Retrospectively, Football sports was created in the 1860s and it has been reformed and developed for more than the Century. Era over era, there are so many superstars and legends being created chronologically. I'm proud to propose the list of "The Greatest Footballers of All-Time" in complete version. The main ranking is primarily established based on total performance in overall career and is considered based on competition level. The conditional margin which includes Highest State, Lowest State of Performance and Total Ability is the additional factor value. Ability is main tool to reduce the difference variance of the comparison between positions, is a combination set of main football function are, Physical, Defensive and/or Offensive. Ability is the internal potential of footballer by no application to football role while Skill is set level of importance base on the role. However, there are some exceptional cases of player that cannot take place just from their total performance and their greatness to impact history of their club or nation is regarded as Bonus in addition to the basic rating.
“Uns Uwe” Uwe Seeler is one of the most consistent strikers of
all-time as well as one of the best players to have never won Ballon'Dor.
Seeler is full of atheletic characteristic, He was energetic and effective
goalscorer with considerable technique, working to score inside or outside the
penalty area. He was also very creative and was renowned for his overhead-kick
and back-heading and even got deep to midfield to win the ball from opponent.
He was rated by kicker in 7.5 World-Class seasons and also 7.5 seasons of
international-class which is the second best only to Beckenbauer. Note that his
career was achieved the peak prior to the Bundesliga era. According to German
footballer of the year voting, he was German forward of the year for 7 times.
He prominently won his third German footballer of the year at his 34 years
old.Seeler was also a tremendously popular player due to his fairness, modesty,
and kindness. The DFB made him the second honorary captain of the German
national team in 1972. In 2003 he became honorary citizen of his hometown
Hamburg, the first time the honor was bestowed on a sportsman.
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"The Architect"
Luis Suarez Miramontes is regarded as the greatest Spanish footballer of
all-time and the best European midfielder in the early 1960s, is one of the
greatest midfielders in history of European Cup. Luis Suarez is also one of the
best passers ever. He was the great organizers of the classic era. Not content
to direct from a distance, he help modernized the forward-looking more
free-ranging creative midfielder and known as his elegant movement. He was also
noted for his perceptive passing and explosive shot. Suárez first played
as an inside left for Barcelona and in 1960 he became the only
Spanish-born player to date to have won Ballon D’or awards. In 1961 Suárez
became the world's most expensive footballer when Barcelona sold him to Inter Milan
where he was an equally prominent member of the legendary Great Inter side of
the 1960s as a deep-lying playmaker. He retired as a player after the last
three seasons at Sampdoria. Luis Suarez also finished fourth place Ballon'Dor
in 1959.
Height : 185 cm, Position : Target Striker
4 Times DFB-Pokal, 1 Time Polish Cup
2013 UEFA Champion League Runner-Up
International Honours : None
3 Times Eastern European Footballer of the Year (2013,2015,2019)
2015 IFFHS World Top Scorer of the Year
2017 Bundesliga Player of the Year
2018 World Cup UEFA Zone Qualification Top Scorer
Robert Lewandowski is the greatest Eastern European player during the 2010s and is regarded as the best target striker in Bundesliga over four decades after era of Gerd Muller. He became Polish star when playing for Lech Poznan and moved for Dortmund where he led the club finish runner-up in UEFA Champion League and finally reached his peak career with Bayern Munich. He made a miracle moment scoring 5 goals in only 9 minutes un match against Wolfburg in 2015 Bundesliga.U nfortunately, he always failed in major international tournament particularly Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018. An accurate and efficient finisher with his head and both feet, A well-rounded forward, he possess almost all the necessary qualities of a traditional number nine: height, strength, balance, pace, intelligent movement and proficiency with both feet. He primarily operates as a goal-poacher in the penalty area, due to his positional sense, ability to shoot first time, and strength in the air, his excellent technical skills, quick feet, vision, and physique also enable him capable of dropping into deeper roles on the pitch, in order to create space for teammates with his movement. He is rated by kicker in 5 World-Class and 6 International-Class seasons and also finished 4th at 2015 Ballon'Dor. In 2020, He led Bayern won triple champion.
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47. Neymar
Date Of Birth : 5 February 1992Professional Score Record : 356 Goal/217 Assists/575 Games
1 Time French Cup, 1 Time French Ligue
1 Time Spanish La Liga, 1 Time Brazil Cup, 1 Time Copa Del Rey
2011 Copa Libertadores Cup, 2015 UEFA Champion League, 2020 Runner-Up
Neymar is the greatest Brazilian player during the 2010s and is
considered as one of the greatest players in the World in the mid-2010s. He
debuted international game at his only 18 years old when he just first play his
first professional season and achieved as a top scorer immediately. He is
considered as one of the best youngest players ever when he was awarded South
American footballer of the year at his 20 years old. Neymar developed his early
career with Santos and moved to Barcelona where he has been overshadowed by
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and later his career was spent with tremendous
injury with Paris-Saint Germain but he still superbly perform and is regarded
as the highest peak performer in history of Ligue I. He is always an
indispensable player for Brazil national team during its dark era. A prolific
scorer and also famous for his dribbling ability with an incredible quick step.
Although he could play as a deep-lying forward, Neymar's best position is a
side forward that allowed him to utilize his speed to score by himself or
creates assists. He holds the record all-time most assists and top scorer for Brazil
national team. Aside from 2015 and 2017 that he finished third place in FIFA
Ballon'Dor, he also finished at 5th twice, was named in 2018 ESM team of the
year and 2020 UEFA Team of the year.
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46. Jozef Bozsik
1952 Hungarian Football Federation Player of the Year
45. Dino Zoff
Italian Series A All-Time Most Clean Sheets
Height : 177 cm, Position : Target Striker
Major Club : Budapest Honved
World Cup Participation : 1954 (5 Games with 11 Goals)
Professional Score Record : 418 Goals/ 470 Games
Club Honours : 4 Times Hungarian League
2 Times Spanish La Liga, 2 Times Copa Del Rey
1960 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
International Honours : 1952 Olympic Game Gold Medal
1953 Central European Champions, 1954 FIFA World Cup Runner-Up
Individual Achievement : 3 Times Hungarian League Top Scorer
2 Times European and World League Top Scorer (1952, 1954)
1954 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe - Best Player
All-Time Highest NT Scorer In A Single Year (23 Goals)
2 Times European Defender of The Year (1965, 1968)
Facchetti is best remembered as the greatest wing-back ever in history of the European football. He primarily played as wing-back in club career, would make marauding run upfield using his wonderful running, dribbling and crossing, even sometimes done well as left-winger to make scores. When switch to play for Italy, Facchetti stayed deeper position as a full-back and in the late career he could also play as center-back which his tackling was used great effect, possessed excellent stamina, great leadership and scored important goals. He is compared by some as “Beckenbauer in version of side-back” for his leadership and technical ability. He was one of the Le Grande Inter which was notable with completely defensive game and the club was successful to reach three European Cup Final matches. He was also voted 5th Ballan D’or in 1968. Facchetti is the only player to be retired number for Inter Milan which he is one of the greatest players n history of the club and played 634 official games with scoring 75 goals.
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Date Of Birth : 25 January 1980
Height : 170 cm, Nation : Spain, Caps :133 Games
2009 Spanish National Sportsman of The Year
A Puppet Master" Xavi Hernandez is one of the most team decorated footballers of all-time and was one of the most valuable players in history of Spanish football, was the best midfielder in the World in the very late 2000s to the beginning 2010s. He is a key man of the achievement for Barcelona and Spain that meet their golden era, has made more than 180 assists for his club. Xavi is not a style of spectacular and all-round player style but full of intelligent and effectiveness in central midfield area as an indispensable organisor with reliable ball controlling and his ability to find and exploit spaces and made very accurate short passing as an embodiment of Tiki-Taka tactical strategy, having assisted to a lot goals. Xavi won the best player of Euro 2008 tournament plus man of the match in 2009 UEFA Champion league final round.Xavi holds the record most appearances in UEFA Champion League. Xavi was named in UEFA Team of the year five times and FIFPro World XI six times In 2008, Xavi was also voted 5th European footballer of the year. Xavi made around 180 assists in overall career.
2 Times European Cup Top Scorer (1990, 1993)
"O Baixinho" Romario the greatest
players in the World during the mid-90s, is one of the most prolific
goalscorers in history of the game. He scored more than 1,000 goals during his
career including unofficial matches. He is one of the greatest first touch
goal-getters of all-time, processed great shooting and dribbling technique.
While Romario was sometimes criticized for “Disappearing” during games, he
would then crop up and score one or more goals. A Master of Zen-like “no-play,”
He would let the action sweep around him until it was his time to strike. When
man-marked, He often stopped moving, reasoning that his marker’s natural
tendency was to move rather than stand still. After his markers moved, He was
off in the other direction for a pass or goal opportunity. Because of his
freedom style of attitude, He played for Barcelona for twice seasons and back
to play in Brazil in the rest of his career. Romario also achieved Brasil Cup
all-time top scorer and was also voted in top ten World Soccer Player of
the Year twice in the late 1980s. He holds the record most goals in a
single season in history Brazilian football league with 70 goals in 2000.
Nation : Spain, Caps : 111 Games
Height : 170 cm, Position : Left-Playmaker
Major Club : Barcelona
World Cup Participation : 2006,10, 14, 18 (14 Games)
Club Honours : 9 Times Spanish La Liga, 6 Time Copa Del Rey
4 Times UEFA Champion League (2006, 2009, 2011, 2015)
3 Times FIFA Club World Cup (2009, 2011, 2015)
International Honours : 2010 FIFA World Cup Champion
2 Times European Championship Winners (2008, 2012)
Individual Achievement : 2009 Spanish Footballer of The Year
2 Times UEFA Euro Bext XI (2008, 2012), 2012 Best Player
2010 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team
2010 Silver Ball, 2012 Bronze Ball FIFA Ballon’Dor
2011 - 2012 UEFA Best Player In Europe
The Illusionist" Andreas Iniesta is one of the most team decorated footballers of all-time and is one of the best midfielders in the World between the late 2000s to early 2010s, is one of a prominent members of Barcelona and national team in their glory years. Iniesta is a productive player from Barcelona Youth team. He is a remarkably intelligent midfielder with a valuable set of dribble and inventive skill combine with physical balance, agile ability and work ethic. Although he scored average number of goals in overall career, he is best remembered as the winning scorer in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final match. He is also a versatile player, originally started as defensive midfielder, is sometimes switched to play as left-winger if essential. Iniesta was rated by kicker as the best layer of the 2010 World Cup tournament and the man of the match in the 2015 UEFA Champion Leageu final match, is also voted 4th place in the 2009 Ballon'Dor and the 2011 UEFA Best Player In Europe Award and is consecutively selected four times in UEFA and five times FIFPro XI. He also finished 6th in the 2014 FIFA Ballon'Dor.
