Rank your top 20 players of all time

Copa Mundial

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Based on purely who I've seen and who I thought was most pleasing on the eye!

1. Maradonna
2. L Ronaldo
3. Zidanne
4. C Ronaldo
5. Messi
6. Ronaldinho
7. Maldini
8. Matthaus
9. Keane
10. Del Piero
11. Zola
12. Gascoigne
13. Henry
14. Le Tissier
15. Bergkamp
16. Stoichkov
17. Robben
18. Hagi
19. Ginola
20. Thuram
 

Pink Moon

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1. Messi
2. Maradona

The rest don't really have an order other than when they popped into my head

Pele
Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Zidane
van Basten
Cruyff
Baresi
Maldini
Beckenbauer
Iniesta
Xavi
Platini
Michael Laudrup
Puskas
Di Stefano
Ronaldinho
Garrincha
Lahm

Honourable mention to Manuel Neuer. I just never feel comfortable putting keepers in these lists for whatever reason.
 

Pink Moon

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Yes, really...don't see why that's surprising/controversial either — Buffon is without exception the most consistently great goalkeeper of all time, and can lay claim to being one of the greatest young goalkeepers ever, one of the greatest middle-aged goalkeepers ever, as well as one of the greatest old goalkeepers ever — a combination that almost no one else can match.

Made his Serie A debut at 17 vs. Milan of all teams and kept a clean sheet...and decisive in Juventus reaching the Champions League final at age 39 — no other goalkeeper offers a comparable scale wrt. career at the very top over 2 decades, and few had as many prominent peaks: UEFA Cup with Parma under Ancelotti when he was already the best goalkeeper in Serie A, 2003 where he was arguably Juventus' best player after Nedvěd and was rightly adjudged UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, 2006 where he was fundamental to Italy's success with Cannavaro and Pirlo, then his looooong stretch of dominance with post-Calciopoli Juventus, as well as EURO 2012 where he was critical in matches like Italy vs. England as he reached the final. There were other noteworthy goalkeepers in the period: Van der Sar, Čech, Casillas, César, etc. — but Buffon was a constant from start to finish.

You could argue that he has conclusively eclipsed Yashin as the greatest goalkeeper football has ever seen (though the latter was more enigmatic and revolutionary as someone who incorporated a lot of Grosics' sweeper-keeper concepts in his own iconic rushing style so he'll always be a transcendental figure). Plus, he's close to the prototype (like Baresi for centerbacks or Van Basten for strikers): rarely made any errors, perfect positioning, had cat-like reflexes, exceptional reading of the game, immaculate concentration — when he got older/stiffer and lost his agility, he was still really good because his fundamentals were consistently top drawer...didn't even have to dive around or flail his arms that much because he was invariably in the right spot at the right time.

The best, bar none — if I had to create a team with zero restrictions, I'd select Gigi for his pure goalkeeping prowess — unless a high-line possession scheme was in order (where peak Neuer was the gold standard). Schmeichel, Maier, Zoff, Kahn were all brilliant in their own right, but they can compete for the spots after Buffon and Yashin.
I'd disagree with that point. I think he's been terrible this entire decade and has dined out on his reputation.
 

giorno

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Top 20 for the last 20 years:

1. Messi
2. Cristiano
3. Ronaldo
4. Zidane
5. Ronaldinho
6. Kaka
7. Henry
8. Robben
9. Xavi
10. Rivaldo
11. Pirlo
12. Iniesta
13. Figo
14. Totti
15. Suarez
16. Shevchenko
17. Giggs
18. Maldini
19. Scholes
20. Makelele

Damn this is hard. Top 6 is easy, after that it's impossible :lol:
 

Schneckerl

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1. Pele
2. Messi
3. Maradona
4. Cruyff
5. Di Stefano
6. Cristiano
------
7. Beckenbauer
8. Puskas
9. Platini
10. Zico
11. Ronaldo
12. Zidane
13. Eusebio
14. Charlton
15. Müller
16. Van Basten
------

Not sure how to continue, too many possible names. Meazza and Sindelar as HM for pre-WW2.
 

Lynty

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This list would be far more interesting if it was best players since 2000.

Most people (myself included) only ever watch Messi in El classico's, champions league and highlight rolls, never mind Maradona, Pele, Puskas etc. When it was even harder to follow foreign leagues.
 

KirkDuyt

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Messi
Maradona
Cruijff
A bunch of old people I pretend I've watch a lot
Robben

I cant get to 20.
 

