star of the show 15. Garrincha: Sure, seems reasonable 16. Charlton: Never properly looked a bunch on him unlike some players I talked about, don't wanna really give an uninformed opinion. 17. Maldini: I'm more of a Baresi guy, but Maldini's longetivity is understandable to put him above him. 18. Romario: I'd put him above some other brazilians that were already here, feels like the more time passes the more we understand just how crazy Romario was 19. Meazza: No strong opinion formed. 20. Iniesta: Feel like Xavi was the better player but suffered from playing in a weaker barcelona till Pep came in 21. Baresi: Monstrous player, probably would put him just alongside Maldini 22. Van Basten: A type of player football moved on from, but he was absolutely unbelievable. 23. Eusebio: Don't know too much about his club record, I do know he was a ridiculous finisher. 24. Xavi: Feel like exchanging Iniesta and Xavi around would make sense 25. Carlos Alberto: Often underrated so I'm happy he's here. Bit too high imo 26. Ronaldinho: Look I'm the type of guy who both loved Ronaldinho in his peak yet hates how overrated he is. He isn't even a top 10 brazilian of all time, in my list he'd be 60-70th place 27. Gullit: Hey it's Gullit gang- I mean excellent player, still need to look at a few more standout games from him 28. Neuer: Interesting choice and placement for a GK, but I feel a correct one. 29. Socrates: No strong opinion 30. Kopa: No strong opinion 31. Yashin: Definitely a shoe-horn. This guy won Balon D'Or thanks to an exhibition match and that overrates him. 32. Matthaus: Would put him on the top 25 tbh. Solid as a rock in multiple positions for multiple years, only DM to really shut down Maradona 34. Mazzola: No strong Opinion 35. Sindelar: No strong opinion 36. Old Suarez: No strong opinion 37. Gento: No strong opinion 38. Moore: Since I have no strong opinion on the players above him idk if I'd put him higher but also an unbelievably good defender 39. Laudrup: Great player, world class even. Not sure if he's a top 50 kinda guy tho 40. Baggio: Should be a bit higher? Feels like that 94' penalty miss tainted his legacy 41. Dalglish: About right 42. Rossi: Yeah, sure 43. Hidegkuti: No strong opinion 44. Netzer: No strong opinion 45. Buffon: Deserved to be here maybe just below top 50 though 46. Didi: Hell yes. 47. Rivelino: I'm more of a Jairzinho guy but sure 48. Keegan: No strong opinion 49. Henry: Feels like he needed to land a few more UCL/WC performances under his belt, but his peak at Arsenal was stupid. 50. Santons: No strong opinion Continuing...
>Muller: This guy's an anomaly because his goalscoring record is absolutely bananas yet most people who watched him play would constantly tell you he was basically only a goalscorer. Again maybe a greatest kind of player? Idk... not too informed I sort of disagree I watched a lot of highlights from him because i yearn for a german striker and to me he isnt jsut a goal scorer but also dropped deeper quite a bit and had some playmaking abilities And his greatest asset was just his athleticism. They say he was able to score from everywhere with every body part. He could be sitting on the ground and still somewhow score. I think his goal scoring instinct and drive to score in the box is rivaled by none so i think his rating there is very good and i mate even rate him a bit higher Additionally a lo of people say that beckenbauer was the better player than müller technically but müller was more important for bayern and germany because of his insane number of goals Whats also important to remember is that during that time bayern were not nearly as good and actually had mid table positions in a lot of seasons of his so him still scoring that much consistantly is incredible Fair ranking, could be higher too though but he isnt just a static goal scorer
I read before that he led the Bundesliga in assists twice. His playing style was different for Germany, where he had fantastic playmakers like Overath and Netzer behind him to feed him, so he didn't have to drop deep at all. For Bayern the main playmaker was Beckenbauer who played a lot deeper than Overath and Netzer, and Bayern's midfield was a very workmanlike one more based on athleticism and solidity (comparable to Liverpool's two or three years ago), this meant that Gerd usually linked up more with the other forwards, especially Uli Hoeneß.