2000 Bronze Ball FIFA World Player of The Year
2000 IFFHS International Top Scorer
2 Times FIFA World Cup All-Stars Team (1998,2002)
Rivaldo is regarded as the the greatest player in the World during late 1990s. He played in the area between attacking midfielder and deep-lying forward but he was more exerting as scorer than creator. Rivaldo could dribble, shot and pass with the best. Especially, His shooting was combined with powerful and precision. He was renown of his superb by-cycle kicking. After his glory years in Barcelona, he was transferred to AC Milan. His time in Milan proved a mutually disappointing affair, was a starter through the first season but he didn’t play even a game in the next one partially due to injury problems. Within 5 seasons in Spain, he was named La Liga team of the season four times. He was voted as the 5th and 4th best player of the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, respectively. Rivaldo is named in ESM team of the month 14 times and team of the year 2 times, was also voted in fifth place Ballon'Dor in 1998 and fifth place in FIFA World Player of the Year twice in 2001 and 2002.
Gyorgi Sarosi is one of the symbolic Hungarian
legends, was the greatest footballer in the Europe during the second half
1930s. He is one of the most completed footballers of all-time, played in
several positions for Ferencváros and Hungary. Essentially an inside-forward
and center-forward, he could also operate in midfield as a world-class
center-half or even an international-class central defender, played these role
in the early and the late career. Sarosi was an extraordinary dribbler and
scorer with aggressive character, had got great physical option as a true
leadership and very good teamwork ability. Sarosi is one of the best players in
history of Mitropa Cup, was a superstar and reached four final matches. He
captained Hungary to the 1938 FIFA World Cup finals and scored five goals. Sarosi
made phenomenon record in the 1935 -1936 season, scored 36 goals in 20 league
games. In the 1937 international club, he scored seven goals in single match
against Czechoslovakia. For his role as a forward, he scored 331 goals in 317
league games, 49 goals in 43 Mitropa cup games and approximately scored 40
goals in 40 national team games. Sarosi scored 54 hat-tricks and 4
double-hat-tricks in his whole career.
"Kinglet Park" Rivelino is widely regarded as one of the most skillful-graceful footballers ever, was the greatest South American footballer in the first half 1970s and is also one of the most underrated players in football history. He was famous for his extremely potent left-foot shot, thunderous long-range free kicks, excellent long passes, quick thinking, distinct way of handling the ball and large moustache. He invented a football move called the "Elastico", also known as "flip flap", famously copied by Ronaldinho and C.Ronaldo in recent years. Rivelino played for Corinthians during the most troubled periods in the history of the club, didn’t win any state trophy and this reason effect him never won first place in any individual awards. He later move on Fluminense and finally won state trophies. He was a key player for Brazil to reach semi-final in World Cup twice times during the 1970s. Aside from the year he was named in top three South American footballer of the year, he was named in top ten three times. He is selected in FIFA All-Time South America team of the Century in 1998.
2 Times European Defender of The Year (1989, 1993)
Position : Left-Winger, Caps : 37 Games (9 Goals)
BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement
“Dangerous Divine” George Best is one of the most talent footballers of all-time. If consider only his prime, He would be the greatest player in history of British football without any hesitation but he was known for his unprofessional behavior as an alcoholism effected his career not consistency. George Best was a left-winger who was tremendously skilled an innovative footballer. Unsurpassed on dribble and penetration, would often pass off the score after rather than take the goal himself. He was one of few players with virtually ambidextrous ball control with both feet. Best scored 185 goals in 465 matched for Manchester United. In his native Northern Ireland the admiration for him is summed up by the local saying: "Maradona good; Pelé better; George Best. He was one of the world legends never participated in World Cup. He finished second place BBC Sports Personality of The Year in 1971 and third place in 1969. According to Ballon'Dor ranking, Best is the greatest European winger three times. He was voted 8th,12th and 16th World player of the century by World Soccer, France Football and IFFHS’s poll, respectively.
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1989 Cuo Winners Cup Top Scorer
“The Divine Ponytail” Roberto Baggio is one of
the most popular footballers of all-time, is the most talent Italian
player ever. He played as a creative forward and is one of the best technical
players in history of the game. He played as a creative forward. An
elegant player, was an excellent dribbler and defense infiltrator and free-kick
specialist. He was best remembered for his phenomenon performance in World Cup
1994. Among the pressured situation of Italy in several matches due to their
non-proficient in attacking game, Baggio scored important goals until leading
Italy reached final round. However, It is him to miss the final penalty kick
affecting Italy lost in that match. Baggio is one of a few players to play for
all three famous clubs in Italian series A consist of AC Milan, Inter Milan and
Juventus. He was very consistency trough his career, still had a great form in
his late career with Bologna and Brescia until his retirement at 36 year olds.
In Series A, he made 26 % assists and 36.5 % penalty goals per total games
played and 46 % of his series A goals were decisive goals. He was also voted as
the fifth best in 1995 FIFA World Player of the year. Baggio was voted
eighteenth in a poll organised by the French weekly magazine France Football.
He is also regarded by some as the best Italian player ever.
Frank Rijkaard is the greatest defensive midfielder of all-time,
is the best defensive midfielder in history of European Cup. His primitive race
is Suriname. He started his professional career as central defender but he was
transformed into a world-class holding midfielder at AC Milan and became an
indispensable player alongside his comrades like Ruud Gullit and Marco Van
Basten to build their glory year. Rijkaard basically played as man’s marker for
Netherlands national team. He possessed tremendous determination and excellent
technique, both of which served him well in controlling the middle of the
field. His vision and ability to advance forward also made him a formidable
defensive force. Rijkaard was remembered of his unsuitable behavior spat in
Voller’s hair. This led him to be sent off and Holland finally lost to West
Germany. He ended his career with a luxury scene winning the first UEFA
Champion League in 1995. In spite of a defensive player, He scored more than
100 goals in all club competition. Rijkaard was also voted in top ten World
Soccer Player of the Year twice in the early 1990s.
4 Times Dutch League Top Scorer, 1985 Dutch Footballer of The Year
1988, 1992 World Soccer Player of The Year, 1989 Silver,1987 Bronze
2 Times IFFHS World Best Player of the Year (1988, 1989)
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28. Ronaldinho
Position : Left-Winger/ Attacking Midfielder
2006 Bronze Ball FIFA World Player of The Year
2012 Brazilian League Footballer of The Year,2013 South American Footballer of The Year
FIFA Confederation Cup Greatest Player Ever
“Black Octopus” Lev Yashin is the greatest goalkeeper in history
of the game and regarded as Soviet Union‘s greatest footballer ever. He is the
only goalkeeper to win European footballer of the year award. Yashin is known
for his superior athleticism, imposing stature, routine amazing reflex saves
and inventing the idea of goalkeeper sweeping. During his career, He had
stopped around 150 penalty kick which is the best record of all-time. He kept
24 clean sheets for Soviet Union. Moreover, Yashin won 270 clean sheets from
approximately 420 career games played or almost 65 percent. Yashin is five
times Soviet goalkeeper based on analysis and the 1960s awards. He was also
voted in top five in Ballon d’Or 3 times aside from the 1963 that he won the first
place. In 1994, FIFA established the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper
in world cup final tournament. Yashin was finished 8th in UEFA Jubilee Poll as
the best European footballer in the last 50 years. For his outstanding service
to the people and to his country, Yashin was awarded the Order of Lenin in
1967, the highest award of the USSR. A Bronze statue of Lev Yashin was erected
at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow.
26. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Position : Second Striker
5 Times Argentinian League, 2 Times Colombian League
“El
Charro” Jose Manuel Moreno is the greatest footballer in the World in the early
1940s and is one of the most completed footballers of all-time. He has been
regarded by Argentinean old-timers to be a better player than Alfredo Di
Stefano who ever mentioned by himself that there are many greater footballers
than him in Argentina during his era but they was not lucky to get opportunity
to play in Europe, A few football fans around the World have ever heard his
name because he never participated in World Cup due to the disappearance of
tournament during the war-time and refusing to enter World Cup 1950 by
Argentina football association. Moreno is the most outstanding player in the
legendary famous team “ La Maquina”. He played as inside-right but sometimes played
as attacking midfielder according to “Total Football” Style of play that La
Maquina is the first team to play. Moreno was a superb technical player, was a
world-class creator, passer and dribbler and scored many career goals by
header. However, he is also known for his unprofessional attitude, often missed
the training and smoking. He was selected among the 25 best players in the
world in the 20th century by the IFFHS in 1999. He also ranked as the fifth
best player in South America, and as the third best in Argentina.
24. Gianni Rivera
Copa America Greatest Player Ever
"Master
Ziza" Zizinho was the greatest South American footballer in the late 1940s
and is the most complete South American midfielder of all-time. He played as an
inside-right but could operate his game in central midfield with his stamina to
help defensive game and he was equally comfortable playing in the wing, is
noted for his combination of shooting and passing ability and also a good
crosser of the ball, fantastic dribbling skills and great pace. He mostly spent
his career with Flamengo at his prime and moved to Bangu in his second part
career during the 1950s in three second division seasons of paulista and still
capped until 1957. In overall club career, he scored 338 goals in 718 games. In
the 1950 World Cup he came to international prominence and helped Brazil to
progress to the final, but their surprise 2-1 defeat to Uruguay tarnished his
reputation. Pelé always said that Zizinho was the best player he ever saw.
"He was a complete player. He played in midfield, in attack, he scored
goals, he could mark, head and cross." Zizinho holds the record most
appearances in history of South American Championship-Copa America with 28. He
came in 4th place in the IFFHS Brazilian Player and 10th place South American
player of the 20th Century.
