RedCafe's top 50 footballers of all-time

[Ludens the Red]

The sad part about this is that Messi and Ronaldo are so far apart, when in all fairness like Souness mentioned they're probably the 2 best to ever play the game. Now I know, you can't compare, etc. but what I'm trying to say is that while Messi will be regarded as the best Ronaldo will be forgotten when talking about the best players because technicaly for the majority of the time he was #2. What I'm trying to say is that I guess he's just unlucky to play in this particular Messi era, who in all honesty is already breaking records and he's not even 25.

Yes he is.

 

[Inspectah deck]

From players I've seen at least 50 games of...
1 L.Ronaldo
2 Messi
3 Rivaldo
4 Maldini
5 M.Laudrup
6 C.Ronaldo
7 Zidane
8 Ronaldinho
9 Xavi
10 Nedved

 

[surf]

Messi
Ronaldo7
Pele
Maradona
Di Stefano
Cruyff
Beckenbauer
Puskas
Platini
Garrincha

Admittedly Messi and Ronaldo are still young, but what they are doing (mainly at club level) is beyond anything else I have seen.

 

[peterstorey]

1 Messi
2 Maradona
3 Pele
4 Platini
5 Beckenbaur
6 Zidane
7 Ronaldo L
8 Ronaldo C
9 Best
10 Henry

 

[peterstorey]

Ok sorry I thought it was just name your ten best players.

I'll try and put them order. I'll edit my post

Yeah do that and leave Larsson out too.

 

[NM]

Going to only post players I've seen, so that will be:

1. Ronaldo (Fat)
2. Rivaldo
3. Zidane
4. Messi
5. C. Ronaldo
6. Ronaldinho
7. Maldini
8. Schmeichel
9. Iniesta
10. Henry

 

[Jippy]

1) Messi
2) Zidane
3) Luiz Ronaldo
4) Ronaldinho
5) C.Ronaldo
6) Maldini
7) Rivaldo
8) Cafu
9) Henry
10) Zanetti

Interesting call and a good one. Only player to have played in three world cup finals and most capped Brazilian of all time is some feat.

Saw him play live for Roma v Bologna years ago and he was unbelievably good. People forget just what a quality player he was.

 

[Cheesy]

Thanks to those who've submitted lists tonight. Good response so far so keep them coming. Counted up all of the submissions so far.

 

[Canuckred64]

1. Pele
2. Maradona
3. Cruyff
4. Di Stefano
5. Beckenbauer
6. Puskas
7. Messi
8. Garrincha
9. Zidane
10. C. Ronaldo

 

[Jayvin]

1. Ronaldo de Lima
2. Rivaldo
3. Dennis Bergkamp
4. Ronaldinho
5. Lionel Messi
6. Cristiano Ronaldo
7. Zinedine Zidane
8. Thierry Henry
9. Rio Ferdinand
10. Ryan Giggs

 

[Jeffchin]

These are my heroes:

Maradona
Zidane
Ronaldinho
L. Ronaldo
Baggio
Zico
Batistuta
Platini
Van Basten
Baresi

 

[Bo_7iDaR]

1. Messi
2. Maradona
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
4. Zidane
5. Ronaldinho
6. Schmeichel
7. Henry
8. Ferdinand
9. Beckham
10. Roberto Carlos

 

[KM]

From Players I've seen

1) Messi
2) C. Ronaldo
3) L.Ronaldo
4) Xavi
5) Ronaldinho
6) Henry
7) Iniesta
8) Keane
9) Paul Scholes
10) Rio Ferdinand

 

[17Larsson]

Yeah do that and leave Larsson out too.

I went with players I've seen play as I have no idea where I would rank the likes of Platini, Puskas etc. as I've only ever seen clips of them

 

[Cheesy]

Thanks to those who have submitted this morning. Lists updated again.

 

[Magnus]

mine 4-4-2 obviousley
Banks
Irwin
Baresi
Beckenbauer
Maldini
Messi
Maradona
Platini
Best
Pele
Puskas

 

[Cheesy]

mine 4-4-2 obviousley
Banks
Irwin
Baresi
Beckenbauer
Maldini
Messi
Maradona
Platini
Best
Pele
Puskas

I need a top 10 order so I can rank them retrospectively...

 

[Magnus]

I need a top 10 order so I can rank them retrospectively...

Sorry

Pele
Maradona
Messi
Best
Beckenbauer
Platini
Zico
Charlton
Puskas
Cruyff (Dad)

Edwards would prob be nr 1 if i had ever seen him play

 

[deltakaye]

1. Diego Maradona
2. Lionel Messi
3. Fat Ronaldo
4. Ronaldinho
5. Zinedine Zidane
6. Rivaldo
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
8. Paulo Maldini
9. Andres Iniesta
10. Xavi Hernandez

 

[Diablodave]

1. Ronaldo
2. Zinedine Zidane
3. Lionel Messi
4. Diego Maradona
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Dennis Bergkamp
7. Paolo Maldini
8. Alessandro Del Piero
9. Lothar Matthaeus
10. Paul Scholes

 

[Brwned]

1. Pele
2. Maradona
3. Messi
4. Beckenbauer
5. Di Stefano
6. Cruyff
7. Platini
8. Matthaus
9. Scirea
10. Laudrup

 

[Gio]

In the spirit of the thread where most are plumping for those who they've seen or lived through, I'll restrict mine to players who've peaked in the last 25 years:

1. Messi
2. Rivaldo
3. Ronaldo
4. Matthaus
5. Maldini
6. Xavi
7. Laudrup
8. Van Basten
9. Baggio
10. Zidane

 

[Cheesy]

For those saying Laudrup, I've assumed it's Michael you're talking about?

