This sport has seen some greatest players who dominated the sport during their Careers. Let’s have a look at the top 10 greatest soccer players of all time and see who is the Best Soccer Players in the world.
Greatest Soccer Players of All Time
Soccer/Football is One of the highest paying sports, also holds the place as the most popular sports in the world. It has a huge fan following and has quite a great fame attached to it.
1. Pele
Retired Brazilian football player Pele still considered as one the greatest soccer players ever. Born on 21st October 1940, Pele still regarded by many football pundits as the greatest footballer ever to born on planet earth. During his heydays, he also became reputed as the highest paid footballer.
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics named him the World Player of the Century. And without any doubt, he deserves the top spot in the list of Best soccer players.
2. Lionel Messi
Born on 24th June 1987, Lionel Messi currently plays for the La Liga club FC Barcelona as a forward. and he is an all-time scorer in La Liga. Besides, he also captains the Argentine national team. The world and also the football pundits consider him as the best soccer players ever in the history of the game. He also became the top-score in four consecutive Champions League campaigns.
Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or five times till now, same as Cristiano Ronaldo. He also holds his place as the youngest footballer ever to score 200 La Liga goals. Besides being the best football player, he also holds his place as one of the Highest Paid Sportsmen in the World.
3. Diego Maradona
One of the greatest soccer players, Diego Maradona, still noted as the greatest Argentine footballer. He is the only one who has set the transfer fees record twice. Maradona has played and outshined in many tournaments during his lifetime. He was born on the 30th of October in the year 1960.
His infamous “Hand of God” goal was one of the biggest sports scandals all time. He became the joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century along with Pele. Without any doubt, Maradona definitely deserves his place in the list.
4. Zinedine Zidane
Gran enfrente victoria de la Bernebau. Gracias por la apoyo. ZZ pic.twitter.com/zkmLwx4HVr
— Zinedine Zidane (@OfficialZZidane) January 9, 2016
Born on 23 June 1972, Zinedine Zidane still noted as one of the greatest soccer players and one of the greatest Muslim athletes. The legendary retired footballer used to play as a midfielder for the France team. He also received the crown as the finest European footballer of all times as well. He won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times in his career. Besides, he also won the Ballon d’Or once.
No hesitation whatsoever to include this super-star into best soccer players’ list. His head-butt to Italy’s Marco Materazzi in World Cup 2006 still considered as one of the most remembered moments in the football history.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
One of the greatest soccer players, Cristiano Ronaldo, currently plays for Serie A club Juventus. Besides, he also captains the Portugal national team. He was born on 5 February 1985. He was the most expensive football player in the year 2009 when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid. But in 2013, Gareth Bale broke the record when he took his transfer to Real Madrid for €100 million.
Cristiano Ronaldo again created a record when he took his transfer to Juventus in 2018. He also recently won his fifth Ballon d’Or in 2017, same as his arch-rival Lionel Messi. Ronaldo also considered as the most handsome footballer on earth.
6. Johan Cruyff
The outspoken Dutchman excelled for Ajax and Barcelona in the 1960s and 1970s and is considered by many experts to be Europe’s best player of all time. He was also named in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players by Pelé in 2004. He was included on the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, and the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002.
His name was synonymous with Rinus Michels’ “Total Football” movement whereby players interchanged the positions. Cruyff was equally effective in both wide and central positions and was famous for his ability to turn players. Winner of three Ballon D’Ors (European Player of the Year awards), Cruyff won 8 Dutch titles and also three European Cups with Ajax. Cruyff also made a controversial move to bitter rivals Feyenoord. Sadly never fell agonizingly short of winning the World Cup.
7. Alfredo Di Stéfano
Born in Argentina to Italian immigrants, but playing internationally for three different teams, Di Stéfano’s achievement of scoring in 5 consecutive European Cup finals is unlikely to ever be matched. Di Stéfano’s career was nothing if not cosmopolitan.
A player with exceptional fitness levels, the Saeta Rubia (blond arrow) was instrumental in Real Madrid’s dominance in the 1950s, although the history books could defiantly tell a very different story if he had joined the Barcelona instead of the Merengues in 1943.
8. Franz Beckenbauer
50 years ago, Wembley, World Cup 1966! There are great memories with @SirBobby pic.twitter.com/a16XAj9LYl
— Franz Beckenbauer (@beckenbauer) July 30, 2016
Fans often dubbed Beckenbauer as one of the greatest soccer players ever produced in Germany. He was born on 11th September 1945. He previously coached the Germany team and also quite famous as the manager and a former player. Fans still regard him as the best German football player of all times.
He was a versatile player with the best soccer skills. he was selected the European Footballer of the Year twice in his career.
9. Gerd Müller
Gerd Müller is the 11th on the list of Highest International Goal scorers of All Time despite playing lesser matches than others on the list. Fans nicknamed him ‘Bomber der Nation’ due to his amazing scoring abilities. Müller won the European Footballer of the Year title in 1970. He received the Golden Boot scoring 10 goals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup for West Germany.
He also held the all-time highest goal-scoring record in the World Cup with 14 goals until it was broken by Ronaldo [Brazil] at the 2006 World Cup. Müller was ranked 9th in the European player of the Century by the IFFHS in 1999 and voted thirteenth in the World Player of the Century by IFFHS in the same year. He was also inducted in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players by Pelé in 2004. Gerd Müller is at 9th position in best soccer players in the world List.
10. Eusebio
He was born on 25 January in the year 1942 and is a retired Portuguese football forward player. Fans still consider him as the best football players of all times. He has scored 53 goals in UEFA club competitions, the 9th highest of all time. Eusebio also holds his place as the 8th highest goal scorer in UEFA champions league history. He definitely deserves his place among the greatest soccer players of all time.
Honourable Mentions:
Ferenc Puskas, Lothar Matthäus, Michel Platini, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho.
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