Greatest Soccer Players of all Time
About.com
The game has been blessed with some phenomenal talents
and it does many scant justice when it comes to choosing the 10 greatest
soccer players of all time. But, for what it is worth, here is
About.com World Soccer’s best of the best.
1. Pele (1956-1977)
A
World Cup winner in 1958, 1962, and 1970, Edson Arantes do Nascimento,
to give him his full name, is generally regarded as the greatest soccer
player of all time. Pele won multiple titles with Santos, with whom he
played out the best years of his career, before joining the New York
Cosmos for a brief spell. Scorer of 760 official goals, Pele was a
superb striker and dribbler of the ball, but could also combine well
with his teammates and feature prominently in the build up to goals.
It
is not an exaggeration to say that The Atomic Flee is now challenging
Pele for the crown of greatest ever soccer player and will surely
surpass the Brazilian if the remainder of his career is as fruitful as
the opening years. Messi joined Barcelona when he was just 13, scored on
his debut at 17 and now wows the Camp Nou faithful on a regular basis
with his dribbling, passing and goalscoring exploits. He broke Gerd
Muller's record for most goals in a calendar year when he scored an
incredible 91 in 2012.
3. Maradona (1976-1997)
Diego Armando Maradona is one of the greatest dribblers the game has ever seen. His 'Hand of God'
goal against England at the 1986 World Cup and the stunning solo effort
that followed sum up this flawed genius better than any words. Maradona
did not always play by the rules, and confesses that his expulsion from
the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for ephedrine is one of his
saddest memories. But the Maradona that captained Argentina to the 1986
World Cup and helped unfashionable Napoli to Serie A titles in 1987 and
1990 was irrepressible.
4. Johan Cruyff (1964-1984)
The outspoken Dutchman excelled for Ajax and Barcelona
in the 1960s and 1970s and is considered by many to be Europe’s best
ever player. His name was synonymous with Rinus Michels’ "Total
Football" movement whereby players interchanged positions. Cruyff was
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 eight Dutch titles and three European
Cups with Ajax, and also made a controversial move to bitter rivals
Feyenoord.
5. Franz Beckenbauer (1964-1984)
"Der
Kaiser is the only man to captain and manage his side to World Cup
victory. In the early 1970s, the German revolutionised the game with his
switch from central midfield to an attacking sweeper role where he
would dictate play from the back by dribbling the ball out of defense
and joining in his team’s attacks. He enjoyed his best years with Bayern
Munich, where he won five Bundesliga titles and three European Cups,
but he also spent time with Pele at the New York Cosmos.
6. Michel Platini (1973-1987)
A star with Nancy, St-Etienne and Juventus,
Platini was a European champion for club and country after winning the
1984 European Championship with France and the European Cup the
following year with Juventus. One of the best passers in soccer history
and an expert free-kick taker, the attacking midfielder scored nine
goals in that 1984 triumph.
7. Alfredo Di Stéfano (1943-1966)
Di
Stéfano's achievement of scoring in five consecutive European Cup
finals is unlikely to ever be matched. Born in Argentina to Italian
immigrants, but playing internationally for three different teams, Di
Stéfano's career was nothing if not cosmopolitan. A player of
exceptional fitness levels, the Saeta rubia (blond arrow) was
instrumental in Real Madrid's dominance in the 1950s, although the history books could tell a very different story if he had joined Barcelona instead of the Merengues in 1943.
8. Ferenc Puskás (1944-1966)
One
of the best strikers ever, Puskas averaged nearly a goal a game at club
and international level. He was a prominent member of the great Hungary
team of the 1950s, known as the Mighty Magyars. Puskas was top league
scorer with Real Madrid on four occasions, and scored seven goals in two
European Cup finals. He won five league titles with Budapest Honvéd
before moving to Real in 1958 and winning another five. The inside-left
also boasts three European Cups.
"The
Black Panther" is considered Portugal’s greatest ever soccer player.
Scorer of nine goals at the 1966 World Cup finals, Eusébio possessed
explosive pace and deceptive ability. The forward turned out for a host
of teams, but his best years were spent with Benfica where he averaged
more than a goal a game. Eusébio told World Soccer magazine in 2010 that he signs photographs of himself every night to give to children the following day.
10. George Best (1963-1984)
Like
Maradona, Best enjoyed the luxuries that his profession afforded him,
and it was his alcohol addiction that contributed to his death in 2005.
On the pitch he had a devastating combination of pace, skill and
finishing that should have brought more than two league titles and one
European Cup with Manchester United.
Best played as a winger or attacking midfielder and had the ability to
dribble past defenders as if they were not there. Like several other
players on this list, Best also plied his trade in America in the 70s
and 80s.