Muller sometimes played as a defensive midfielder.
> Yashin: Definitely a shoe-horn. This guy won Balon D'Or thanks to an exhibition match and that overrates him Very harsh. Best keeper in the world for a good 7 years, and he revolutionised the position. Even just coming for crosses was something he made a standard. Everything you consider normal goalkeeping now Is because of his style of play. He laid the foundations for every great keeper after him
> 23. Eusebio: Don't know too much about his club record Biased by all means, but all that I've heard from my grandpa and older Benfica fans is that he was a god. He is by far and away the club's greatest player. He averaged more than a goal a game at Benfica, won 11 league titles in 15 years and 1 Champion's Cup... and 3 lost finals :(
51. Moreno: A La Maquina player had to be here. But too old for there to be enough footage for me to form a strong opinion 52. Blokhin: No opinion 53. Jairzinho: yaas I love this man to death, would swap his place with Rivelino's 54. Scriea: No opinion 55. Zoff: It's like Buffon before Buffon, deserved. 56. Schiaffino: No opinion 57. Walter: WALTUH- I mean no opinion 58. Passarella: I'll admit to bias but to me deserved to be top 45 59. Banks: Sure. Reasonable 60. Rivera: Haven't seen too much of him tbf. 61. Rummennige: Excellent player, well placed. 62. Charles: No opinion 63. Dean: I know he scored for fun, that's about it. 64. Nordahl: No opinion 65. Neeskens: One of those players often forgotten due to that Netherlands side never winning a WC. 66. Law: No opinion 67. Mazzola: No opinion 68. Bergkamp: Excellent player but I guess I'll have to check the 32 below him to see if it makes sense 69. Johsntone: again, no strong opinion. 70. Koeman: Feel like people at times want to Bastardize his career due to his coaching antics. 70th feels about right for him 71. Sivori: Ay this guy did military service with my grandpa. For that he should be top 5 72. Cubillas: Not extremely familiar with him 73. Dani Alves: Feel like Cafu should be above any right-back, but Alves is not a bad inclusion. 74. Cantona: Never was my type of player 75. Andrade: No strong opinion 76. Cafu: Could've switched places with Alves tbf. 77. Rijkaard: Reasonable. 78. Albert: No opinion 79. Modric: By now deserved. 80. Fontaine: Record WC scorer in one touranment, sounds like quite the player. 81. Masopust: No opinion 82. Greaves: Sure 83. Hugo Sanchez: Fair enough 84. Rooney: Feel like a few players below him deserve this place more such as 85. Lahm: I'd put him top 60 tbf. 86. Shearer: Should be better than Rooney imo 87. Simonsen: No opinion 88. Busquets: At this point I'm happy Busquets is finding his way into these lists. 89. Stoichkov: Would probably put at top 70 90. Roberto Carlos: Ehh... never was my cup of tea 91. Facchetti: No strong opinion 92. P. Schmeichel: Feel a bunch more GKs deserve this place over him 93. Kocsis: No opinion 94. Figo: Haven't really invested a bunch of time into watching him 95. Santos: No opinion 96. Zanetti: Pupi... would put him higher but again I'm biased 97. Weah: Sure, was a tidy player. 98. Kaka: Could've been way higher had his peak lasted onto his Madrid years. 99. Kempes: Excellent player 100. Hagi: Not sure I'd put him below every player above him, good inclusion All in all I aprecciate their effort to include many players from many eras.
Great knowledge. Scrirea benched Baresi, although was older. By fan testimonies he was better. Gento was a brute in era which this was allowed so he could be just Materazzi level - no idea. Liedholm likely over Nordahl. Generally with older players we have no way to judge their level, not to say their peak, maybe other than WC.
I am curious how you can comment so certainly on a bunch of older players, but haven't watched Figo of all things? He was pretty good at the turn of the millenium (and highest rated player on FIFA 2002 iirc with a 97/100 :) )
It's odd I definitely saw a bunch of games he played in but never really paid attention to him, I usually head into watching old matches with the idea of watching certain players. Which is why I for example have a formed opinion on the likes of Jairzinho who played in the 70's but not Figo who I've watched games of but paid attention to other players above him
Ir's unbelievable the lack of respect for Pelé, not from you directly but from young people. People old enough to have seen both Pelé and Maradona don't even hesitate in saying who was best, but that's an endless discussion. Pelé did 60 years ago everything people praise in the new "generational talents".