Gentleman Jim

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Messi
Pele
Maradona
C Ronaldo
Cruyff
Beckenbauer
Ronaldo
Best
Di Stefano
Puskas
Eusebio
Moore
Gullit
Scirea
Muller
Maldini
Matthaus
Platini
Xavi
Romario


Apologies to all the other fantastic players who have given us so many thrilling hours of entertainment who I left out.

Including

Zidane
Iniesta
Ronaldinho
Law
Charlton
Henry
V Basten
Neeskens
zico
Garincha
Kempes
Baggio
Dalglish
Scholes
Riva
M Laudrup
Zoff
Neuer
Busquets
Gerson

and of course Bell, D Silva, Aguero, Yaya and KDB :smirk:
 

Thoms

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1. Messi
2. Pele
3. Cruyff
4. Maradonna
5. C. Ronaldo
6. Best
7. Beckenbauer
8. Ronaldo
9. Platini
10. Van Basten
11. DiStefano
12. Muller
13. Zidane
14. Bergkamp
15. Gullit
16. Xavi
17. Ronaldinho
18. Seedorf
19. Robben
20. Keane
 

Inter Yer Nan

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Top 20 for the last 20 years:

1. Messi
2. Cristiano
3. Ronaldo
4. Zidane
5. Ronaldinho
6. Kaka
7. Henry
8. Robben
9. Xavi
10. Rivaldo
11. Pirlo
12. Iniesta
13. Figo
14. Totti
15. Suarez
16. Shevchenko
17. Giggs
18. Maldini
19. Scholes
20. Makelele

Damn this is hard. Top 6 is easy, after that it's impossible :lol:
I think Figo and especially Scholes seem too low.
 

wrepdrep

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1. Messi
2. C Ronaldo
3. Maradona
4. Ronaldo
5. Platini
6. Van Basten
7. Zidane
8. Baresi
9. Pele
10. Cruyff
11. Xavi
12. Iniesta
13. Suarez
14.Matthäus
15. Baggio
16. Romario
17. Gullit
18. Laudrup
19. Maldini
20. Zico
 

VanKenny

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GOAT tier (in order too)

1.- Messi
2.- Pele
3.- Maradona

Elite of the Elite


4.- Cruyff
5.- CR7
6.- Beckenbauer
7.- Di Stefano

Elite legends

8.- Platini
9.- Ronaldo
10.- Eusebio
11.- Puskas


Legends

12.- Zidane
13.- Xavi
14.- Iniesta
15.- Garrincha
16.- Matthaus
17.- Van Basten
18.- Baresi
19.- Zico
20.- Ronaldinho
 

giorno

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I think Figo and especially Scholes seem too low.
Figo, sure, as i've said, after the top 6 it gets impossible

Scholes not a chance. If this wasn't a united forum which mentions him constantly i'd probably have forgotten about him.

Instead, i ended up forgetting Rooney :lol:
 

Michaelf7777777

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1. Pele
2. Lionel Messi
3. Diego Maradona
4. Alfredo Di Stefano
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Franz Beckenbauer
7. Johan Cruyff
8. Michel Platini
9. Ronaldo
10. Elias Figueroa
11. Jozsef Bozsik
12. Garrincha
13. Eusebio
14. Lothar Matthaus
15. Ferenc Puskas
16. Franco Baresi
17. Frank Rijkaard
18. Gerd Muller
19. Ruud Gullit
20. George Best
 
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Stadjer

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1. Pele
2. Lionel Messi
3. Diego Maradona
4. Alfredo Di Stefano
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Franz Beckenbauer
7. Johan Cruyff
8. Michel Platini
9. Ronaldo
10. Elias Figueroa
11. Jozsef Bozsik
12. Garrincha
13. Eusebio
14. Lothar Matthaus
15. Ferenc Puskas
16. Franco Baresi
17. Frank Rijkaard
18. Gerd Muller
19. Ruud Gullit
20. George Best
Ofcourse it is a personal list but from the big three Dutch players at Milan (Rijkard, Gullit, van Basten) i would say that van Basten was the best out of them. Suprising to see both Rijkaard and Gullit in the top 20 but no Marco van Basten.
 

Peeping Tim

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When I think of players I most rate, I tend to be drawn to players that you could do nothing about - no matter how much you kicked them, how shit their teammates, how good the opposition, they were always able to impose their ability on the game.

So for me, based only on players I've actually seen multiple times on TV;

1. Maradona
2. Ronaldinho
3. Fat Ronaldo
4. Xavi
5. Iniesta
6. Messi
7. Zidane
8. Nesta
9. Barnes

Can't be bothered going further, and don't expect anyone to agree :lol:

But would like honorable mentions to a few players from my fave team of all time (80/90s Ajax) - Davids, Seedorf, Rijkard.
 

