Best free-kick takers in the world?

[Lord SInister]

Juninho was sensational, he was complete free-kick taker.
Although Marcelinho was prolific, iirc he was more prolific than Juninho, as I remember one Brazilian poster saying that Corinthians used to defend with 11 men, and than win with a free-kick goal from Neto or Marcelinho.
Than there was Zico, for whom free kicks from 25 meters was like penalty kick.

Brazilians are easily the best free kick taking nation though. There line up is phenomenal.
Currently cannot say, but I like Pjanic, Messi and Neymar in this regard.
Although the little biased kid in me says Mata is the best from short range.
Also this conversion rate thingy is not the best way.

 

[TwoSheds]

Alonso and Willian are up there at the moment.

 

[D4X73r]

I would bring in Pirlo to this. He had a technique, I was long trying to copy his style at the training ground.

I know that he hasn't scored a lot in comparison to the others mentioned but most of them were winners. He was more trying to assist from a freekick but when he was going to shoot, he knew where to put the ball.

 

[kthanksbye]

Currently, it has to be Messi.

Juninho, Dinho, Pirlo, Beckham have to be up there in the all time list.

 

[kafta]

Currently i think Messi has great technique, and [Irrelevant point] too.

From the past players, Juninho, Pirlo and Beckham were my favorites.

 

[Kemizee]

Juninho. A real dead ball exponent. His spin on the ball when taking a free kick was breathtaking. Could also score from all angles. The best for me.

 

[Stobzilla]

No. He is atrocious and has been for quite a few years.

Surprised to see no one say neymar. He is the best right now from close range.

You can't be reading that well, a few have mentioned him

 

[Stobzilla]

A name no one has mentioned for the oldies. Shevchenko was always good for a belter every now and then.

 

[ivaldo]

Whenever Alonso lines up a freekick I feel like it's going to go in.

 

[Macca7]

I'm fairly sure these stats are inaccurate as stats weren't collected as thoroughly in the early days of the premier league as they are now.

Beckham must have more than 5 league goals from free kicks, surely?

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...-all-time-statistics-pictures-Beckham-Ronaldo

He has 15 according to this article...in third place in terms of games per free-kick goal behind Christian Eriksen, 2nd and Lauren Robert , 1st.

 

[fcbforever]

The current best free kick taker believe it or not plays in the MLS. Sebastian Giovinco. The entire league knows not to foul TFC anywhere near the 18 because he scores so many free kicks. He's already the top scorer from set plays in MLS history (as short as it is) and he's only played there 3 years (Beckham played more MLS games than he has) It's almost like taking a pk for him. Too bad Italy turned their nose at him. They could have used him...

The league he plays in plays a role there. Sorry, not gonna accept anyone in this discussion who never showed any such talent in Europe and then starts scoring them in his retirement league. Based on that we could include tons of players from the 2nd leagues around Europe, but that would be besides the point as well.

 

[PragueRed]

I think Messi is getting mentioned a lot because of the way many of us consume football nowadays. I personally don't have the time to watch loads of European games, but will check out YouTube highlights of Barca and Real's games, which leads to the impression that Messi scores a lot of freekicks because we only see the successful ones, not the unsuccessful attempts.

I'm sure there are more diligent viewers of football than me, but might explain why there is a bias towards modern players and Messi in particular?

 

[armoskills]

I always loved a Stuart Pearce free kick

 

[Addictive]

Coutiniho and Suarez were both amazing at freekicks, it's a shame they will rarely get to take them at Barca though, as Messi always hogs that spotlight.

 

[Lord SInister]

I think Messi is getting mentioned a lot because of the way many of us consume football nowadays. I personally don't have the time to watch loads of European games, but will check out YouTube highlights of Barca and Real's games, which leads to the impression that Messi scores a lot of freekicks because we only see the successful ones, not the unsuccessful attempts.

I'm sure there are more diligent viewers of football than me, but might explain why there is a bias towards modern players and Messi in particular?

