To compile the list of the best players that we present on this page, we had to sift through numerous player rankings published by specialized magazines and websites, rankings based on both objective and subjective data (cups won, goals scored, number of national team appearances, and so on) (class, style of play, technical level, etc.). Let's figure out who they are.
10. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary)
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Ferenc Puskás (April 2, 1927 – November 17, 2006) was a Spanish-Hungarian footballer and coach who played in the forward position. He played for Honvéd and later Real Madrid, and he represented Hungary, his country of birth, at the 1954 World Championship, and then Spain, his country of obtaining citizenship, at the 1962 World Championship.
He is widely regarded as the greatest Hungarian footballer of all time and one of the most gifted athletes of all time. He is also the third all-time leading scorer, with over 1000 goals for both the national team and his club. Ferenc was a lightning-quick second striker with a remarkable deadlift despite his short stature, excellent ball-to-foot control, and incredible shot.
In addition to several Hungarian and Spanish championships, he won an Olympic gold medal with Hungary in 1952, three European Cups with Real Madrid in 1959, 1960, and 1966, and an Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid in 1960.
9. Marco Van Basten (Holland)
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Marcel van Basten, also known as Marco, is a Dutch football coach and former attacking midfielder. He was born in Utrecht on October 31, 1964. He works for FIFA as the Chief Officer for Technical Development. Van Basten scored 303 goals in his career (277 with club teams, 24 with the Dutch national team, and 2 with the Under-20 national team), which ended prematurely at the age of 28 due to injuries, although the official announcement was made in 1995 when he was 30 years old.
Ajax and Milan's emblem, he formed an exceptional trio in the Rossoneri shirt with compatriots Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. Van Basten, who won three Ballons d'Or with the Netherlands in 1988, is one of the players with the most Ballons d'Or awarded by France Football: three (1988, 1989, and 1992). Basten, who was named FIFA World Player in 1992, is ranked 9th in World Soccer's special ranking of the best players of the twentieth century, and 12th in the IFFHS's corresponding ranking. He was the first of ten players in the Champions League to score a quatern in a single match.
8. Zinedine Zidane (France)
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Zinédine Yazid Zidane (born June 23, 1972, in Marseille) is a French football manager and former player who currently serves as the coach of Real Madrid. He is known as Zizou and is regarded as one of the best players in football history. He was born in Cannes and made his name in Bordeaux by winning the Intertoto Cup. Juventus purchased him in 1996. He won two Italian championships, an Italian and a UEFA Super Cup, a UEFA Super Cup, an Intercontinental Cup, and an Intertoto Cup during his five seasons there.
He joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2001 for a then-record fee of 150 billion lire, helping the club win the Spanish championship and two Super Cups, as well as the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and Intercontinental Cup. He announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2005-2006 season.
He competed in three world championships and three European championships with the French national team, winning the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship as a protagonist. On a personal level, he has won one Ballon d'Or (1998) and three FIFA World Player of the Year awards (1998, 2000, 2003).
In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living players compiled by Pele and FIFA to commemorate the federation's centennial celebrations. He was named the best European player of all time by the BBC, and the best European player of the last fifty years by FIFA. He was also named to World Soccer magazine's list of the eleven greatest players in football history. In 2009, the Sun named him to the Ideal Team of the Decade.
7. Alfredo di Stefano (Argentina)
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Alfredo Stefano Di Stefano Laulhé (July 4, 1926 – July 7, 2014) was an Argentine football coach and a Spanish forward. He was born in Buenos Aires and died in Madrid. He is known as Saeta Rubia (Blonde Arrow) and is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, footballers of all time.
Pelé named him to the FIFA 100 list in 2004, a group of 125 players considered to be the best living soccer players.
He was ranked 22nd among the "100 greatest footballers of all time" by the Association of Football Statisticians, and thirteenth among the strongest players of the twentieth century by World Soccer magazine. He is the only player, along with Isidro Lángara and Romário, to have been the top scorer in three different countries.
