Best free-kick takers in the world?

[Red4Life_#7]

Everyone has their opinions and I'm curious to know them.

Who is the best Free Kick Taker In the World??

Currently playing the game and past free kick taker.

E.g.

Current: Dmitri Payet
Past: Juninho Pernambucano

 

[VP89]

Juninho.

Sorry can't think of a current. They're too inconsistent.

 

[giorno]

Current, depends from position. Within 25 feet of the goal, centre/centre left, Pjanic -it's almost a penalty for him

 

[Sky1981]

Beckham

 

[Cee90]

Nakamura was pretty good.

 

[Macca7]

For me - Beckham without doubt. Not only did he score beautiful free-kicks, but important ones too. The amount of times he pulled United/England out of the shit with a free kick was unreal.

 

[Aboutreika18]

There was that period a couple of seasons ago where Willian was deadly at them and on the subject of Chelsea, Alonso also has a pretty good record from the few he's taken.

 

[Asian Sensation]

Current -
Hakan Çalhanoğlu

Past -
Sinisa Mihajlovic

 

[Dolf]

Current: Messi
Past: Zico

 

[Gio]

Mata's got the best record of anyone currently active in the top European leagues.

 

[Schneckerl]

Would like to see detailed stats for the last few years. No only goals and number of attempts, but also distance and position.

btw I think there is a lot of potential improvment in direct FK effectiveness

 

[R'hllor]

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

Pjanic, Messi, Giovinco currently. Even if Giovinco in MLS his freekicks are unreal. Scored at least four this past season

 

[Peyroteo]

Out of the big names Neymar's the best freekick taker in the world. Pjanic is deadly but only from a certain position, same with [Irrelevant point].

All time it's either Zico, Beckham or Juninho.

 

[RedRom]

In terms of current, it is hard to say, as there isn't one stand out player at the moment I think, but on the past my favourite was as the op mentioned Juninho Pernambucano, with Rogerio Ceni also high up in the list purely because I was fascinated by a goalie scoring goals!

 

[harms]

Zico and Platini for short distances, Juninho/Koeman/Beckham for long ones

 

[mynamejeff]

i love how mihajlovic's training videos get brought up in threads like this

 

[Moonred]

Present - Messi
Past - Beckham, Juninho, Koeman.

 

[Invictus]

Mata's got the best record of anyone currently active in the top European leagues.

Yep, his raw conversion stats are fairly surprising!

Anyway, for the current lot — intermediate range: Pjanić, short: Dybala
All-time — intermediate range: Juninho, short: Zico

 

[Sunspear17]

My bias = [Irrelevant point]
Non bias opinion = KDB or Eriksen

I would say KDB is dangerous at scoring from free kicks, same as Eriksen, but Eriksen puts lovely balls into the box from free kicks which create goal scoring opportunities.

 

[duffer]

Alonso is the best in the league over the past couple of years. Can't think of anyone as consistent.

 

[Mr. MUJAC]

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t bad at free kicks is he?

 

[Schneckerl]

All-time — intermediate range: Juninho, short: Zico

Good choices. Love Zico's shooting style. The guy could aim for the top corner like nobody else.

 

[Bole Top]

currently - Messi.

in the past: Pierre van Hooijdonk & Marcos Assuncao.

 

[Peyroteo]

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t bad at free kicks is he?

Pretty sure only Juninho and Zico have scored more free kicks than him in football history but he's not the best in the world at them anymore.

The top players currently aren't great at them, Messi's getting mentions purely out of reputation because he isn't a great free kick taker either. I think only Neymar scores them consistently. 6 free kick goals in the past year and he wasn't the main free kick taker in Barcelona, that seems pretty great.

It's weird how there's stats for everything but then it's tough to find out the numbers for things like these. Number of attempts per goal while taking into account the position the free kick is being taken from, shouldn't be that hard.

 

[Hughie77]

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t bad at free kicks is he?

Yep. Agree best I've seen from all angles. Saw him smash one in against stoke years back right behind goals flew in . 5.0 that was.

 

[spwd]

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t bad at free kicks is he?

When was the last time he scored one?

 

[Schneckerl]

The top players currently aren't great at them, Messi's getting mentions purely out of reputation because he isn't a great free kick taker either.