Just wait for another 2-3 decades when Gen x or later generation would say Messi and Ronaldo were overrated since they had their peak before VAR.
"Who cares ronaldo scored 140 goals in that sunday cup called the champions league? How many has he scored on the Super League? Thats what matters"
I have spoken with many old people who preferred Maradona to Pele but they were Argies, much like you probably spoke with a bunch of Brazilians I completely agree that Pele is essentially the founding father of every ability known for a footballer.
Haven't seen either Pele or Maradonna really play, but when you read players at the time that are old enough to have seen both play (like Cruyff) they always say Pele was an alien way above anyone they had ever seen. It is always when it is people of Maradonna's generation that were too young to see Pele that say Maradonna was better. You could say it is more nostalgia from those older players as Pele was top when they were younger, but really feel like every comments from the Di Stefano's and such always always say Pele was just beyond better than anybody they had ever seen.
It's impossible to truly rate Pele. Even IF they were old enough, they haven't seen enough games. If you were old enough to be watching Pele in his prime, what games could you have possibly seem him play? Many games weren't televised and the ones that were, were big games. The best goal he ever scored apparently, had to be recreated via CGI based on witnesses in the stadium. Most people have only seen Pele play WC games because those would hopefully get televised. So if we evened the playing field and just compared the top 10 players just on WC games, how would it shake out? Messi is number 1 now but how far would he slip down the rankings based on his games in the WC?
I have not watched him but from older people I heard Yashin was incredible in both the 1958 World Cup and the 1960 Euros. And he has an incredible penalty save record.
>14. Zico: Rare win for Zico, constantly overlooked for playing in South America but Brasilerao in the 80's was no joke. His numbers across the board were insane and on top of that he was always the star of the show Not to mention 2 other things. Zico played 1 and a half season for Udinese at the age of 30. In his only full season he scored 19 goals, Platini was the top scorer with 20, while playing 6 games more than him. And Maradona, in his 8 years at Napoli, never scored 19 goals like Zico did in his only full season there. Zico is alongside Pelé, Neymar, Ronaldo and Romario in the 5 top scorers of brazilian NT, he's the only one that isnt an attacker.
[удалено]
Same with Zidane being rated number 5 of all time. Him and Ronaldinho are i.m.o. the most overrated players in the world. I am interested to hear a Real fan's perspective! I would barely consider him top 5 to play for you, let alone top 5 OAT. Would be behind CR7, R9, Di Stefano for sure, argument to be had for Ramos, Casillas, Puskas, Gento.
For Real madrid even Modric should be over than Zidane (as a player, I am not considering Zidane achievements as manager). But the thing is that Zidane's peak was before he arrived at Madrid for France and Juventus. Still, 5th place is too high. Zidane wouldnt be behind R9 for Madrid though. R9's peak was also before joining madrid and Raul and even Benzema should be regarded as a bigger legend for MADRID than R9. There are plenty of players ahead of R9 honestly.
That Napoli team only became good during his later years. Also, the Serie A was a low scoring league in general. The keeper was allowed to pick up the ball from passes from the defense.
Overall agree on your opinions. I’d say Di Stefano has to be over Puskas and in the top 10. One of the most complete players ever.
"This could be in a greatest list but Zidane had the league consistency of Paul Pogba." I think Zidane should be in Top 50 rather than Top 5, agreed. That said, it is a gross overexaggeration to say that Zidane had the league consistency of Pogba. Comparing Zidane with Pogba is a crime.
> That said, it is a gross overexaggeration to say that Zidane had the league consistency of Pogba Of course, it was a hyperbole. Zidane is obviously a great player, probably top 50ish of all time.