1993 Bronze Ball World Soccer Player of The Year
"The Black Tulip" Ruud Gullit is the most versatile and completed footballers of all-time, renowned as one of the soldiers of AC Milan and Holland alongside Frank Rijkaard and Marco Van Basten. He could play in all attacking positions very well primarily as attacking midfielder and occasionally switched to winger area and even performed as sweeper in his late career impressively. His primitive race was Suriname. Gullit epitomized the ethos of Total Football as he was naturally adept in almost every position. His foremost attribute was his athleticism, as he used his strength and speed to great effect, as well as being excellent in the air. Yet unusually for a man of his stature Gullit also possessed outstanding natural balance and poise that gave a graceful style to his game. Gullit thus combined technical ability with physical presence to become an iconic figure in world football. In the eye of media rating, Gullit's best season is the 1993 - 1994 as one of the highest rates in history of magazine.
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Position : Central Holding Midfielder
Major Club : Botafogo
Date Of Birth : 11 October 1937Bobby Charlton is the
greatest English footballer of all-time and was the greatest midfielders in the
World during the mid-1960s. Although his talent was not among the best ever,
his consistency in effectiveness through his career is marked as a spiritual
athleticism. In his early year, he primarily performed as left-side
midfielder before switched to his best position later. Charlton was one of
a few survivors from Munich Disaster and incredibly recovered his condition in
a short time, was named as a runner-up in BBC Sports Personality of the Year in
1958 and 1959. He was a speedy withdrawn attacking midfielder with excellent
close control and he combined those attributes as a devastating dribbler in the
open field and was known for his uncompromising attitude. He packed
considerable power with either foot and use it to score many spectacular goals
and even had a high quality in defensive game. Charlton also finished fifth
place Ballon'Dor in 1965 and finished 10th, 12th and 14th place in IFFHS, World
Soccer and UEFA Jubilee poll, respectively.
Date Of Birth : 25 January 1942
Nation : Portugal, Caps : 64 Games (41 Goals)
Position : Forward, Height : 177 cm, Major Club : Benfica
World Cup Participation : 1966 (6 Games / 9 Goals)
Professional Score Record : 511 Goals/ 554 Games
Club Honours : 11 Times Portuguese League
5 Times Portuguese Cup, 1962 European Cup Winners
2 Times European Cup Runner-Up (1963, 1965, 1968)
International Honours : 1966 FIFA World Cup Third Place
Individual Achievement : 7 Times Portuguese Liga Top Scorer 1965 Ballon'Dor, 2 Times Silver Ball (1962,1966) 1966 BBC Oversea Sports Personality of The Year 1966 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe, Best Player 3 Times European Cup Top Scorer (1965,1966,1968) 2 Times European Golden Shoe, World League Top Scorer (1968,1973) 2 Times Portuguese Athletic of The Year (1970, 1973) Benfica Greatest Player Ever - All-Time Top Scorer Portuguese League Greatest Player Ever
Portuguese Cup All-Time Top Scorer
UEFA Jubilee Award (Portugal), IFFHS Portugal Player of The Century |
“The Black Tiger of Mozambique” Eusebio Ferreira Da Silva is the greatest footballer ever to born in The Africa Continent and the finest player ever to play for Portugal. He was a striker in the center-forward mold. Eusebio was the possessor of one of the most fearsome shots to have graced the planet, powerful stamina and strength, great in air, and also had sublime dribbling and passing skills. Eusebio was born and played football in Mozambique until 18 year olds before moved to play in Portugal, and decided to transfer his nationality to be Portugal in next year. He played for Benfica in their golden era alongside his famous teammate like Mario Coluna, reached European Cup final for five times, and helped Portugal to win the only medal in their World Cup history. He made total 34 hat-tricks in the whole career. In 1966, He regrettably lost Bobby Charlton just a point to win Ballon d’Or. Aside from years he won medal in this award, He was also voted in top five for three times. He was voted 9th and 10th the greatest footballer of the century BY IFFHS and World Soccer, respectively, and was voted 7th by UEFA Jubilee poll.
Date Of Birth : 21 March 1961 Nation : Germany, Caps : 150 Games (23 Goals) Position : Box-To-Box Midfielder, Height : 175 cm Major Club : Inter Milan,Bayern Munich World Cup Participation : 1982,1986,1990,1994,1998 (25 Games) Club Honours : 1 Time Italian Series A 7 Times Bundesliga Champions, 2 Times DFB-Pokal 2 Times UEFA Cup (1991, 1996) 2 Times UEFA Champion League Runner-Up (1987, 1999) International Honours : 1990 FIFA World Cup Champion 1986 FIFA World Cup Runner-Up |
1990 World Soccer/IFFHS World Best Player of the Year
“The Superman” Lothar Matthaus is the greatest central midfielder
of all-time, was a powerful dynamo midfielder, has played in five World Cups
more than any other outfield player, and holds the record for the most World
Cup appearances with 25 games. He also played in Euro four tournaments. He is
the most capped German player of all time with 150. The first half of his
career was performed as a box-to-box midfielder. Kicker Magazine rated him as a
world-class player in World Cup 1986, 1990 and 7.5 international-class seasons
as a midfielder in Bundesliga. However, He also reaches 3 world-class years at
Inter Milan where he won many big individual awards. Aside from 1990 and 1991,
He won 4th in Ballon’ Dor in 1989. Afterwards, He moved down to play as Libero,
was rated a half world-class season and 5.5 seasons international-class, noted
for his two years injury. He was renowned for his perceptive passing,
positional sense, movement, tireless, acceleration and well-timed tackling, as
well as his explosive shot. According to German Footballer of the year voting,
He also finished second place three times, was German defender of the year
three times and German midfielder of the year four times and was most
appeared in Bundesliga team of the week in twice seasons in 1985 and 1994. He
played in professional level for 22 seasons. Matthaus was voted 15th World’s
player of century in IFFHS’s poll and the same place in UEFA Jubilee’s poll.
1970 European Footballer of The Year, 1972 Silver Ball
Bundesliga Most Consecutive Games Scorer
Date Of Birth : 22 September 1976Height : 183 cm, Position : Fast Striker
3 Times Bravo Awards (1995, 1997, 1998)
2 Times Spanish La Liga Top Scorer
1997 La Liga Player of The Year
2006 CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup Qualification Top Scorer
1997 IFFHS International Top Scorer
1998 Italian Series A Footballer of The Year
1998 UEFA Club Most Valuable Player And Best Forward
12. Garrincha
Individual Achievement
6 Times Brazil State Championship Top Scorer
2 Times Brazil National Championship Top Scorer
South American Footballer of The Year : Gold (1977,1981,1982), Silver (1976,1980)
1982 FIFA World Cup All Stars Team
World Soccer Player of The Year : 1983 Gold, 1984 Bronze
Flamengo's All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
Campeonato Carioca All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
Brazil Football Museum Hall of Fame
"Rooster of Quintinho" Zico is commonly considered as one of the most skilled dribblers and finishers ever and was the world's best player of the early 80's. An excellent organizor and creator, but also the deadly dribbler on the run, Zico was equally proficient finisher. Many of his goals were sudden and unexpected but spectacular efforts. He was also known as one of history's greatest free kick specialists, able to bend the ball with pace and accuracy as well as having an extremely powerful shot, scoring around 100 FK goals in his career. He holds the record all-time Top Scorer in Flamengo's history and won silver ball Brazilian footballer of the year 5 times. He played for Udinese for 2 seasons. The first one was great done with his 24 goals from 33 games but the injury made him had a hard time in the second season. He was voted 5th place best player of the tournament in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Despite Zico is one of the best players the world has ever seen but he was not ranked in top 10 the greatest footballer ever in many polls due to his unsuccessful in World Cup. But still, He was finished 9th the greatest player ever by France football’s poll.
Height : 174 cm, Position : Forward
4 Times Hungarian league Top Scorer
4 Times Spanish La Liga Top Scorer
3 Times European Cup Top Scorer (1960, 1962, 1964)
1948 European League - World League Top Scorer
1953 Central European International Cup Top Scorer
L’Equipe European Footballer of The Century
1960 Silver Ball European Footballer of The Year
1994 FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
1999 IFFHS Hungary Player of The Century
Hungarian League Greatest Player Ever
Hungary All-Time Top Scorer
UEFA Jubilee Awards (Hungary)
"The Galloping Major" Ferenc Puskas is rated as the
greatest Eastern European footballer of all-time and one of the most prolific
scorers ever. He had great striking technique and was a deadly goal finisher
with his precision left-foot which is regarded as the greatest ever in this
skill. Puskas operated his game as an inside-left and always performed a
formidable ball control to the nearby penalty box area and shot by himself or
assist to his teammate. He was also known for his professionalism, is one of the
most consistency footballers, is one of the best players in the world at the
highest age at 33 years old in 1960 and remained making scores until retirement
at 39 years old. He was both a prominent member and captain of the legendary
Hungarian national team, known as the Mighty Magyars. However, he was injury
and played only twice games in the 1954 World Cup First Round. Puskas
prominently scored consecutive 13 games and scored seven goals in a single
match in the 1949 NB I. In 1958, two years after the Hungarian Revolution, he
emigrated to Spain where he played for the legendary Real Madrid team and went
on to play for Spain for four games. Puskas scored four goals against
Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final match Puskas which is the record for
the final game. He made one of the most hat-tricks in first level matches in
Europe with 61. Puskas was voted 6th the greatest player of the century by IFFHS’s poll
and 7th by World Soccer and France Football’s poll.