Both Messi and Ronaldo have a lot of attempts. I wonder how effective Juninho, Mihajlovic etc. were in comparison.

 

[Cutch]

Surprised no mention of Sigurdsson. Has he got shit at them? Couple of ones he’s scored against us i have been convinced they’re going in before he’s even hit it which is not a feeling i get often

 

[Cutch]

Mata's got the best record of anyone currently active in the top European leagues.

I actually think Mata is too polite and civil to get taking more free kicks. Can’t imagine him ever arguing with anyone to take them.

His efforts are generally quite tame in power but there’s very few better at placing top corner.

 

[Peyroteo]

Both Messi and Ronaldo have a lot of attempts. I wonder how effective Juninho, Mihajlovic etc. were in comparison.

I guess we'll never really know. Free kick ability is one of the few things in football that can be quite objectively backed up by the stats so it's a shame there's not a lot of stats about it.

 

[Jaybomb]

Calhanoglu.

 

[duffer]

Both Messi and Ronaldo have a lot of attempts. I wonder how effective Juninho, Mihajlovic etc. were in comparison.

Ronaldo being mentioned in this thread is boderline a joke, isn't it? He always takes them despite ballooning 95% into row Z.

Scored a cracker against David James a decade ago to be fair.

These are Premier League stats form a couple of years ago, Ronaldo's % may have improved in Spain.

Juan Mata : Shots 28, Goals 5, Conversion 17.9 (per cent)

Sebastian Larsson : Shots 90, Goals 11, Conversion 12.2.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink : Shots 62, Goals 6, Conversion 9.7.

David Beckham : Shots 54, Goals 5, Conversion 9.3.

Nolberto Solano : Shots 78, Goals 7, Conversion 9.0.

Thierry Henry : Shots 144, Goals 12, Conversion 8.3.

Danny Murphy : Shots 67, Goals 5, Conversion 7.5.

Ryan Giggs : Shots 73, Goals 5, Conversion 6.8.

Leighton Baines : Shots 76, Goals 5, Conversion 6.6.

Laurent Robert : Shots 154, Goals 10, Conversion 6.5.

Cristiano Ronaldo : Shots 164, Goals 10, Conversion 6.1.

 

[Grylte]

I don't understand why Mata doesn't get to take all our freekicks from 25 meters or closer.
It's better than Pogba or Rashford shooting over.

Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos doesn't/didn't score many, just crazy goals when they actually hit.

 

[matador]

Off the top of my head I can only think of Juninho Pernambucano and Sinisa Mihajlovic. There's no one as consistent as them today.

PS: I personally love this one.

 

[Grylte]

Stoichkov used to be pretty decent too.

 

[crossy1686]

Got to be Beckham for me. Don't know of anyone now who's consistently known for their set-piece prowess. It's actually depressing how much corners and free kicks are derided now in favour of playing passing football instead.

 

[Fingeredmouse]

Zola, especially in Serie A.

 

[RedMessiah]

Pretty sure only Juninho and Zico have scored more free kicks than him in football history but he's not the best in the world at them anymore.

The top players currently aren't great at them, Messi's getting mentions purely out of reputation because he isn't a great free kick taker either. I think only Neymar scores them consistently. 6 free kick goals in the past year and he wasn't the main free kick taker in Barcelona, that seems pretty great.

It's weird how there's stats for everything but then it's tough to find out the numbers for things like these. Number of attempts per goal while taking into account the position the free kick is being taken from, shouldn't be that hard.

Yeah, Barcelona's all time free kick top scorer, La Liga's all time free kick top scorer, Argentina's all time free kick top scorer, but no, he isn't great at them. I'm not saying he's the best ever, but some people's opinions...

 

[Peyroteo]

Yeah, Barcelona's all time free kick top scorer, La Liga's all time free kick top scorer, Argentina's all time free kick top scorer, but no, he isn't great at them. I'm not saying he's the best ever, but some people's opinions...

He's getting more mentions here for best free kick taker in the world than anyone else when he doesn't really score them a lot. I said he wasn't great in that context, not that he was a bad free kick taker. Ronaldo has scored more free kicks than any other active player and he's not great at them either.