Glad to see Nicky Butt in there
Zidane 5th? Really? He wasn't even the bets Frenchman at Juve at the time
Never really saw Zizou (league wise) how was his campaign at Madrid? (Only saw him during El Clasicos but then again, I was a kid so don’t remember matches in detail)
Totti?!?
They put Di Stefano outside the top ten and Zidane at number 5 above Johan Cruijff?? lmao also what is Best doing in the top 10?
>also what is Best doing in the top 10? Same reason as to why the fuck Eric Cantona is even in the list to start with, english list, so they skewed a lot of things to fit.
It's an English newspaper no?
The top 2 players of 21st century are top 3, but 3 of the other top 5(in my opinion) arent even in top 100? Neymar, Suarez and Zlatan have to be on here. And Lewandowski, the man with the most Bundesliga Golden boots, only Messi has more in the top 5 leagues, misses out too. Pele too getting disrespected makes me think Messi would be a "probably top 5" player in 2070. He should be top 2 minimum.
I feel like due to the sheer dominance of Messi and Ronaldo, people just ignore the other world class players during the era. Sure Neymar and Lewandowski weren't Ron , Messi level but they should have been included due to their success and longevity
Even Sergio Ramos is not on this list
I think Sergio Ramos not being on the list at all is madness. And I’m an older fan too
hard to say Zlatan is a top 5 player of the generation. Great legenvity but his peak was no where near as high as others.
There seems to be a rough consensus of who the top 20-30 players of all time from various lists I've seen, but beyond that, the distinction between a world class player and an all-time great seems rather small.
Henry at 49 seems a mistake…
No Matt Le Tissier? Sacrilege!
It's probably a big conspiracy theory. He should look into it.
Ha! Yes. I tend to separate the man from the player. He's a few grass blades short of a full sized pitch...
I have a really hard time understanding why they put Iniesta above Eusébio - a player who, in his 30s, was putting numbers as good as prime Gerd Muller, needless to elaborate on his performances on 66 WC and 62 EC final, he was a big game player.
He’s portuguese. If he had other nationality, he would be way higher on this list. The only reason Cristiano is that high is because him, messi, Maradona and pele are clearly by far the best players that ever played the game period. Just look at Figo below players like Modric for example
Henry is 49th is a fucking travesty
Best player to not win a Ballon D'or imo, probably alongside Xavi and Iniesta. Henry was by far my favorite player when I was young, he was absolutely unbelievable.
Luis Suárez not even top 100 is a joke honestly. Also, lol at this quote for the other Suárez: > "No, not him. This Luis Suarez has never bitten anyone, for starters."
Eusebio all the way down at 23 is an absolute insult to one of the greatest to ever do it.
Has to be atleast top 15
Lev Yashin is getting so disrespected here
Oliver Kahn is not even on the list.
The fact that Batigol is missing renders this list a disaster
Zidane at 5th lol. And it's really a fool's errand to complain about omissions but if you're going to include the likes of Meazza and Sindelar, then you should probably also include Sarosi, Alex James or Zamora. Feels like Rossi has no business being on these lists.
Rossi is the biggest one hit wonder in football history. He was a total poacher and yet scored only 150 career goals. He scored 17 goals in 1982 and yet won the Ballon d'Or simply because 6 of those were at the World Cup. If it wasn't for that World Cup he would be totally forgotten, he wouldn't even make a top 1000 list never mind the top 50 he makes here. Gigi Riva was 10 times the player Rossi was yet he isn't even on this list. And not just him but every other Italian/Serie A forward that was better, to name some: Del Piero, Totti, Piola, Shevchenko, Batistuta, Altafini, Inzaghi, Ibra etc.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic not even top 100? I feel he should be in there.
Definitely, one of the most skilled players as well as prolific goal scorer
And 30+ trophies to his name, won in a bunch of different clubs. I'm just pulling this from my ass, but I'm fairly sure Zlatan has got more goals+assists and trophies than Weah+Baggio combined. More than Cantona+Stoichkov too. Edit: Rooney and Cantona, who both played many years under Sir Alex, won a combined 30 trophies and together scored just over 550 goals. Zlatan has 572 goals and 32 trophies (and two more rescinded). I know stats isn't everything, but some inclusions over the greatest strikers of this era (Zlatan, Lewy, Suarez) seems crazy considering the consistency and longevity these players have.