Amar__

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Didn't know majority of the forum is well in their 80s, watching the likes of Pele, etc.
 

VanKenny

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Didn't know majority of the forum is well in their 80s, watching the likes of Pele, etc.

With that logic nobody cant make a list then. Its not like there is a person in this world that has watched ALL the players in history, and also watched ALL the games they played. Even such a person could be wrong or biased towards a fellow contryman or whatever.

At the end of the day, making such a list depends entirely on a person's point of view and opinion on the subject. Ive watched pretty much every single game of, say, Victor Valdes, but have only watched about 1% of Buffon's games, and can still say with confidence that Buffon is a better goalkeeper.

Where i am going with this? Nowadays you have access to footage from pretty much every relevant football era. You can see highlights of Pele dribbling past entire professional teams and scoring beautiful goals, there's tons of footage of that. Couple that with facts and statistics, such as his goals scored, the world cup wins he has, and also add the opinion of other football greats that talk about him as if he was the greatest human that ever touched a ball, then you can make up a very valid opinion.

So if you have seen videos of Pele playing and scoring goals, and then you find out that he did that for nearly 10 years in a row in a consistent basis, how he was the main man in all the things he won, etc, then yeah you dont have to see every minute of his play to realize he's pretty much at the top.

Its either that, or whenever we make a list we will have to post our credentials on every single player, like:

1.- Messi (have watched all his games)
2.- Pele (just seen around half n hour of footage)
3.- Maradona (seen maybe two or three full matches and a bunch of youtube highlights)
4.- Cruyff (Same as above)
5.- CR7 (Have seen around 10% of the games hes played)

etc.

TL;DR: Nobody could ever make a perfect, unbiased list
 
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Suixt

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Top 20 is tough, but at the top of such a list there can be two combos:
Either you go with Messi/CR7 based on pure talent, achievements, tenacity etc.

OR

Uou go with Pele/Maradona simply because these two guys helped like no other the sport to appeal to a much bigger audience. They are the Michael Jordans of football if you like.

Other than that, the only player that I have to add and who is criminally underrated is Paul Scholes.
I mean, I am not even a Utd fan but imo he was the most complete midfielder ever and a tactical genius inside the pitch. Role model to all modern midfielders regardless of style.
 

Gio

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  1. Diego Maradona
  2. Lionel Messi
  3. Pele
  4. Ronaldo
  5. Zico
  6. Franz Beckenbauer
  7. Franco Baresi
  8. Cristiano Ronaldo
  9. Johan Cruyff
  10. Michel Platini
  11. Marco Van Basten
  12. Alfredo Di Stefano
  13. Xavi
  14. Lothar Matthaus
  15. Gerd Muller
  16. Garrincha
  17. Eusebio
  18. Ferenc Puskas
  19. George Best
  20. Rivaldo
 

Denis79

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Pele/Maradona

bunch of other players that are a tier below the two greats.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Didn't know majority of the forum is well in their 80s, watching the likes of Pele, etc.
How many games would most people have watched of Rivaldo if they never watched La Liga games and only watched some internationals and European games? I'm guessing probably the two games against United in 1999, the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and a small selection of other Champions League games.

Even today, most people are probably only watching less than 5 full games of Mbappe over the season in a year where there's no international tournament and are relying on some highlights and the opinions of those who watch him regularly. I've seen Rashford probably 40 times this year but I still know that he is worse than Mbappe.

So why would you not trust the people who watched Pele regularly, not trust the games you might have seen, the highlights and skills and stories? Unless you are complete football fanatic, nobody sees an awful lot of full games outside their own team or league.
 
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tentan

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  1. Messi
  2. Ronaldo
  3. Xavi
  4. Iniesta
  5. Ronaldo (R9)
  6. Ronaldinho
  7. Zidane
  8. Maldini
  9. Lahm
  10. Henry
  11. Kaka
  12. Robben
  13. Pirlo
  14. Casillas
  15. Buffon
  16. Neuer
  17. Ibrahimovic
  18. Modric
  19. Schweinsteiger
  20. Kroos
 

meninred

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1. pele
2. maradona
3. messi
4. cruyff
5. backenbauer
6. c ronaldo
7. zidane
8. platini
9. ronaldo Lima
10. van basten
11. garincha
12. puskas
13. uzebio
14. distefano
15. Muller
16. Zico
17 Romario
18. Mattheus
19. George Best
20. Lev yashin
 

markhughes

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Where would people place a peak Rooney? His ability at his best was incredible and he is Man Utd and Englands all time top goalscorer.