Same can be said about older players.
I have seen likes of Beckham, Maradona, Platini, Zola, Koeman, Pirlo, Ronaldinho, Mihajlovic, Nakamura, Marcos Assunҫão (the ones who are regarded among the free-kick GOATs) used to fluff many free-kicks to the row Z, just like Messi or any modern great does.

Zico from whatever I have seen was different though. He was technically immaculate, yes he also fluffed at times, but he was like out of 50, 35 times he used to work the goalie.

the likes of Cristiano, Rivellino and Roberto Carlos are different beasts though. They IMO if they restricted themselves would have scored many, but they wanted the glory looking for spectacular and earned the reputation for being shite. But if you there stats, they were scored respectable amount.

 

[RedMessiah]

I think Neymar, Pjanic, [Irrelevant point] are clearly better now. Maybe Dybala too? I remember him scoring quite a few. By not that great, I meant that he wasn't on their level, not that he was bad. Messi's good and one of the best but I think there are quite a few players who are as good or better than him at free kicks.

They are not clearly better, not at all. Maybe they are as good as him, like you said, but they are definetly not "clearly" better. He has a fair shout at being the best free kick taker in the world, and that's what some posters are saying, nothing wrong with that IMO.

 

[Hullyback]

Messi probably. Alonso in our league is pretty tasty, Erikssen too. Coutinho was pretty decent, not sure he'll get many now at Barca.

Ronaldo will get mentioned despite him being pretty dire at them, you think of the famous stance, and a few he's had fly in but he must have a terrible conversion rate cos you see him miss pretty much all of them when you watch him live. Usually hit the wall or fly miles over, God knows where myth he's brilliant at them came from - the same myth that Pogba is deadly at long range shots or Benzama is a world class striker. Bang a few in and they last long in the memory I guess, people soon forget the 350 they miss after.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

The league he plays in plays a role there. Sorry, not gonna accept anyone in this discussion who never showed any such talent in Europe and then starts scoring them in his retirement league. Based on that we could include tons of players from the 2nd leagues around Europe, but that would be besides the point as well.

That's absolute BS. I don't care what the league is. When you are consistently putting the ball in the top corner of either side of the goal it doesn't matter what league you are in. As for the player himself, he was always good at Juve and is still good enough to be playing in Europe and definitely good enough to be playing for Italy. Besides, the MLS may not be as good as the EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga, but it isn't far off from the other European leagues. Giovinco himself is convinced that TFC would be a midtable team in the Serie A

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Messi probably. Alonso in our league is pretty tasty, Erikssen too. Coutinho was pretty decent, not sure he'll get many now at Barca.

Ronaldo will get mentioned despite him being pretty dire at them, you think of the famous stance, and a few he's had fly in but he must have a terrible conversion rate cos you see him miss pretty much all of them when you watch him live. Usually hit the wall or fly miles over, God knows where myth he's brilliant at them came from - the same myth that Pogba is deadly at long range shots or Benzama is a world class striker. Bang a few in and they last long in the memory I guess, people soon forget the 350 they miss after.

Bale is deadly at freekicks too but doesn't get many chances to take them at Real Madrid as CR7 pulls rank. But there was a time when he was banging them in for fun for Tottenham...

 

[HTG]

Lewandowski is up there. He is a great free-kick-taker.

 

[fcbforever]

That's absolute BS. I don't care what the league is. When you are consistently putting the ball in the top corner of either side of the goal it doesn't matter what league you are in. As for the player himself, he was always good at Juve and is still good enough to be playing in Europe and definitely good enough to be playing for Italy. Besides, the MLS may not be as good as the EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga, but it isn't far off from the other European leagues. Giovinco himself is convinced that TFC would be a midtable team in the Serie A

Yeah, van der Wiel also thinks the MLS is 10 years in front of Europe in terms of professionalism.