9. Zinedine Zidane
2000 UEFA Euro Player of The Tournament
Individual Achievement
7. Alfredo Di Stefano
International Honours : 1947 Copa America Winner
2 Times Colombian League Top Scorer
5 Times Spanish La Liga Top Scorer
2 Times European Cup Top Scorer (1958, 1962)
2 Times South American League Top Scorer (1947, 1951)
4 Times Spanish Player of The Year (1957, 1959, 1960, 1964)
European Footballer of The Year : Gold (1957, 1959), 1956 Silver Ball
Real Madrid Greatest Player Ever
European Cup All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
1998 FIFA World Team of The Century
1999 IFFHS Spain Player of The Century
1999 IFFHS Bronze European and South American Player of The Century
UEFA Jubilee Award (Spain)
(1966, 1968, 1974, 1976)
3 Times FIFA World Cup Team Of Tournament (1966, 1970, 1974)
2 Times European Championship Team Of Tournament (1972, 1976)
1966 FIFA World Cup Young Player Of Tournament
1974 FIFA World Cup Best Defender
European Footballer Of The Year : Gold (1972, 1976), Silver (1974, 1975), 1966 Bronze
Bayern Munich - Bundesliga Greatest Player Ever
1994 FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
1998 FIFA World Team Of Century
1999 IFFHS Germany Player of The Century
1999 IFFHS Bronze World Player of The Century
2 Times Spanish La Liga, 1 Time Series A
2 Times FIFA Club World Cup (2008, 2014)
2016 UEFA Euro Winner
UEFA Champion League All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
European Championship All-Time Top Scorer
Portugal & Real Madrid All-Time Top Scorer
European Footballer of The Year : Gold (1971, 1973, 1974), 1975 Bronze
1977 Spanish La Liga Player of The Year, 1978 Best Foreigner
1994 FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
1998 FIFA World Team of The Century
1999 IFFHS Netherlands Player of The Century
1999 Silver Ball IFFHS World Player of The Century
1999 IFFHS European Player of The Century
1999 Bronze Ball France Football’s Football Player of The Century
1999 Bronze Ball World Soccer Greatest Player of The Century
Ajax Amsterdam All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
Eredivisie Greatest Player Ever
UEFA Jubilee Awards (Netherlands)
"Pythagoras in boots" Johan Cruyff is the greatest
European footballer of all-time and one of the most completed attacking player
to ever play the game. Cruyff was the most famous exponent of the football
philosophy known as Total Football, explored by Rinus Michels. He was the key
to the execution and refinement of this system. Cruyff played centre forward in
this system. But he would drop deep to confuse his markers or suddenly move to
the wing with devastating effect. He was known for his technical ability, speed
and acceleration, but his greatest quality was vision as an orchestrator of
“The Controlled Chaos” of The Orange Machine, based on an acute sense of his
team-mates' positions as an attack unfolded. He is a top scorer in the 1974
World Cup qualifying round UEFA zone. Cruyff also perfected a move now known as
the "Cruyff Turn." He retired from international football in 1977,
having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Without
him, the Netherlands finished runners-up in the World Cup again. Initially the
reason given for missing were political reasons given a military dictatorship
was in power in Argentina at that time. In 2004, he was finished 3rd the best
European footballer in the last 50 years by UEFA Jubilee Poll.
Date Of Birth : 30 October 1960Caps : 91 Games (34 Goals/28 Assist)
Individual Achievement
3 Times Argentinean League Top Scorer (1979, 1980, 1981)
6 Times El Mundo South American Footballer of The Year
(1979,1980,1986,1989,1990,1992),1982 Silver Ball, 1983 Bronze Ball
1985 Guerin Italian Series A Footballer of The Year
FIFA World Cup : 1986 Golden Ball, 1990 Bronze Ball
2 Times Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of the Year (1979, 1986)
World Soccer Player of The Year : 1986 Gold, 1987 Silver, 1985 and 1990 Bronze
1986 United Press International Athletic of The Year
1999 Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of The Century
1998 FIFA World Team of The Century
1999 Silver Ball World Soccer Player of The Century
1999 Silver Ball France Football’s Footballer of The Century
1999 IFFHS Silver South American - Argentinian Player of The Century
2000 FIFA Best Football Player of The Century
2002 FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
Napoli - Italian Series A Greatest Player Ever
Caps : 92 Games (77 Goals/30 Assists)
Individual Achievement
FIFA World Cup All-Time Top Assister
1. Lionel Messi
4 Times UEFA Champion League (2006, 2009, 2011, 2015)
2021 Cop America Winner, 3 Times Copa America Runner-Up
Individual Achievement
6 Times European Golden Shoe (2010,2012,2013,2017,2018,2019)
2 Times IFFHS International Top Scorer (2011, 2012)
6 Time La Liga Foreign Player of The Year (2009 - 2013, 2015)
6 Times La Liga Player of The Year (2009, 2010, 2011,2012,2013,2015)
2 Times UEFA Champion League Best Forward and MVP (2009, 2011)
2015 UEFA Champion League Top Assist Provider
4 Times FIFA Ballon'Dor (2010 - 2012, 2015), 2 Times Silver Ball (2013, 2014)
Spanish La Liga All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
Barcelona All-Time Top Scorer - Greatest Player Ever
Argentina All-Time Top Scorer
Fritz Walter is historically considered as the greatest personality of the circle of German football. A gifted technician and a great strategist, he was the most influenced player in retrieving Germany from being devastated from the World War II. Walter could score a hat-trick as soon as his debut with the national team. He was drafted into the armed forces in 1942, . Walter was a prolific scorer in his early career during the war-time in German regional league and German national team. However, the end of the war found 24 year old Fritz. He narrowly fortunate survived from that war and suffered from Malaria, finally return to make a large impact level on Kaiserslautern and at his prime, he switched to deeper position as a brilliant playmaker with great ability to read the game and even helped the team in defensive game, finally leading them to win German Championship twice within four finalists. He was recalled to the national team in 1951, and he was named captain and led his country won their first World Cup in 1954 ironically. Walter received his last cap during the 1958 World Cup which Germany won fourth place, and retired from football at age of 39 years old. The Fritz Walter Stadium was named for his honor to be the home of Kaiserslautern.
________________________________________________________________________
“The
Wizard of The Dribble” Sir Stanley Matthews is the great legend in history of
football, is the greatest old footballer ever. He is the only player to have
been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both
the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year awards. A vegetarian teetotaller, he kept fit enough to
play at the top level until he was 50 years old, the oldest player ever to play
in England's top football division. He played his final competitive game in
1970, at the age of 55, holds the record longest span career in history of
football with almost 33 years. The Second World War interrupted his prime
career. After the war, he fell out with Stoke and was transferred to Blackpool.
He won Ballon'Dor at his 40 years old and the second FWA footballer of the year
at 48 years old but the awards was given as a special honour. He was famous as
one of the most skillful dribblers and one of the most accurate crossers ever.
Matthews was a right-side midfielder who assisted many goals after done his
great speed, stamina and dribble. He was voted 11th and 17th World player of
the century by IFFHS and World Soccer’s poll, respectively.
Statistics (Top 50 )
By Nation
|
By Decade
|
By Position
|
Brazil
: 11
Italy
: 8
Germany
: 5
Argentina : 4
Netherlands
: 4
Hungary : 4
France
: 3 Spain : 3 England : 2
Portugal
: 2 Poland : 1
Denmark : 1
Soviet
Union : 1
Northern
Ireland : 1
|
1930s
: 2
1940s
: 3
1950s
: 7
1960s
: 9
1970s
: 7
1980s
: 8
1990s
: 7
2000s : 2.5 2010s : 5 2020s : 0.5
|
Goalkeeper
: 3
Defender
: 6
Central
Midfielder : 5
Offensive
Lateral : 3
Offensive
Midfielder : 12
Forward
: 14
Striker
: 7
|
Class : Crown
-
|
||
Class : King
|
||
Gold
Lionel Messi, Pele,
Diego Maradona |
Silver
Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer,
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Bronze
-
|
Class : Queen
|
||
Gold
Alfredo Di Stefano, , Zico,
Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane,
Ferenc Puskas,
Lothar Matthaeus, Gerd Muller, Bobby Charlton, Garrincha
Ronaldo, Eusebio
|
Silver
Giuseppe Meazza, Ruud Gullit Lev Yashin, Didi,
Paolo Maldini,
Raymond Kopa,
Jose Manuel Moreno,
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge,
Gianni Rivera, Roberto Baggio, Zizinho, Marco Van Basten |
Bronze
George Best, Dino Zoff, Fritz Walter, Frank Rijkaard Franco Baresi, Ronaldinho Matthias Sindelar
Giacinto Facchetti, Rivaldo,
Uwe Seeler, Sandor Kocsis
Gianluigi Buffon,
Jozsef Bozsik,
Luis Suarez Miramontes,
Michael Laudrup, Xavi Hernandez
Andres Iniesta, Robert Lewandowski |
The 1910s
|
|
1.
Imre Schlosser
2. Arthur Friedenreich
3. Vaclav Pilat
|
|
1st Half 1920s
|
2nd Half 1920s
|
1. Hector Scarone
2. Gyorgi Orth
3. Arthur Friedenreich
4. Alan Morton
5. Kalman Konrad
|
1. Jose Leandro Andrade
2. Dixie Dean
3. Ricardo Zamora
4. Jose Nasazzi
5. Jimmy Mcgrory
|
1st Half 1930s
|
2nd Half 1930s
|
1. Giuseppe Meazza
2. Matthias Sindelar
3. Luis Monti
4. Ricardo Zamora
5. Raimundo Orsi
|
1. Gyorgi Sarosi
2. Arsenio Erico
3. Jose Manuel Moreno
4. Antonio Sastre
5. Giuseppe Meazza |
1st Half 1940s
|
2nd Half 1940s
|
1. Jose Manuel Moreno
2. Adolfo Pedernera
3. Josef Bican
4. Antonio Sastre
5. Domingos Da Guia
|
1. Zizinho
2. Valentino Mazzola
3. Ferenc Puskas
4. Stanley Matthews
5. Obdulio Varela
|
1st Half 1950s
|
2nd Half 1950s
|
1. Ferenc Puskas
2. Alfredo Di Stefano
3. Sandor Kocsis
4. Fritz Walter
5. Juan Schiaffino
|
1. Alfredo Di Stefano
2. Raymond Kopa
3. Didi
4. Pele
5. Garrincha
|
1st Half 1960s
|
2nd Half 1960s
|
1. Pele
2. Garrincha
3. Luis Suarez Miramontes
4. Lev Yashin
5. Omar Sivori
|
1. Eusebio
2. George Best
3. Pele
4. Bobby Charlton
5. Franz Beckenbauer
|
1st Half 1970s
|
2nd Half 1970s
|
1. Johan Cruff
2. Franz Beckenbauer
3. Gerd Muller
4. Rivelino
5. Dino Zoff
|
1. Zico
2. Diego Maradona
3. Michel Platini
4. Daniel Passarella
5. Kevin Keegan
|
1st Half 1980s
|
2nd Half 1980s
|
1. Zico
2. Michel Platini
3. Karlheinz Rummenigge
4. Diego Maradona
5. Falcao
|
1. Diego Maradona
2. Marco Van Basten
3. Lothar Matthaeus
4. Ruud Gullit
5. Franco Baresi
|
1st Half 1990s
|
2nd Half 1990s
|
1. Roberto Baggio
2. Paolo Maldini
3. Romario
4. Frank Rijkaard
5. Michael Laudrup
|
1. Ronaldo
2. Zinedine Zidane
3. Rivaldo
4. Luis Figo
5. Gabriel Batistuta
|
1st Half 2000s
|
2nd Half 2000s
|
1. Zinedine Zidane
2. Ronaldinho
3. Thierry Henry
4. Luis Figo
5. Ronaldo
|
1. Lionel Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Kaka
4. Xavi Hernandez
5. Samuel Eto’o
|
1st Half 2010s
2nd Half 2010s
The Most Completed Footballers Ever
The Most Sustainable Players Ever
2. Johan Cruyff
3. Pele
4. Garrincha
5. Lionel Messi
6. Ronaldo
7. Eusebio
8. Zico
9. Ronaldinho
10. Ference Puskas
I'd argue that Zico is too high, I'd probably do a straight swap for Zidane in my personal list. Maradona, Pele, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Beckenbauer, Zidane, Platini, Ronaldo, Puskas, Garrincha with Eusebio, Zico, Best and Messi the next 4.