He was beaten by Lionel Messi for the title of best scorer in Clásico's history. With 18 goals, the Madridista holds the record for most goals scored against his opponents. Since 2008, the Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy has been given to the best player in Spain's top division by the Spanish newspaper Marca.
7. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
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Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini, aka Leo (Rosario, June 24, 1987), is an Argentine footballer, midfielder, or striker for Paris Saint-Germain and the Argentine national team, of which he is captain, and with which he won the South American championship in 2021; he also won a gold medal with the Olympic national team at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and was world champion in the category with the Under-20 national team in 2005.
He is frequently compared to compatriot Diego Armando Maradona and is regarded as one of the best footballers of all time, as well as one of the most effective players in the game's history. He's also on the list of players who have made at least 1000 appearances in their careers.
He has won ten Spanish championships, seven King's Cups, eight Spanish Super Cups, four UEFA Champions Leagues, three UEFA Super Cups, and three Club World Cups during his career; his 35 trophies make him the most celebrated footballer in the history of Barcelona, where he also holds the attendance record. He is also the all-time leading scorer for the Catalan club and the Spanish league, as well as the best scorer in a single European league season (50 goals in 2011-2012).
He has represented Argentina in four World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018), finishing second in 2014, and six Copa América tournaments (2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2021), winning in 2021 and finishing second on three occasions (2007, 2015 and 2016). He also holds the record for the youngest Argentine scorer in a world championship, having scored against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 World Cup at the age of 18 years and 357 days.
On an individual basis, he has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or four times (in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015) and the FIFA World Player of the Year three times (in 2009, combined with the FIFA World Player of the Year, in 2019 and 2021). He was named Men's Player of the Year by UEFA in 2011 and 2015.
However, in 2013, he was named to the English magazine World Soccer's best football squad of all time. He has been a member of the FIFA FIFPro World XI since 2007, has been named to the ESM squad of the year twelve times, and has been selected by UEFA on 12 occasions. He was named best player of the 2005 Under-20 World Championship and has won other auxiliary honors.
In 2020, the French magazine France Football named him to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team as the best right winger in football history.
Messi has also won several top scorer awards, including the Under-20 World Championship (2005), the Copa América (2021), the Spanish League (2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021), the King's Cup (2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017), the UEFA Champions League (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019), and the Club World Cup (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019). (2011).
6. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
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Cristiano Ronaldo (born February 5, 1985) is a Portuguese footballer who plays forward for Juventus and is the captain of the Portuguese national team. In 2016, he won the European Championship with the latter.
He is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, and is one of the most prolific scorers in football history, coming in second behind Ali Daei on the all-time national football scoring list.
Since 2004, he has been a regular in the Golden Ball rankings, winning it five times, a record he shares with Lionel Messi. In 2008, he was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2014, 2016, and 2017, he was named UEFA Men's Player of the Year, as well as Best FIFA Men's Player.
5. Franz Anton Beckenbauer (Germany)
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Franz Anton Beckenbauer (born September 11, 1945, in Munich) is a German sports management, football coach, and former defender. He grew up at Bayern Munich, where he spent most of his career (from 1964 to 1977), winning four national cups, four championships, one cup of the Cups, three European Cups, and an Intercontinental Cup with the club.
In 1977, he joined the New York Cosmos, where he won three North American titles in four seasons. He played with Hamburg from 1980 to 1982, winning another championship, before returning to the New York Cosmos to finish his career. He represented West Germany in three World Championships (1966, 1970, 1974) and two European Championships (1972, 1976), winning the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974. On an individual level, he won the Ballon d'Or twice, in 1972 and 1976, being the first defender to do so.
4. Johann Cruyff (Holland)
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Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruijff (April 25, 1947 – March 24, 2016) was a Dutch footballer, soccer coach, and sports management. He was born in Amsterdam and died in Barcelona. He was considered one of the best footballers of all time.
He has nine Dutch titles, six Dutch Cups, one Spanish league, one Spanish Cup, three European Cups, one European Super Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup in his trophy cabinet.