 

[Dennis Viollet]

Past -
Sinisa Mihajlovic

current
I don't know

 

[Ødegaard]

Past: Juninho by far.
Current: no clue, Hakan Calhanoglu maybe?

 

[Lebo]

So little mention of Marco's Alonso? Direct and Indirect the guy is brilliant. No one does it better currently

 

[mitchmouse]

Not sure about now but Ronaldo and Becks have to be right up there with the very best

 

[Schneckerl]

That's absolute BS. I don't care what the league is. When you are consistently putting the ball in the top corner of either side of the goal it doesn't matter what league you are in. As for the player himself, he was always good at Juve and is still good enough to be playing in Europe and definitely good enough to be playing for Italy. Besides, the MLS may not be as good as the EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga, but it isn't far off from the other European leagues. Giovinco himself is convinced that TFC would be a midtable team in the Serie A

Pressure makes a huge difference. Players have higher success ratio in training than in games too.

 

[fcbforever]

Pressure makes a huge difference. Players have higher success ratio in training than in games too.

He thinks Giovinco is being honest when talking about Toronto being a midtable Serie A team. There's really no point in arguing mate.

 

[giorno]

First name Juninho, Last name Pernambucano

uh, bad wording there...

 

[mancan92]

They are not clearly better, not at all. Maybe they are as good as him, like you said, but they are definetly not "clearly" better. He has a fair shout at being the best free kick taker in the world, and that's what some posters are saying, nothing wrong with that IMO.

Messi free kick conversion rate isn't even in the top 20 in Europe. He scores because he takes soo many. He shouldn't even be in the discussion.

 

[Raees]

I think Messi is getting mentioned a lot because of the way many of us consume football nowadays. I personally don't have the time to watch loads of European games, but will check out YouTube highlights of Barca and Real's games, which leads to the impression that Messi scores a lot of freekicks because we only see the successful ones, not the unsuccessful attempts.

I'm sure there are more diligent viewers of football than me, but might explain why there is a bias towards modern players and Messi in particular?

Messi is brilliant at free-kicks.

8 times out of 10 he works the keeper and is very close, and he has scored free kicks at all levels of the game even in world cups. The best thing about him is his range, so even with a curling technique he gets whip and pace even from say 30-35 yards and is a genuine threat.

For me because of the rest of his brilliance, people overlook his free-kicks but he's genuinely fantastic at it. Bale is another who I really rate at free-kicks, if it wasn't for Ronaldo.. he'd be seen as one of the greats at it. Hes way more efficient than Ronaldo.

It is annoying that there aren't many out there who combine curling technique for some close range situations and then lace for distance free kicks.

 

[Corey]

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...-all-time-statistics-pictures-Beckham-Ronaldo

He has 15 according to this article...in third place in terms of games per free-kick goal behind Christian Eriksen, 2nd and Lauren Robert , 1st.

15 sounds about right.

I don't think games per free-kick goal is the best measure since it depends a lot on how many free-kicks you actually get to take. However, the list does seem like a reasonable ranking.

The best measure in my opinion is free-kick attempts per goal, as I would define a good free-kick taker (at least in a shooting sense) as someone who scores a high proportion of the free-kicks they take.

Of course, even this measure has its flaws, in particular the fact that it doesn't take into account the location of the free-kick. Mata's excellent conversion rate, for example, is probably boosted slightly by the fact that he only shoots free-kicks that are close to the goal (which are obviously easier to score), as he leaves the more difficult long-range efforts for others.

 

[Billy Blaggs]

That's absolute BS. I don't care what the league is. When you are consistently putting the ball in the top corner of either side of the goal it doesn't matter what league you are in. As for the player himself, he was always good at Juve and is still good enough to be playing in Europe and definitely good enough to be playing for Italy. Besides, the MLS may not be as good as the EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga, but it isn't far off from the other European leagues. Giovinco himself is convinced that TFC would be a midtable team in the Serie A

Look at some of the goalkeeping in those clips.

