The 6 Best Footballers of All Time
1. Johan Cruyff
Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff at the World Cup football competition in West Germany, June-July 1974. (Photo by Getty Images)
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Whoa whoa whoa...all you Pelè and Maradona devotees, put down the axes and pitchforks and listen to me. The reasoning behind my choice for numero uno doesn't come down to purely technical abilities or international exploits: you can still safely say that both Pelè and Maradona were better (but just barely) individual players, but neither bequeathed anything as as revolutionary or enduring as Cruyff's vision of "Total Football": a style of play characterized by "tiki-taka" passing, commanding possession and the interchangeability of the outfield players now particularly in evidence at Barcelona.
"But!", you may cry, "What about Rinus Michels?!" Yes, Michels was the man who imparted the theory that was Totaalvoetbal. It was his big beautiful baby. But Cruyff became its high priest and practitioner and it was through Cruyff that Michel'sTotal Football flowed. To quote Star Wars, "The student has become the master".
Pelè may have won three World Cups, but he did so with the aid of players like Garrincha, Rivelino and Jairzinho. Admittedly, Maradona dragged a mediocre Argentina side to the '86 World Cup, but he did so through singular, physical ability bereft of any real tactical comprehension. When drugs and late-night partying finally got to Diego, he quickly atrophied into a husk of his former self.
Side note: Besides his tactical legacy, I'd like to point out that Cruyff was very, very good. Between 1971 and 1974, he won three Ballon D'Ors (a record shared with compatriot Van Basten and Platini) as well as the Golden Ball of World Cup '74. He employed a close control of the ball, which, combined with bursting acceleration, allowed him to dance through defensive lines. He is most famous for the eponymous "Cruyff Turn." Plus he is responsible for this masterpiece. And this one.
But he was called "Pythagoras in Boots" for his perception of teammates' movement. Though nominally a center-forward, he would often swap roles, dropping deep into his own half or out onto the wing to then exploit opponents' confusion.
With Ajax, he won eight Eredivise titles and three European Cups in a row, scoring a total of 190 goals. As a player his stint at Barcelona earned him a lonely La Liga title, a dearth he would later rectify as the club's manager, when he won four Liga's in a row as well as the European Cup.
In essence, Cruyff modernized the game of football.
And while Pelè and Maradona possessed unparalleled individual abilities (that even Cruyff could not measure up to) Johan had the rare ability to elevate the level of his teammates to his own. Cruyff was great because he could make others appear great.
For these titles, abilities and legacies, Cruyff deserves to be recognized as the greatest player of all time.
So there you have it, the top 100 players ever. Enjoy.
2. Pelè
1970: Brazilian legend Pele in training. \ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport
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King of kings...the name synonymous with the joga bonita, with dauntless ability, with ingenious sleights of foot and with the greatest goal-scoring record in history: 1,281 goals in 1,363 games. Pelè had the kind of talent that didn't outshine those sharing the field but rather an entire generation of player. He was, and is, a remarkable athlete and ambassador of the game.
The classic number 10 (literally, the number 10 achieved its significance because it belonged to Pelè), he was an inside forward and playmaker that dashed between the opposing lines—gifted with a powerful shot, speed and grace to outdance defenders and tactically aware of his teammates on the pitch..
"The King" was a one-club man for much of his career, starting for Santos at the age of 16 and remaining for nearly two decades, over the course of which he won 10 Paulista Championships, two Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups (at the expense of Eusebio's Benfica and Gianni Rivera's AC Milan). He was the Brazilian League's top scorer 11 times—nine of which were consecutive
Brazil's top goal scorer of all-time (77 out of 92 appearance), Pelè is the only footballer to be part of three different World Cup winning squads (though he was awarded the '62 honor retroactively, having been injured early on in the competition). He is also only one of two people to have scored in four different World Cup tournaments.
Pelè played with an adolescent's infatuation his entire career—uncynical, inventive, incessantly accomplishing the impossible, the never-before-attempted. For this especially, he sits in at number two.
And introducing the number one...
3. Diego Maradona
May 1988: Diego Maradona of Napoli celebrates a goal during an Italian Serie A match against AC Milan at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples, Italy. Milan won the match 3-2. \ Mandatory Credit: Dave Cannon /Allsport
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Wondering where this guy was going to slot in, eh?
All the Argentine and Napoli fans will likely hate me for not listing him as number one, but I stand by my decision. Yes, he was very, very, very good and one of the best, if not the best, individual players; there's no denying. That he played his best football in one of the most defensive leagues at the pinnacle of its prestige makes his accomplishments all the more impressive. El Pibe de Oro won Napoli their only two Serie A titles, but achieved his apotheosis by producing the most awesome World Cup goal in the competition's history—the Goal of the Century—striding, ducking and dodging through a statuesque English backline. In all, he scored 258 goals in a club career spanning three countries and six different clubs.
But for all his winding runs, delicate assists and trophy-winning hand balls, Maradona did not have the influence over the shape and philosophy of a team that would have lifted him to first place.
4. Michel Platini
2 March 1983: Michel Platini of Juventus in action during the European Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. Juventus won the match 2-1. \ Mandatory Credit: David Cannon/Allsport
David Cannon/Getty Images
Before he was a bureaucrat, he was "Le Roi” (The King). Now the head of UEFA, Michel Platini was, in his day, the undisputed master of the pitch. He is considered one of the best passers and free-kick artists ever and, despite being a midfielder, has scored the second most goals for the French National team (after Henry).
Over the course of four short years at Juventus, he won two league championships, one European Cup (marred by the Heysel tragedy), one Cup winners Cup, one European Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup title. Despite being a midfielder, he was Serie A's topscorer three times and was awarded three Ballon D'Ors back-to-back-to-back. For France, he won the '84 European Championship, a competition in which he finished top-scorer with nine goals, a sum as of yet unequaled.
He retired at the early age of 32 and now helms one of the most important sporting organizations in the world.
5. Franz Beckenbauer
1978: Franz Beckenbauer of New York Cosmos in action during a North American Soccer League match. \ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport
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The defender of the century. Beckenbauer is the only man to have won the World Cup both playing and managing. Drawing on, then eclipsing, the free-roaming styles of Baresi and Facchetti, Beckenbauer could menace a team at any place on the pitch through a thoughtful, vivid reading of the game. Besides the WC and Euro championship earned on the field with Germany, Beckenbauer is also the only person to captain a team to three consecutive European Cup championships. “The Kaizer," besides dabbling in politics, went on to coach his alma mater Bayern Munich and then on to serve as its president. In 1999, IFFHS voted him the world’s third best player of the century.
6. Ronaldo
DORTMUND, GERMANY - JUNE 27: Ronaldo of Brazil runs with the ball during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Round of 16 match between Brazil and Ghana at the Stadium Dortmund on June 27, 2006 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Michael Steele/Getty Images
Love him or hate him, there is no defining the phenomenon that was “The Phenomenon”—the original Ronaldo. A complete player, at ease with either foot, and a truly unparalleled ability to finish from every angle possible, Ronaldo has carved himself a place in the history books as the most effective pure goal scorer of the last 50 years, if not of all time.
The awards won, both personal and collectively are mindboggling. The youngest player to receive FIFA’s World Player award—his first of three, age 20—Ronaldo also won two Ballon D’Or’s, two World Cups and holds the record for most goals scored in the World Cup. At a club level, he scored 247 goals out of 343 appearances for various clubs. In 96-’97, Ronaldo scored an absurd 47 goals in 49 games for Barça, then winning the La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals in 37 games followed by a slew of international trophies. He would win the Pichichi again with Madrid and the UEFA Cup with Inter. Unbelievably talented.