Throughout his career, he was known by many nicknames, the most well-known of which being " Prophet of the Goal," the title of a documentary film on Cruijff's sporting life directed by Sandro Ciotti. Gianni Brera, a journalist, called it " the white Pele ". He shares the record for most Ballons d'Or won by France Football with Michel Platini and Marco van Basten, with three: in 1971, 1973, and 1974. As a professional, he scored 402 goals in 716 official matches for the Dutch national team and club teams.
In the IFFHS's rating, he was voted the second-best footballer of the twentieth century, after Pele.
3. Michel Platini (France)
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Michel François Platini (born June 21, 1955) is a former midfielder and sports executive in France. He became the archetypal player for both Nancy and Saint-Étienne, as well as Juventus and the French national team, for whom he was one of the key architects of their respective achievements in the 1980s.
He retired at the age of 32, having won multiple trophies, including a French championship, two Italian championships, and nearly all of the confederal competitions in existence at the time, while also being the top scorer in Serie A for the entire year 1983 to 1985. He achieved significant results with the transalpine national team in international tournaments over the decade 1976-1986.
He, together with Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten, holds the record for the most Ballon d'Ors won by France Football, three, and is the only player to have won them all in the same year. Many people consider him to be one of the greatest ten players of the twentieth century. In addition, ahead of Zinédine Zidane and Raymond Kopa, he is regarded as the most representative French player of the twentieth century.
Pele included him in the FIFA 100, a ranking of the 125 greatest living footballers, in 2004. He was also named to the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, which consisted of the top eleven players in World Cup history.
Finally, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame as a foreign player in 2011. Between the years 1970 and 1980, he had a long career as a footballer, in which he played over 650 matches for both club and national team, with no expulsions: a more unique than rare occurrence in light of the competitive charge and the aggression of the scoring, against the most creative players.
2. Diego Armando Maradona (Argentina)
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Diego Armando Maradona (30 October 1960 – Tigre, 25 November 2020) was an Argentine football coach, sports manager, and attacking midfielder. He was the captain of Argentina's 1986 World Cup-winning national team.
El Pibe de Oro is another name for this mountain (The Golden Boy). He is widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time, if not the best. He played in Argentinos Jrs, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Naples, Sevilla, and Newell's Old Boys during his professional career, which spanned more than two decades. He has competed in four World Cups with the Argentine national team.
The national team's 91 matches played and 34 goals scored set two records that have since been surpassed.
His goal against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup is regarded as the goal of the century. The hand of Dios, another well-known and contentious story for which he is well-known, follows by five minutes. He shares the official FIFA award for Best Player of the 20th Century with Pele, while the AFA named him the best Argentine player ever in 1993.
In 2002, he was named to the FIFA World Cup Dream Team, which is made up of the top eleven players in World Cup history who received the most votes. Pele named him to the FIFA 100 in 2004, a list of the 125 finest living players compiled to commemorate the federation's centennial. At the Globe Soccer Awards in 2012, he was named Best Footballer of the Century. He was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame as a foreign player in 2014.
1. Pelé (Brazil)
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Pelé (23 October 1940), is a Brazilian sports manager and former attacking footballer who is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time by major international official sports organizations as well as numerous experts and aficionados.
He is also known as The King of Football and is the FIFA, International Olympic Committee, and International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) Footballer of the Century, as well as the FIFA Ballon d'Or of the Century, as voted upon by former Ballon d'Or winners. Later, he was awarded the honorary FIFA Ballon d'Or.
He is the only footballer in history to have won three editions of the FIFA World Cup (1958, 1962, and 1970). His goal in the 1958 World Cup final versus Sweden is regarded as the third-greatest goal in FIFA World Cup history. He holds the record for most goals scored in a career, with 1281 in 1363 games.
He has 761 goals in 825 matches in official contests. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and was named one of the "TIME 100 Heroes & Icons" of the twentieth century by the US monthly TIME. President Jânio Quadros of Brazil proclaimed it a "National Treasure" and a "Historic-Sporting Heritage of Humanity" in July 2011.
