Which player had the best team mates during his career?

[Zehner]

Just randomly thought that Di Maria shared the training ground with some pretty big names during his career. Then I asked myself which players could equal that "portfolio" (not counting how good they really were when they plaed together) and thougt it would make an interesting topic. So, Di Maria played together with:

Cristiano
Messi
Kaka
Modric
Neymar
Mbappe

Those are four Ballon D'Or winners and two who are quite likely to win one in the future. Another one who immediately sprung to mind was Raul:

Cristiano
Zidane
Ronaldo
Figo
Kaka
Laudrup

Five Ballon D'Or winners and the proclaimed "best player to never win a Ballon D'Or"

Now that I think of it, Maldini most likely takes it:

Gullit
van Basten
Papin
Weah
Baggio
Shevchenko
Kaka
Baresi
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo

That's crazy, actually. Those are 10 different Ballon D'Or winners he played with.



Have I missed someone? Are there similar cases, maybe before my time?

 

[ctp]

It's probably a big club journeyman type like Zlatan rather than a one club man, even though Maldini's longevity leaves him with an impressive list of teammates. Just him as an example, he has Ajax guys like Litmanen and Sneijder, the great mid 00's Juve squad (Nedved, del Piero etc), most of the Inter treble team, Pep's Barca, he catches the tail end of most of the Milan legends' careers, an ascendant PSG, some good United players and whoever was on his team in MLS. I'm sure there's others like him.

 

[thepolice123]

Zlatan would be the obvious one. Off the top of my head:

Buffon
Thuram
Cannavaro
Nedved
Del Piero
Vieira
Figo
Adriano
Messi
Xavi
Iniesta
Sneijder (at Ajax)
Nesta
Pirlo
Rooney
Pogba
Schweinsteiger

 

[ctp]

Zlatan would be the obvious one. Off the top of my head:

Buffon
Thuram
Cannavaro
Nedved
Del Piero
Vieira
Figo
Adriano
Messi
Xavi
Iniesta
Sneijder (at Ajax)
Nesta
Pirlo
Rooney
Pogba
Schweinsteiger

And that's leaving out Ronaldinho, Henry, Beckham, Crespo and plenty more.

 

[Aouer-United]

Zlatan would be the obvious one. Off the top of my head:

Buffon
Thuram
Cannavaro
Nedved
Del Piero
Vieira
Figo
Adriano
Messi
Xavi
Iniesta
Sneijder (at Ajax)
Nesta
Pirlo
Rooney
Pogba
Schweinsteiger

You forgot to add names

Ronaldinho
Javier Zanetti
Carles Puyol
Giorgio Chiellini
Beckham
Pato
Dani Alves
Thierry Henry

 

[RedTiger]

What does Seedorf's list of compatriots look like?

 

[2 man midfield]

I'll throw Vieira into the hat. Blanc, Deschamps, Petit, Zidane, Maldini, Baresi, Desailly, Weah, Baggio, Costacurta, Henry, Pires, Seaman, Adams, Bergkamp, Overmars, Buffon, Emerson, Zlatan, Del Piero, Nedved, Zambrotta, Thuram, Cannavaro, Zanetti, Figo, Crespo, Eto'o, Sneijder, Kompany, Tevez.

 

[giorno]

Zlatan would be the obvious one. Off the top of my head:

Buffon
Thuram
Cannavaro
Nedved
Del Piero
Vieira
Figo
Adriano
Messi
Xavi
Iniesta
Sneijder (at Ajax)
Nesta
Pirlo
Rooney
Pogba
Schweinsteiger

WRONG!

Zlatan didn't play with those bums. It's they who played with Zlatan

 

[norm87cro]

David May. Superstar.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Messi. He would be nothing without Xavi and Iniesta

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Veron had an interesting career in terms of being in squads littered with talent:

Montella
Klinsmann
Mancini
Buffon
Crespo
Thuram
Cannavaro
Conceicao
Stankovic
Nedved
Nesta
Simeone
Salas
Boksic
Ferdinand
Keane
Scholes
Neville
Beckham
Giggs
RVN
Makelele
Desailly
Lampard
Terry
Gudjohnsen
Petit
Hasselbaink
Joe Cole
Toldo
Zanetti
Davids
Cambiasso
Recoba
Adriano
Vieri
Samuel
Figo

 

[Pughnichi]

It’s all relative. These are all top class players being mentioned. Bellion for example was far luckier to play with Ferdinand, Vidić, Keane, Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Ronaldo, Ruud

 

[Schneckerl]

Now that I think of it, Maldini most likely takes it:

Gullit
van Basten
Papin
Weah
Baggio
Shevchenko
Kaka
Baresi
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo

That's crazy, actually. Those are 10 different Ballon D'Or winners he played with.

Have I missed someone? Are there similar cases, maybe before my time?

Demetrio Albertino was teammates with all of those with all of those (save for Ronaldo) and you can add:
Messi
Iniesta
Xavi
Eto'o
Puyol
Deco

 

[Champagne Football]

Roberto Carlos won the world Cup and Champions League in 2002. In that year he played with Cafu, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo - and also -
Raul, Zidane, Figo, Makalele.

Thiago Alcantara played for that great Barca team of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol - then also played with a good few German World Cup winners at Bayern - Scweinsteiger, Lahm, Kroos, Neuer

Beckham and Ibrahimovich being journeymen played with many greats at all those great clubs.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Rivaldo must have a decent list.

 

[sun_tzu]

What does Seedorf's list of compatriots look like?

Could make a decent squad out of them that's for sure
Keepers
Van Der sar, cassillias , toldo
Centre backs
Hierro, stam, Nesta, Silva
Fullbacks
Cafu, Carlos, maldini, zanetti
Cenral Midfielders
Rijkaard, Redondo, pirlo
Attacking midfielder
Berkampt, rivaldo, costa, Kaka, robben, ronaldiniho
Forwards
Raul Ronaldo vieri, schevchenko, zlatan

Plus
Costacurta, f de Bohr, zambrotta, Davids, Beckham ,kluivert, nistelrooy,

 

[Canagel]

Tevez has played with..
Evra
Ferdinand
Vidic
Carrick
Scholes
Berbatov
Rooney
Ronaldo
VdS
Messi
Di Maria
Zabaleta
Mascherano
Aguero
Yaya Toure
Kolo Toure
Silva
Kompany
Buffon
Pirlo
Marchisio
Pogba
Chiellini
Bonucci
Vidal