ReplyDeleteMany have not rated Zico in the high place primarily due to Brazil's too early disqualification in the 1982 World Cup even he played very well and an eyes saw his world-class performance there.
DeleteI need to give fairness of players who are rated base on their overall career.
Zico in his peak was seen as one of the phenomenon performers with spectacular technique and goalscoring. He is far better than Zidane in club career and he is at least not much inferior to Zidane in NT if anyone would rate Zidane higher base on major international tournaments.
I disagree Naratorn. Zidane may have had patchy form throughout his club career, but he always turned up on the biggest stage.
DeleteChampions League final, scored the winning goal for Real Madrid with that unprecedented bicycle kick.
World Cup final 1998, scored 2 goals and was in the all star team for the tournament.
Euro 2000 received the golden ball as the best player in the tournament and was instrumental to France's victory.
World Cup 2006, carried an average France side to the World Cup finals and won the golden ball yet again as the player of the tournament.
World Cup 2002, he was injured, and France got knocked out in the group stage losing to Senegal and Denmark when they still had world class players such as Henry in the side. Zidane was France's key man for the best part of a decade, and imo to not have him in the top 10 greatest players ever is wrong.
To say Zico's national career comes close to Zidane's is crazy imo. Zico was phenomenal for Brazil, 52 goals in 72 caps from midfield is crazy, but a player's greatness has to be measured in what they won, and at the World Cup, Zico (and by extension Falcao, Socrates and Junior) did not achieve what they should have. It is unfair to suggest that Zico's international career rivals a man who won player of the tournament in 1 WC, 1 Euro Champ and was in the team of the tourny for the other. As WC performances go, Zidane is honestly right up there with Pele, Maradona and Garrincha.
No arguments that Zico had a far better club career though. He was phenomenal domestically, which is why it is such a shame he never quite hit the heights he should have.
On pure talent alone Zidane should be right up there anyway, his accomplishments only augment his ranking. If anything, he truly is the best after the big 5 (Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Beckenbauer). Zico, whilst one of the all time greats, imo, is stealing a position ahead of the likes of Platini, Zidane, Garrincha and Puskas. Talent wise, he is in that company, but achievement wise, he just is not.
Let me repeat the way of ranking, I consider base on individual performance not greatness by number of trophy won. For my mention as above "Zico is not far inferior to Zidane in NT" doesn't need to covert the meaning as "Came Close" but just mean not inferior enough to compensate the gap of domestic performance. So when they are equally rated, the side of preference is given to the higher peak player.
DeleteYes, I understand, but do you not think that performance at the highest levels of competition e.g. World Cup, Champions League should be considered the most important thing when rating a player's 'greatness'
DeleteUnquestionably, The proportion of World Cup is set as the highest and Champion League is also set as the higher proportion than the former European Cup and UEFA Champion league but let domestic standard is protected for its significant level.
DeleteStandard of World Cup is also different between the tournaments. I saw the 1982 tournament performed by Zico is more competitive than the 2006 which Zidane is considered as the best. Also, Zidane's performance level in his best player award in the 2002 UCL is depend on his candidates level in which is not always coincided with team performance which is much depend on team work and tactical compatibility. Zico was seen to be much more influential player of Flamengo in the 1981 Copa Libertadores Cup than Zidane in the 2002 UCL. I'm creating standard of international competition tournament by tournament or and era by era to make clearer in standard rating in applying to players' performance level.
I think its undoubtedly true that in 82, the calibre of football was of a higher quality, but Zico, whilst arguably the best player in the tournament, did not dominate like Zidane did at 06. Zidane was hands down the best player in the tournament when he was supposed to be past his best. His performance in that tournament was up there with Maradona 86 and Garrincha 62.
Deleteno Javier Zanetti in - The Greatest Consistency-Longevity Footballers Of All-Time ?
ReplyDeleteIn that list, it is also considered level of ability VS consistency so the place is primarily belonged to the world legends. Anyway Zanetti is rated as one of the greatest old players ever in this link. http://xtralegend.blogspot.com/2013/02/Senior-Junior.html
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pelé deserves the first place in "World's All-Time Greatest Footballers" for his performance and consitency. But why did you put Pelé in the first place in "The Greatest Footballers' Prime Of All-Time"? I think Maradona in his prime was the best footballer of all times.
ReplyDeleteYes, I forget to update on this point. Both of them could be considered in the same level of peak performance in any specific time but when I need to select the one, I pick Maradona for his better individual World Cup peak performance in which is the highest standard of competition. Honesty, Pele in 1958 and 1970 is below Maradona’class in 1986.
DeleteI agree with you. I think Maradona was a little more skillful than Pelé. Thanks for answering my question. I admire your work, it's amazing. One of the best sources of the history of football that I've ever seen.
DeleteThanks you for your interest and suggestion. Pele is anyway considered as the more complete one so he is advantage in total skills but his injury in 1962 effect negatively to achieve the greatest individual performance ever in history of World Cup.
DeleteOf course, I do not expressed correctly. Pelé is more complete (two feet player,aerial scoring), but for me Maradona was more technical and creative. Anyway, I think they are the best players ever. Greetings from Argentina! And I hope we win the World Cup with the help of Messi!
DeleteMessi is being monitored. His playing in the first game is totally disappointed even being compensated by superb goal. Argentina could just reach semi-final with Messi's world-class performance, he will become one of top ten best ever by then.
DeleteNaratorn, do you think C. Ronaldo deserves to be bumped after this season? I saw that you ranked him as supreme international class for half of 2014, a class below L. Messi. I think this season C. Ronaldo has been consistently the best player in the world where Messi was from 2010-2013.
ReplyDeleteIn all competition combined (Word Cup is left for final assessment), C.Ronaldo is considered as a better one. But let I separate rating by competition. I didn't watch him in every game in the last domestic season. Anyway, I still see Messi is still advantage in creativity and assisting performance and scoring more important goals while scoring record is closed between the two. Media rating in dbscalcio also rate C.Ronaldo in very low point in which I think way too low. For the last UEFA Champion League season, C.Ronaldo is by far superior to Messi.
DeleteI see, by the way, excellent work here, this blog is fantastic and really broadened my knowledge of classic football
Deletecan you please do a detailed skill comparison between maradona and messi?
ReplyDeleteSure, I'll provide within this week. Please just wait.
Deletegreat, thank you so much, i want to tell you that i really like your work and i have great respect for your expertise
Deletei created a poll to see what people think who is the best player ever, so i would like to ask you to vote and maybe post it on some of your threads
DeleteSorry for late replying,
DeleteRating of Skills Between Messi and Maradona
Note that they played in different role so comparison in each skill is not effective but total ability without proportional criteria of each skill within a player could be issued.
Scoring : Messi 9.5 Maradona 8
Passing : Messi 8.7 Maradona 9.5
Vision : Messi 9 Maradona 9.5
Dribbling : Messi 9.3 Maradona 10
Technique : Messi 9.5 Maradona 9.7
Speed : Messi 8.5 Maradona 8.5
Total Ability : Maradona 92.5 , Messi 91
Sorry, maybe i should explain it better, i calculated dribble success in champions league from season 2009/10 onward and in 2014 world cup, and got this, messi 59 matches has 272 successful dribbles and 186 dispossessions, which leads to 59,4% success rate, higher than maradona's in world cup, but than again it's a quite small sample size for maradona. so we should probably say 10 for both of them in dribbling.
DeleteThat is still an interesting stats. As Messi and Maradona was expected too much, when they lost the ball, it could easily disappointment. The skill stats could be varied in specific period. I rate dibbling skill of Messi higher in pre-2011. Then, he developed his positional play as a creative role when dribbling performance was slightly tend down.
DeleteExactly, that is just one more reason i think that he should get 10 for dribbling. For me, Messi, Maradona, and Garrincha are best dribblers and i rate them with 10, and after those 3 i would say Best, Ronaldo fenomeno and Cruyff with 9.5
DeleteHave you considered making a list of 100 best players players in their prime or maybe 100 best player seasons ever?
ReplyDeletePractically it is still difficult to set player’s performance in the definite class, so compare a large number of players within the similar level is even more difficult and almost impossible to make accuracy. I think top ten is just enough.
DeleteI understand you mean all competitions within a season for a player ? Like the above reason, I also think top ten is enough and it has been available in “World Annual Awards of The Century”
I look at all these choices, and lists of the best players and following with great interest and delight in systematics and quality. For a long time I follow football. At first it was a cheering, today more and more through the analysis of teams and players. I appreciate all the quality football, but I am convinced that a very small number of players entered the ranking "untouchables". And these are the players who invented football, which are played differently than others. Each of them in their period for me was by far the best in the world. I'll dare to mention their names in chronological order: Best, Cruyff, Zico, Platini, Maradona, Michael Laudrup, Bergkamp, Zidane, Ronaldinho and Messi.
ReplyDeleteFor your names contribution, Bergkamp would become the most controversial issue. Technique is always attract football fan because of spectacular seeing and might be rated by many as the most proportion in skill rating but technique is still a minor part of overall players’ ability. Bergkamp was superb in technique and vision but he was rather low in speed in standard of legendary forward, and scored too few goals base on his position in the front area, failed at Inter Milan. He was surely one of the best players in his generation but generally have not been rated in the all-time greatest group.
DeleteSome names in your list seems to me for the peak performance are Ronaldinho and Michael Laudrup. When consistency is one of the most important requirements, both achieved the peak too short.
Can please put your top 100 European players list?