I'd have a peak Rooney in my team ahead of many of the players mentioned so far, that's just my opinion of course.
 

Interval

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I wouldn't ever use the word blessed but I really feel lucky as hell to have seen full careers of 2 of the top 4/5 players ever in Messi and Cristiano. It's been an amazing feeling to tune into football week after week and see the things they've done and achieved. Its unlike anything I think I will ever experience

Even more so if I add having seen the careers of some of the next best in Zidane, Ronaldo and Ronaldindo. But the first 2 really take the cake.
 

Ramos

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One thing this thread does show you is who the real underrated greats are. Like Clarence Seedorf who's been mentioned by only one person when there's like 200 names already. Seedorf is about Rijkaard/Gullit-tier i think. You could rate maybe Gullit a tad higher but they're all three very close to each other.

When it comes to Dutch players i feel it's Cruyff, huge gap, Van Basten and then a group of Gullit, Rijkaard, Bergkamp, Seedorf, Neeskens, Van Hanegem and Robben.
 

Schneckerl

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Didn't know majority of the forum is well in their 80s, watching the likes of Pele, etc.
There is more footage/information easily accessible today compared to what Europeans would have seen when Pele was active.
 

Alemar

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This must be a joke. No goalkeepers in the vast majority of selection?
 

Prometheus

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I can only rate post-1996 players. I haven't seen people like Romario, Baggio etc.
 

BlackShark_80

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One thing this thread does show you is who the real underrated greats are. Like Clarence Seedorf who's been mentioned by only one person when there's like 200 names already. Seedorf is about Rijkaard/Gullit-tier i think. You could rate maybe Gullit a tad higher but they're all three very close to each other.

When it comes to Dutch players i feel it's Cruyff, huge gap, Van Basten and then a group of Gullit, Rijkaard, Bergkamp, Seedorf, Neeskens, Van Hanegem and Robben.
I don't think Seedorf is in the same tier like Rijkaard or Gullit. He was good but never belongs in the top 10 best dutch player ever.
 

Spoony

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  1. Diego Maradona
  2. Lionel Messi
  3. Pele
  4. Ronaldo
  5. Zico
  6. Franz Beckenbauer
  7. Franco Baresi
  8. Cristiano Ronaldo
  9. Johan Cruyff
  10. Michel Platini
  11. Marco Van Basten
  12. Alfredo Di Stefano
  13. Xavi
  14. Lothar Matthaus
  15. Gerd Muller
  16. Garrincha
  17. Eusebio
  18. Ferenc Puskas
  19. George Best
  20. Rivaldo

Solid. But do you really think Zico should be ahead of Platini? I was a huge fan of Zico but even back then Platini was rated higher.
 
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harms

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Where would people place a peak Rooney? His ability at his best was incredible and he is Man Utd and Englands all time top goalscorer.

I'd have a peak Rooney in my team ahead of many of the players mentioned so far, that's just my opinion of course.
Pretty much everyone mentioned was the best player in the world at some point (most of them — throughout many seasons). Rooney was never even the third best player in the world behind the big two.
 

harms

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Solid. But do you really think Zico should be a head of Platini? I was a huge fan of Zico but even back then Platini was rated higher.
Zico peaked a little earlier and was unfortunate to play in Serie A next to the peak Platini when he was already past his best. You can argue that Zico had a wider set of skills — he was an outstanding dribbler & comparable passer/goalscorer, Platini wasn't a dribbling magician. Although I'd still put Platini a tad higher, personally.
 

Swoobs

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GOAT tier (in order too)

1.- Messi
2.- Pele
3.- Maradona

Elite of the Elite


4.- Cruyff
5.- CR7
6.- Beckenbauer
7.- Di Stefano

Elite legends

8.- Platini
9.- Ronaldo
10.- Eusebio
11.- Puskas


Legends

12.- Zidane
13.- Xavi
14.- Iniesta
15.- Garrincha
16.- Matthaus
17.- Van Basten
18.- Baresi
19.- Zico
20.- Ronaldinho
Very close to my personal list.

God Tier
1-Messi (tie)
1-Pele (tie)
3-Maradona

Elite of Elites
4. Beckenbauer (tie)
4. Di Stefano (tie)
4. Cruyff (tie)
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
8. Platini

Elite Legends
9. Puskas
10. Ronaldo
11. Best
12. Eusebio
13. Zico


Legends
14. Romario
15. Xavi
16. Laudrup
17. Van Basten
18. Zidane
19. Baresi
20. Baggio