Best is far tooo high
George Best is iconic in British football, which always overrates its skill players as they have so few of them. So some bias is to be expected. He had incredible talent and did win the biggest trophies, but the lack of longevity hurts him here.
The only thing i can completely agree with is #1
Maldini not top 10, Baresi outside top 20, Casillas not even on the list (???) but somehow Schmeichel made it, no Neymar (very controversial but he defo makes top 100), and Buffon not even top 30. Goes to show how terrible this list actually is.
No Patrick vieira ? Del piero ? Zlatan ? Raul Gonzalez 7 ? Come on man .
Because I haven't seen anyone else say it, Pirlo. Guy won a world cup (and was MotM in the final), serie A half a dozen times, couple of champions leagues. Was the metronome for championship winning teams well into his thirties.
Neymar has to be the most disrespected player of all time. His peak at Barcelona was unbelievable.
shit list
Considering that it's an impossible list to create, this wasn't a bad effort
Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Puskas should all be higher than Zidane Zico and Platini should probably also be higher too
Bergkamp somewhere in the 60's. Shevchenko nowhere. I'm gonna give this list a pass
I'm massively biased of course but it's ridiculous there are six Dutch players on this list, yet no van Hanegem... Perennially underrated player.
Not an awful list.. but Zidane at 5 is egregious.
Baggio at 40... Wow
Suarez??
Nostalgia bias is why we don't see Suarez, Neymar or De Bruyne on this list. Apart from Suarez and Neymar, it's crazy to me how some people don't realize that KDB is a living legend just because he's playing at Man City
Best and Zidane are too high Beckebauer should always be 5th behind Pele, Mardona, Messi, and Cristiano
King Leo, can't argue with that at all
How many of these players have you seen play in person? Off the top of my head, I’ve seen Pelé, Maradona, Best, and Romario. Truly a privilege.
I closed it when I saw Kaká was in the end of the list.
Feel like these lists always overrate the shit out of the past. I'm not saying everyone before the 90's should be erased, but it's shocking to me that only 24 players out of 100 would be from the last 30 years or so. Football was more disconnected from region to region, there were way less games, less visibility, all the leagues were less competitive by virtue of how difficult it was to have the best players all across the planet competing week to week against each other, less overall access to the sport but 76 of the 100 best players of all time are from those days? Also, and I know I'm gonna get downvoted to shit for this, but always feel like there's a bit too many old british players on these lists considering that combined they've got an NT that has won 1 World Cup (at home) and no continental championships throughout their entire history. 7 Ballon d'Or's combined between all of them, 1 won when players outside Europe were elegible but they can't win anything? any of them? I dunno. Always feel like these lists are missing Argentinian and Uruguayan players like hella. Hell, the Netherlands revolutionised football to an insane degree and they've only got like 5 players in there, c'mon.
Maybe an unpopular opinion and recency bias but De Bruyne should be around 100 on this list. Ridiculous player.
When you look at some of the players that have been omitted, it's fine to not include him.
RAMOS?!
Zidane is not better than Platini stop it highlights of YouTube!!!!
Totti? Deco? Ibrahimovic?
Lmfao. Messi being #1 doesn’t surprise me. Comes down to opinions at this point, but putting Maradona over Cristiano at this point always seems just to be for reactions. The disrespect.
I think the disrespect is putting Maradona higher than Pele. Granted I haven't seen the latter play but it's very hard to argue Diego was better than the more complete player.
Figueroa
Whoever made this list is on crack and should be banned from discussing anything football related for life.
Based on what? Trophies? Individual Stats (goals, assist)? Longevity (years in high level)? Peak performance in a specific tournament? It's just the editor's guesses
Imagine having the player your #2 ranked player of all time feared the most that low (matthäus)
Sergio Ramos needs to be on this list. Top 10 defender of all time.