ReplyDeleteNow it is already top 64 European Best Players within the 100 Greatest Footballers of all-time. I'd add another 6 players to conclude top 70.
Delete65. Nandor Hidegkuti
66. Xavi Hernandez
67. Ricardo Zamora
68. Matthias Sammer
69. Johan Nesskens
70. Just Fontaine
Why not post the full top 100? It would be very interesting.
DeleteOK, please just wait.
DeleteI know that football is not a game for artistic impression. Football is a game for the result. I know you can not win with 11 Ronaldinho. I am very appreciated and players like Passarella, Gentile, Matthaus, Kohler, Davids, Puyol, Maldini ...... These players are also great and necessary. Football is the most popular sport in the world, but does not see it because Maldini (which is surely the best full-back of all time), looking at him because of Ronaldinho and Laudrup. Their performance, their results, their innovations in football, enabled their club trophies, spectacular new permanent football fans around the world. I remember the thoughts that were left waiting for the time when Ronaldinho was brilliant. I just can not get over that Frank Rijkaard, no matter how great a player he may ultimately be better placed than Ronaldinho, Laudrup, and finally Bergkamp.
ReplyDeleteI know you did not ask me, but here are my 120 best in Europe all the time: 120.Takacs, 119.Buffon, 118.Schnellinger, 117.Overath, 116.Binder, 115.Totti, 114.Nedved, 113.M.Olsen, 112.Savicevic, 111.Tist, 110.Waddle, 109.Dalglish, 108.Brehme, 107.Van Hanegem, 106.Kahn, 105.Cannavaro, 104.Skoglund, 103.Fontaine, 102.Koeman, 101.Nesta, 100.Greaves, 99.Vogts, 98.B.Laudrup, 97.Raul, 96.Breitner, 95.Gentile, 94.Lahm, 93.Boniperti, 92.K.A.Hansen, 91.Keegan, 90.Piola, 89.Deyna, 88.Zoff, 87.X.Alonso, 86.Masopust, 85.Giggs, 84.Elkjaer, 83.Blokhin, 82.Schlosser, 81.Riva, 80.Van Himst, 79.Davids, 78.Scholes, 77.Neuer, 76.Bozsik, 75.Studnicka, 74.Simonsen, 73.Albert, 72.Netzer, 71.S.Ramos, 70.Sammer, 69.Rijkaard, 68.Czibor, 67.Cantona, 66.V.Mazzola, 65.Neeskens, 64.Boniek, 63.Stoichkov, 62.S.Mazzola, 61.Praest, 60.Shevchenko, 59.Desailly, 58.Finney, 57.Dean, 56.Beckham, 55.Gullit, 54.Sarosi, 53.Xavi, 52.Scirea, 51.Schuster, 50.Gento, 49.Villa, 48.Robben, 47.Thuram, 46.Iniesta, 45.Nordahl, 44.Facchetti, 43.Rivera, 42.F.Walter, 41.Baggio, 40.Bergkamp, 39.Seeler, 38.Figo, 37.Puyol, 36.Krol, 35.Hamrin, 34.Kohler, 33.B.Charlton, 32.Kubala, 31.Rummenigge, 30.Schmeichel, 29.Bican, 28.Dzajic, 27.Meazza, 26.Van Basten, 25.C.Ronaldo, 24.Moore, 23.Kopa, 22.Kocsis, 21.Matthews, 20.Liedholm, 19.Baresi, 18.Vukas, 17.Ibrahimovic, 16.G.Muller, 15.Ocwirk, 14.Maldini, 13.Best, 12.Henry, 11.Yashin, 10.Matthaus, 9.L.M.Suarez, 8.Eusebio, 7.Puskas, 6.Platini, 5.M.Laudrup, 4.Beckenbauer, 3.Sindelar, 2.Zidane, 1.CRUYFF.
ReplyDeleteAnd I look back on that Rijkaard to Euro 88 anything too seriously is not represented in football. He was an average player a serious club. Since its debut reprezentation until to the Euro 88, when he already had 26 years, amassed a mere twenty appearances for the Netherlands. So it is that Bergkamp did not play well two years at Inter, according to me is not a real argument. Until his 26 years Bergkamp world football has given a lot. So that Rijkaard played seven seasons in the top strong Milan and Ajax, but was never even close to the first player in the club. Gullit, Van Basten, Baresi and Maldini, and later at Ajax and Litamanen, Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, Overmars were ahead of him. Bergkamp was unlike him nearly 20 years ago played top football and delighted fans around the world.
ReplyDeleteFor your sentence, I'd imply that Rijkaard's style of play would be limited in potential. Actually Rijkaard was a true indispensable player of Milan as a main linkage between defensive and midfield line. Maldini in that era was still young and far from Baresi's influence and ability. In DM position, Rijkaard was the best player in his position in some years and is very consistency and for any eyes. Rijkaard is very complete for his role while Bergkamp's basic requirement of forward skill likes speed and scoring is just below legendary average so it is difficult to rate him among the best ever.
DeleteWhat do you consider by technique?
ReplyDeleteDiversity and quality to manage with the ball (first touch, ball controlling, etc).
DeleteWith all due respect, I continue on. What are the criteria taken to Roberto Baggio placed in 27th place all-time. Baggio was a great player, no doubt. But let's face it, he has won all four trophies throughout his career. UEFA Cup-93, where he was a major player. And won three trophies where it was not even close. 1995 Italian championship (18-7 appearance vital and goals), and the same year, domestic cup and Cup of Italy next year with Milan (28-7 appearances and goals). Comparing it with Bergkamp as far as the players' characteristics (PES classic and my memory) to notice that Bergkamp was the faster player (Bergkamp-83, Baggio-81), more power, better pass game, better techniques of hitting, it was higher team player and a check and a stronger mentality. While Baggio was better at dribbling, of course, free kicks, and was agile. Whatever it takes, Baggio was on top of two years and in those two years he took a trophy (UEFA Cup). After he played great in Bologna for a season, and a good couple of seasons in Brescia. But in the end it can be a great result. These clubs were still without any serious chances and range. Well, well, maybe somehow I managed to convince myself that the difference between Baggio and Bergkamp may be a matter of taste. Can you explain to me how Baggio can be better than Laudrup or Ronaldinho?
ReplyDeleteBaggio is deserved the best player in the 1994 World Cup instead of Romario of consider how player carried the team and how much support of his teammates. He also played well in the 1990 tournament. Ronaldinho and M.Laudrup is much inferior to elder Laudrup in National team. In the club level, it is debatable, Ronaldinho and M.Laudrup has a higher peak but also lower consistency.
DeleteFor your cite to Bergkamp’s ability in comparison to Baggio, Bergkamp played very well in lower standard league and he did not make it the same in Series A. Several timed, ability is seen to be superb but could be overrated if ignore about inferior level of opponnets.
So you think that premier league is lower standard league?
DeleteThis is not only my thought but closest to be called as the truth that Premier League in the mid-90s is below standard of Series A in both top level teams and competitive level within the league.
DeleteYes, he was great in this championship in America. But against Norway in the 20th minute after a red card Pagliuca. Outputs Baggio, and there remain Casiraghi and Signori. That was an indispensable aid teammates on the basis of this I do not. You say that Baggio played well at the World Cup in Italy. Yes, he played well, I remember him. Laudrup is therefore played great at Euro in France. I remember that it was Rivelino evaluated as the best player in the first round in Mexico. He was the best player for bad Denmark at Euro in Germany. And in France, was selected in the World Cup in the best team. Laudrup has played six years in Italy, 7 years in Spain and one year at Ajax. In all seasons, had two years at Juventus and one in Barcelona that could be described as stagnant. However, it is dependent not only on him but also on the club. About Ronaldinho have nothing to say, except that convincing in his time was by far the best in the world. For Bergkamp could say that it could have had more. But with great respect to you, I must conclude that there is no realistic chance that Baggio is placed better than Ronaldinho and Laudrup. Looking at the individual quality, trophies, the length of playing at the elite level at top clubs and what they represented their clubs and players with whom they played. Best greetings!
ReplyDeleteFinally it is depend on your definition of all-time greats. In general, all-time greats means legend status which would highly be depend on a large amount of great performance not only height of peak performance. I definite likes this in my list and I see your preference on players’ prime. Hence, you should refer to another list of mine (The greatest prime player ever) but now I’ve provided in only top ten, would interest to expand soon.
DeleteYes, please expand it, at least to top 50.
DeleteNow it is already top 20 (should be enough) but its status is in preliminary developing phase.
DeleteGreat! I'm looking forward to seeing it.
DeleteThe fact remains that Baggio throughout his career won only four trophies. Three of them as a secondary player. I loved him as a player, but the fact remains that can not be ranked among the top 50 of all time. There is not any basis to be ahead of Ronaldinho, Laudrup, even Bergkamp or Henry. At the European Championships, never played.
ReplyDeleteWhat is prime for you? I mean is it just one season, or two seasons or maybe just one world cup, and how do you compare players in their prime?
ReplyDeleteRating of Peak Performance is based on skill proportional criteria (You can see in methodology). The criteria is varied according to comparison of different positions. Moreover, peak performance in higher standard of competition is advantageous. In example, I’d consider George Best’s peak is slightly higher profile than Ronaldo because of his more diverse performance.
DeleteI understand. Thanks.
DeleteYou should put Messi ahead of Platini. They both have AA- for performance but Messi has A for ability and Platini has A-. I also made a system for evaluating best players ever and Messi is number one and Pele number two .
ReplyDeleteThat's appreciated that you know the condition. Let me explain that ability will be a secondary factor to judge. International performance (Int.Club and NT) and lowest performance players are combined as primary condition. Playerd in the same grade (in this case AA for Messi and Platini) also would not be applied to "Complete Equal" but they're rated in the same range, Platini is still considered in a better total career especially his advantage in international career.
DeleteOk, thanks.
DeleteMessi should be be ahead of Platini, he has better performance. AA for Messi and Platini has AA-
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be great? You should create a page with detailed ability and skill ranking for their position of these top 100 players. Please do that in recent future!
ReplyDeleteCould you expand your sentence for me to get clearer understanding ?
DeleteWell, for example, like you put stats for messi and maradona above in the comments, you should do that for all of these 100 players. Scoring, passing, speed, creativity, crossing, strength, dribbling, tackling. . .