 

[crappycraperson]

I will go with those I have seen -

Messi
Fat Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Zidane
Lothar Matheus
Baggio
Maldini
Rivaldo
Henry
Ronaldinhio

 

[The White Pele]

Messi
Maradona
Pele
Ronaldo (Bzl)
Zidane
Best
Charlton
C Ronaldo
Iniesta
Ronaldinho

 

[Desert Eagle]

1)Messi
2)Maradona
3)Scirea
4)Baresi
5)Pele
6)Cryuff
7)Best
8)Ronaldo
9)Beckenbaur
10)Zidane

 

[Moriarty]

1. Best
2. Charlton
3. Law
4. Cantona
5. Robson
6. Buchan
7. Coppell
8. Van Nistelrooy
9. Schmeichel
10. Whiteside

 

[antohan]

Mmmm... The travesty is some decent attacking player will make the Top 50 while some phenomenal defenders and midfielders probably won't.

Maybe you should run two top tens in parallel, one for attacking and another for defensive players, with the pointscoring scale making the former more important?

 

[antohan]

Maradona
Cruyff
Platini
Beckenbauer
Ronaldo
Messi
Zidane
Zico
Laudrup
C.Ronaldo

The top 7 I'm comfortable with, the last three I changed several times.

Apologies to anyone defence-tasked or playing pre-70s

 

[francobaresi]

1 Maradona
2 Messi
3 Zidane
4 Van Basten
5 Gullit
6 Baresi
7 Laudrup
8 Platini
9 Bergkamp
10 Keane

 

[Cheesy]

Mmmm... The travesty is some decent attacking player will make the Top 50 while some phenomenal defenders and midfielders probably won't.

Maybe you should run two top tens in parallel, one for attacking and another for defensive players, with the pointscoring scale making the former more important?

That's usually part of the course with these lists I guess. Some defenders and midfielders are doing better at the moment than you'd expect though.

 

[Cheesy]

How long do people think I should run the lists for? Was thinking maybe a week myself.

 

[Cheesy]

1. Best
2. Charlton
3. Law
4. Cantona
5. Robson
6. Buchan
7. Coppell
8. Van Nistelrooy
9. Schmeichel
10. Whiteside

I'll give you a chance to change it about if you want it to be taken seriously.

 

[NJ1979]

1. Maradona
2. Pele
3. Messi
4. Cruyff
5. Beckenbauer
6. Baresi
7. Zico
8. C Ronaldo
9. John Charles
10. Platini

 

[Cina]

I'll base it on players I feel I've seen enough of to assess.

01. Leo Messi
02. Luis Ronaldo
03. Cristiano Ronaldo
04. Zinadine Zidane
05. Ronaldinho
06. Alessandro Nesta
07. Paul Scholes
08. Pavel Nedved
09. Edwin Van Der Sar
10. Thierry Henry

I've tried to include players from multiple positions, bloody hell it's difficult though.

 

[Stretch]

1. Maradonna
2. Pele
3. Di Stefano
4. Messi
5. C. Ronaldo
6. Ronaldo de Lima
7. Cruyff
8. Best
9. Baresi
10. Zidane

To me Messi and CR will probably end up in the top 3 once their careers are done. I've also tried to get a balance between 'golden oldies' and modern players. This is a tougher than you'd like to think.

 

[Gio]

I've also tried to get a balance between 'golden oldies' and modern players. This is a tougher than you'd like to think.

That's always the hardest to compare. I suppose if we cherry-pick two or three from each post-war decade, it would be something along the lines of:

50s: Di Stefano, Puskas, Didi
60s: Pele, Best, Eusebio
70s: Beckenbaeur, Cruyff, Muller
80s: Maradona, Platini, Zico
90s: Ronaldo, Laudrup, Rivaldo
00s: Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane/Ronaldinho

 

[Stretch]

That's always the hardest to compare. I suppose if we cherry-pick two or three from each post-war decade, it would be something along the lines of:

50s: Di Stefano, Puskas, Didi
60s: Pele, Best, Eusebio
70s: Beckenbaeur, Cruyff, Muller
80s: Maradona, Platini, Zico
90s: Ronaldo, Laudrup, Rivaldo
00s: Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane/Ronaldinho

Pretty much yes. After that it really comes down to personal preference. I think a lot of the older generation players will be done a huge disservice in this poll since most so far have opted to only choose footballers they've seen. There are players I've not seen but I've seen plenty of clips and old matches. My opinion is also skewed by input from my dad as he had a liking towards certain footballers when he was young. So I tried to get a 'balance' but it's probably a poor balance anyway, it's tough.

 

[RedRonaldo]

From what I've seen...
1. Maradona
2. Zidane
3. Messi
4. C.Ronaldo
5. F.Ronaldo
6. Ronaldinho
7. Baggio
8. Schmeichel
9. Batistuta
10. Cantona

From what I have seen/read/heard/hearsay/youtube/wikipedia/winning-eleven-classics/imagination...
1. Duncan Edwards
2. Maradona
3. Pele
4. Di Stefano
5. Cruyff
6. Beckenbauer
7. George Best
8. Zidane
9. Messi
10. C.Ronaldo

 

[Cheesy]

From what I've seen...
1. Maradona
2. Zidane
3. Messi
4. C.Ronaldo
5. F.Ronaldo
6. Ronaldinho
7. Baggio
8. Schmeichel
9. Batistuta
10. Cantona

From what I have seen/read/heard/hearsay/youtube/wikipedia/winning-eleven-classics/imagination...
1. Duncan Edwards
2. Maradona
3. Pele
4. Di Stefano
5. Cruyff
6. Beckenbauer
7. George Best
8. Zidane
9. Messi
10. C.Ronaldo

Which do you want me to count?