 

[Amar__]

The current best free kick taker believe it or not plays in the MLS. Sebastian Giovinco. The entire league knows not to foul TFC anywhere near the 18 because he scores so many free kicks. He's already the top scorer from set plays in MLS history (as short as it is) and he's only played there 3 years (Beckham played more MLS games than he has) It's almost like taking a pk for him. Too bad Italy turned their nose at him. They could have used him...

Memphis scored about 50 goals from free kicks in his last season for PSV, and after switching to serious competition he couldn't even get the ball over the wall with his free kicks for us. Believe it or not, there is a big difference even in taking free kicks at different levels of football.

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

The league he plays in plays a role there. Sorry, not gonna accept anyone in this discussion who never showed any such talent in Europe and then starts scoring them in his retirement league. Based on that we could include tons of players from the 2nd leagues around Europe, but that would be besides the point as well.

Only two 'retirement' players in MLS. The league is changing for the better with a lot of young South American talent being bought. But this isn't the thread for that discussion

 

[RedMessiah]

Messi free kick conversion rate isn't even in the top 20 in Europe. He scores because he takes soo many. He shouldn't even be in the discussion.

Of course he should be, he already is whether you want it or not. La Liga's historical top scorer has every claim to be in the discussion. I guess the more free kicks you take, the lower conversion rate you'll have. If he took four free kicks in a match, would you expect him to score them all? How many players have scored, say, a hat-trick from free kicks in a single match? I think that it's understandable that conversion rate be taken into account, but like I said, it's not enough to rule someone out of the discussion. To say that he shouldn't be in the discussion is kind of arrogant though, like it were some universal truth.

 

[Schneckerl]

I guess the more free kicks you take, the lower conversion rate you'll have.

You're right in general, however his conversion rate is really low (~5%?). Maybe he just tries shit spots disproportinally often compared to other FK takers. Stats on distance and angle would help.

 

[fcbforever]

You're right in general, however his conversion rate is really low (~5%?). Maybe he just tries shit spots disproportinally often compared to other FK takers. Stats on distance and angle would help.

Dybala is attempting quite a lot and he’s still got a high conversion rate.

 

[mancan92]

Of course he should be, he already is whether you want it or not. La Liga's historical top scorer has every claim to be in the discussion. I guess the more free kicks you take, the lower conversion rate you'll have. If he took four free kicks in a match, would you expect him to score them all? How many players have scored, say, a hat-trick from free kicks in a single match? I think that it's understandable that conversion rate be taken into account, but like I said, it's not enough to rule someone out of the discussion. To say that he shouldn't be in the discussion is kind of arrogant though, like it were some universal truth.

That's not true though players like dybala and pjanic have much higher rates but also take all of the set pieces for their respective teams.

Cristiano has scores more free kicks in his career than Messi has, in fact he is in the top 5 for most free kicks scored in their career. Does that mean he should be in the conversation for best free kick taker?

 

[Denis79]

I think Messi is getting mentioned a lot because of the way many of us consume football nowadays. I personally don't have the time to watch loads of European games, but will check out YouTube highlights of Barca and Real's games, which leads to the impression that Messi scores a lot of freekicks because we only see the successful ones, not the unsuccessful attempts.

I'm sure there are more diligent viewers of football than me, but might explain why there is a bias towards modern players and Messi in particular?

I think the younger football fan you are it's only natural you've seen less players actually play. You can only relate to what you have seen. It's the same in our fanbase, I would say Scholes is the best player to ever play for us but I never saw Best play so I can't say he's the best ever for us even though I believe the veterans when they say he was.

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

Just to follow up on the Giovinco one, here's a free kick he scored today in a friendly against Mexican team Club America with players on both posts:
He plays in a weaker league but it's undeniable that his dead ball technique is fantastic. Last year on the final day of the season he scored this: Julian Gressel of Atlanta said that he was arguing with a Toronto player about the position of the freekick and Giovinco walked up and said, "it doesn't matter, I'll score it anyways"