DeleteI have rated player's skill in credit bond rating within Positional Hall of Fame. I also specified definition of credit bond rating in methodology (likes A = 4.00). In total skill, it is already in the skill ranking in positional hall of fame (minor hall).
DeleteWhy is beckenbauer ahead of zico when zico's performance is AA+ and beckenbauer's AA? It doesn't say that beckenbauer has some kind of bonus.
ReplyDeleteThat must be a forgotten point during updating step.
Deletewhen can we expect to see top 50 players in their prime?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking. Earliest this weekend, latest next weekend
DeleteMaybe you should make top 10 flashiest players, those who are the most entertaining to watch.
ReplyDeleteIt would be similar to the greatest dribbler and the most technical players ever, just add a few names in defensive players as the likes of Higuita, Robetor Carlos
Deleteso, is prime just one season?
ReplyDeleteNow I’d prefer to expand as top ten best prime by position than top 50 prime footballer as many are too closed in level within the same range of evaluation result and difficult to make such a top 50 by only prime. Scope of prime required at least one season (not take system of competition but players who played in international level or world level would be advantage).
DeleteI have finished the series of “Top Ten Highest Peaks of Footballer by Position” which can be found in each room of “The Main Hall of Immortal” at Positional Hall of Fame.
DeleteThanks. So prime is at least one season, could be more but a player doesn't have any advantage if he plays 3 great seasons over a player who played just as good but just for one season?
ReplyDeleteBecause I’m talking about highest peak performance so only one best season is required. Prime could be expanded to more seasons varied base on players’ performance characteristic so I think the prime rating has no obvious identity. Anyway, I’m going to add specifying the season sample for each player.
DeleteThanks you for initiative idea which helps me to have a plan to add “Peak Performance” in credit bond rating alongside total skill and total performance for all players in major hall of immortal and world’s all-time greatest footballer.
DeleteThank you for putting my ideas into work.
DeleteI found a few inconsistencies between this ranking and "The Main Hall of Inmortals":
ReplyDeleteBeckenbauer Total Performance here: AA+; In "Main Hall": AA
Garrincha Total Skill here: AA-; In "Main Hall": AA
Zidane Total Performance here: AA; In "Main Hall": AA-
George Best Total Performance here: A+: In "Main Hall": AA-
Yashin Total Skill here: A+ and Total Performance here: A+; In "Main Hall": Total Skill: AA- and Total Performance: AA-
Meazza Total Performance here: A+; In "Main Hall": AA-
Didi Total Performance here: A+; In "Main Hall": AA-
Gullit Total Skill here: A-; In "Main Hall": A
Maldini Total Skill here: A and Total Performance here: A+; In "Main Hall": Total Skill : A+ and Total Performance : AA-
Moore Total Performance here: A; In "Main Hall": A+
Rivera Total Performance here: A; In "Main Hall": A+
Kocsis Total Performance here: A; In "Main Hall": A+
Zoff Total Performance here: A; In "Main Hall": A+
Luis Suarez Total Skill here: A; In "Main Hall": A-
Passarella Total Performance : A; In "Main Hall": A+
Ronaldinho Total Skill here: A+ and Total Performance here: A; In "Main Hall": Total Skill : AA- and Total Performance : A+
Schiaffino Total Skill here: A; In "Main Hall": A-
Valentino Mazzola Total Skill here: A+ and Total Performance here: A-; In "Main Hall": Total Skill : A and Total Performance : A
Furthermore, Charlton, Moore and Zoff have a Greatness Bonus here but not in the "Main Hall" (Stanley Matthews also have a Greatness Bonus but is included in the two lists). Also Sárosi is above Cristiano Ronaldo and Sindelar here but in "Forward Main Hall" he is is below them.
I hope I have helped you.
I am really appreciated your effort of checking correctness.
DeleteTotal Performance is different between here and the main hall because of different group of samples let to different statistical result of credit bond rating. The main hall is tend to have higher rating because of its minor group, However, I need to revise for Beckenbauer, Zidane, etc.
Total Skill is surely needed to update as it must be equal.
Sarosi at here is rated higher than FW list for his world-class in both defensive and offensive position.
DeleteDefinition of Greatness bonus between positional list and world list is not quite same.
World list is more emphasis on greatness bonus as it is much more competitive, without greatness bonus in positional ranking, aforementioned players is still saved their place. In example, if bonus is not applied to Charlton, he is still rated slightly higher than Gullit in AM list but here Charlton would be difficult to beat some attackers without bonus.
Thank you for your explanation and your revision.
DeleteI found another few inconsistencies in Total Skill:
DeletePassarella: here A+; in Main Hall A
Stanley Matthews: here A+; in Main Hall AA-
Gerd Muller: here A+; in Main Hall A
Puskás: here AA-; in Main Hall A+
Yes, thanks again and have revised.
DeletePeople present to you facts about dribbling and you still don't have Messi in top 10 dribbling, I could also show you that Messi is not that inferior to Maradona in passing and vision, but it wouldn't change anything. Honestly, you try to present all your lists as objective, but they are all just as subjective as so many other lists.
ReplyDeleteDear, All Readers
ReplyDeleteRecently I was working on peak performance of player and now I've added peak performance credit bond rating in each of players' profile. Note that peak performance rating has been also added in Positional Hall of Fame "The Major Hall of Immortal"
You should put more exact rankings especially for total skill, not it's A+, AA and so on but i'm sure that you have exact rankings somewhere so why not put them, like 4.8 or 4.6, 4.7 ... it would give a better picture of players skill.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the rating is just best at an approximation, scales of rating must be significantly wide as credit bond rating.
DeleteThis list is in moderate development, when will it be finalized (i mean for retired players of course) or at least in its advanced development?
ReplyDeleteThe main obstacle is the evidence of rating/other important statistics (such as assists) has not been found in some players especially post-60s players and there are no availability of all full-matches videos of those players to rate by myself and now it is ranked base on studying on impact and remarkable level combined with their skill to estimate class of performance. Hence, I cannot know when I could find more evidences but I always applied to my criteria of rating when I find in a short time. Also, post-60s players is almost called as advanced development, but I need to analysis reliability of media rating more.
DeleteWhat do you mean by analysing the reliability of media rating?
DeleteConsistency of rating must issued. In example, I see media rating in English premier league for the 2009 - 2010 season give significantly higher average points to all players and it is very clear enough until I did not need to make analysis but for other unclear cases, arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation value should be analyzed between seasons and sources.
DeleteOk, thanks.
DeleteYeah! It is a very good topic to discuss. I completely agree with you my friend. According to me also, there is not as much certainty in media rating results as that we expect. So there becomes a great need to improve the rating system for ranking best soccer players of all time.
ReplyDeleteif you consider maradona's career only before 83-84 season when he started using drugs where would you rank him at least approximately
ReplyDeleteIf I'd rank Maradona in best ever list in consideration of only pre-1983 season ? It would probably be around mid-twenties in ranking.
DeleteOk, thank you.
DeleteOn best peak players list you should put the season you took in the bracket. I see that you made a fair amount of changes on your list, what are the reasons for that?
ReplyDeleteYes, I’ll add as you request.
DeleteRecently I have a time to review the rankings again between 27th and 33th place. I found it might be unfair to rate Robi Baggio ahead of Rummenigge and C.Ronaldo in overall career although his peak is considered as a slight higher one with superior vision and more effective dribble against tougher defenders in Series A. He assists 118 times in Series A in total 452 games (26 %) while C.Ronaldo (88 assists from 369 league games or 24 %) but if consider number of assists per team goals, Baggio is far more effective.
Let see in other ways, Baggio achieved as one of the best players in the world in only 1993 and 1994 according to all sources, anyway not said he was not world-class between 1990 and 1992 ( at least goals + assists in 1992 is equal to his 1994 stats) . Rummenigge was one of the best players in the World in four consecutive years (1979 to 1982) although I think it should be clear Baggio’s era is more competitive. Also I think Baggio scored too many goals by penalty (76 penalty goals from total Series A 208 or 36.5 %). In the post-1994, his career was clearly declined.
Also, I revise criteria to give slightly more proportion in domestic part when I see domestic should be at least not less than international country part when taken number of games played into account. This helped Baresi and C.Ronaldo to be ranked a bit higher. Baresi, he was consecutively world-class in Series A at least 8 years (refer to media rating and Ballon’Dor, FIFA World Player of the year, etc), plus his consistency in four times European Cup finalists, his much longer prime should be enough to rate higher than Baggio.
Rivera was overlooked by me for his inconsistent appearances in major international tournament due to existence of S.Mazzola. But the statistics of match played proved he was one of the most effective chance creators in three consecutive world cup although played a few games per tournament. This characteristic of player is best at his given opportunity and no failure to be marked.
Great, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain it all in detail. But where do you get all these penalty stats and assists can you please give me the source?
DeleteNow wikipedia is alrerady available in stats.
Deleteyes. i know that's where you got baggio's assist stats but where did you get his penalty stats?
ReplyDeleteoh, i found it, thanks.
ReplyDeleteRecently, Didi and Ronaldinho are moved in ranking for a distance.
ReplyDeleteDidi is highly rated by many base on his prolific assists in the 1958 World Cup and 1957 Copa America but now I have three reasons to rate Zizinho ahead of Didi.
1) In overall statistics provided by Lucas Gomes, it shows Zizinho was more impact on Brazil national team than Didi. Zizinho has 45 goals + assists per 175 team goals or 25.7 % and note that there are three matches stats is unavailable. Didi has only 33 goals + assists per 154 team goals or 21.4 percent.
2) As footballer list give advantage to all-round player, Zizinho is a much more complete player than Didi as he could perform as winger and central midfielder not significantly different from his main position.
3) As studying, Zizinho has a longer prime, was one of the best players in the world almost every years in the second half 1940s and include 1950. Didi reached his peak in his late career at 28 years old and was one of the best players in the World between 1956 and 1958. However, Zizinho’s prime era is less competitive.
Ronaldinho won South American Footballer of the year in his very late career at 34 years old and the bonus of old performance is given to him. Now he is 43th just behind Romario.
messi now has 28 assists in national team, he had one against hong-kong
ReplyDeletei have one question that i want you to answer me honestly. Do you consider this list to be THE BEST LIST. For example if somebody doesn't agree with you do you say: "ok, everybody has their opinion" or do you say: "ok, everybody has their opinion and yours is wrong" Would you say that this is the ultimate list?
ReplyDeleteIt could not be ultimate list as long as football historical evidence is not always completed. WFHC project is best at updating base on the current discovered data.
DeleteIt must be depend on the derivation of their opinion. I always adjust my rating after I checked and verified what people gave me a new important info I never got into.
If it is only personal preference of players style of performance profile (prefer peak or consistency) and cannot inform me about their own methodology (I’ve been never informed), I’d not take any seriousness on this topic.
why is messi's peak only 4th on the list?
ReplyDeleteMessi played football in much less competitive era than Pele Maradona and Cruyff. The fact that top world-class defender has been extinct in his era, I’d expect him to drib pass players more times during his peak to be considered the best. However, his supremacy in 2012 is fulfilled by his developed positional play, vision and scoring while dribbling is slightly decline from 2009 – 2010 season. Moreover, Messi’s peak is considered to be more dependent on his teammate than Pele and Maradona. The difference between his club and NT performance is an indicator.
DeleteWell in 2012 he did score 12 goals in 9 games for argentina, and thats a record in single calendar year for argentine NT, and although his dribbling did decline a bit his best dribbling season was 2010-11. In 2012 it was still on VERY HIGH LEVEL, probably still the best in the world. You should check his stats on whoscored.com And for th world class defender argument, well maradona, pele and cruyff didn't play ever game against such players. For a defender to be considered that good he has to be in top 3 players in a year, but 2 of 3 places are always took by Messi and ronaldo so it's hard, that is why i think that todays defenders are not nessesarely that worse. And todays defenses are a lot more sistemathic and better as a whole that is why they are harder to break, that is why there are less goals per game than in 80s (just check champions league goals per game year by year). And maradona scored 17 goals in 36 games, and messi scored 73 in 60 and all that while playing in chamions league, unlike maradona. Messi also had 28 assists that season, i highly dount that maradona could have better assist ratio and even if he could it could not be by much. But lets say that he did and by lot let's say that he has goal + assist ratio is 1 but messi's is 1.683. Do you really think that 'competitivness' makes that much difference. And once again maradona didn't play in europe. And even media and dbs ratong rate messi's season much higher. I hope that you will consider my arguments and make this incredible site even better.
DeleteRating in Series A and La Liga is from different sources. Series A media always rated player in much lower point standard. Even Maradona achieve lower assists ratio per game but you have to consider ratio per team's total assists also, Maradona could be better because of his indispensable impact as a creative role.
DeleteAt the peak season, this is my comparison result (already consider base on their own position)
Dribble : Maradona is better
Scoring : Messi is better
Creativity : Maradona is better
Honesty, I admit the best seasonal performers ever list is still at the beginning development and need to watch more and get more info and analysis so I'd not insist you Messi must worse ever but I'd say Maradona is less dependent on his teammate performance than Messi by sure. That let me quite sure Maradona's peak is considered as a better one. When I completed the development of the list, I'll inform again.
do you have maradona's assist stats season by season?
ReplyDeleteI believe it should be available at least his series A assists stats but I have not discovered yet.
DeleteAnd one more thing, you still didn't put messi in top 10 dribbling but he should be in front of maradona. Messi from 2009/10 till today in champions league, la liga and world cup has 7.88 dribble attempts per game and 57.9% success rate and if we only consider champions league and world cup its 8.11 attempts and 56.5% success rate. Maradona in world cup has 9 attempts per game and 55.9% success rate. My sources: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/messi-is-better-than-maradona-but-maybe-not-pele/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.whoscored.com/Players/11119/History/Lionel-Messi
As I said, Maradona faced much tougher defender in Series A. If consider only that season, Messi could be rated in top 10 best dribbler ever but let leave him out when all seasons combined. The best example would be the 2011 Copa America, he failed to drib pass defenders several times.
DeleteAnd as you say his dribbling was even better before 2009/10. And one question not related to them: how would you rate these 3 players gascoigne, le tissier, djalminha? they are all very skillful but didn't accomplish a lot.
ReplyDeleteGascoigne > Djalminha > Le Tissier
DeleteLe Tissier, for me he had enough some chances to prove himself in international level but he was not a good team work player and difficulty to adjust with England's tactic.
Djalminha : He is also not a great teamwork player but he is more agile and quicker than Le Tissier.
Why aren't you answering?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm busy, I will reply later.
DeleteI'm planning to start a site of my own like this so i was wondering if you are willing to give me your statistical sources, like player ratings and all that, i would be really thankful.
ReplyDeleteYou could participate in Bigsoccer.com where has been available in players' rating evidence.
DeleteDo you have accurate scores for all players for all of their seasons and than you calculate for their whole career? For example do you have exact total performance score for all of thede players or is it just estimated by judgement?
ReplyDeleteI'm providing specific scores of top 50 best players ever with a full systematic implementation. During this step, I found complexity and difficulty managing with in NT system and the methodology in part of calculation method and criteria of NT part has been improved.
DeleteWhen it will have been completed, I'll post scorecard here. In positional hall of fame, evidence of rating is not enough to implement. I need to discover more.
Thanks for all the answers. I like your analysis of gascoigne, le tissier, djalminha. I'm looking forward to seeing the scores. As for messi and maradona, i'm not sure if you understood me, that is not dribbling stats for messi's 09/10 season but from that season till TODAY, so that's why messi is a better dribbler. as for the best season, i agree about:
ReplyDeleteDribble : Maradona is better
Scoring : Messi is better
Creativity : Maradona is better
However i think that mearadona is by small margin a better dribbler and creator in his prime and messi is a lot better scorer. I also think that the story about maradona's teammates is too exaggerated, read this article: http://www.averageopposition.com/2012/03/the-myth-of-maradona.html
But you do make a good point about particiation in team goals, i really hope that you will find his assist stats.
on dbscalcio they say this on the info page: The data collected by the media described above are suitably processed to make them consistent and allow comparison between individual players and individual teams. when translated from italian
ReplyDeleteAs for the % of team goals since we don't have assist number for maradona just yet we can only look at the scoring numbers: messi 50/114 43.9% maradona 14/34 41.2%
I just want to say that i checked what you said about ratings being higher in la liga and i realized that, but i still think that the advantage is too big. When can we expect the scores for top 50 players, and does that mean that positional hall of fame and all the other lists are made by just your judgement using the criteria you provided?
ReplyDeleteIn Series A, 7.00 is maximum for any player to be rated. In the current era of La Liga, Messi now achieved nearly 8.5. The rating is higher because standard of the game is lower.
DeleteThe scorecard is being provided and I plan to complete it within this month. I just complete development of methodology for implementation.
Yes, Positional Hall of Fame and other list is based on my criteria but having not been implemented a full system, just making by comparison technique.
Ok, thanks.
DeleteGreat list! I would make a few changes but it's ok. Where do you get all these assist stats?
ReplyDeleteThanks, assist stats in world cup can be found in this link
Deletehttp://widget.cloud.opta.net/OptaHomepage/World-Cup-Player-Comparison.html?season_p1=35&team_p1=t502&player_p1=&season_p2=23&team_p2=t632&player_p2=8838
Unfortunately it's only for world cup 2010 now, but where did you get for example maradona's NT assist stats, or zico's, or even messi's?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes it seems to be disappeared from the webpage for other tournaments.
DeleteNT total assist stats is collected by experts in bigsoccer.com
I found this for assists for Maradona, but according to this messi in la liga 2012 has 21 assists, but according to opta he has 16, which means that they have loose criteria for assists, they probably include deflections etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://i39.tinypic.com/21j3lvm.png
I hope that the stats i provided will be helpful, i was looking for ronaldo stats and found for him, maradona, romario, rivaldo. Messi had a goal and an assist last night vs croatia so you need to update that.
ReplyDeleteWhy Pelé's ability is higher than Maradona's ability?
ReplyDeletePele is more complete player as he was world-class in both playmaker and finisher. When put all ability into the system, calculation result shows Pele is slightly better.
DeleteWhat always interests me about these lists is that you are all in complete denial that there was any football occurring in Britain at almost all times. where are: Hughie Gallacher, Jimmy McGrory, Steve Bloomer, Vivian Woodward, Tommy Lawton.
ReplyDeleteGreaves and Dean get a token mention - yet Milan broke the world record transfer fee to buy Greaves (not his fault that he fell out with the Milan management.)
In more recent times which country won the European cup 7 years out of 8 and then had to be banned to stop the monopoly (for crowd trouble - no, of course there has never been hooliganism in Europe or South America, has there ?) .
Yet where are mentions in you list for any of the great Liverpool players of the 80s ? Dalglish, Souness, Hansen, Rush, Clemence, Keegan.
Where also are mentions of : Langarra, Zarra, Leonidas Da Silva, Bobek, Krankl, Toninho Guerreiro, Robert Dienst. Coutinho, Jose Aguas, Just Fontaine, Mendietta, Guardiola, Nedved, Lampard, A. Cole, Scholes, Law, Terry, Larsson, Jim Baxter, Danny McGrain, Bryan Robson, Duncan Edwards, Danny Blanchflower, Glenn Hoddle, Veron, Aimar, Aguero, Ferreyra
Where would Drogba fit ? not a very prolific scorer (324+ at 0.46) but scored in 9 cup finals for Chelsea and has scored 65 in 104 for Ivory Coast.
=========
Henry at 60 - not fit to lace the boots of many of the above
Baggio at 30, better than Matthews - ha ha
Zico at 6 about 30 places too high
Ronaldinho at 43 should be outside top 100 - great for about 5 years, but that does not make him an All Time Great
C Ronaldo is simply a poser. He is a good, but not great scorer (ave 0.61 /game) which puts him about 150th in all time list. He has not won anything for Portugal and is only interested in himself - not in top 200. Better than Bobby Moore ? perhaps on play station !
Brazilian Ronaldo - like Ronaldinho, great for 5-6 years, but little longevity (scored 377 at 0.66)
And finally, Rivaldo - once again 4-5 years as a great player does not make an ATG, and his behaviour in the 02 WC against Turkey must count as one of the worst examples of cheating seen.
I understand that much information is not available for matches played over 50 years ago, but that should not preclude those players at the expense of more modern ones. Modern players have the benefits of better diet, better physio, better pitches, more protection from fouls, lighter balls etc etc
Past players may not have been so "skilled" but how would today's players manage with water-logged pitches and leather balls weighing more than a kilo?
Maradonna may have been kicked a lot, but so were all players until the 80s. It should not confer special status on him. No-one says that Matthews or Finney should be granted special status because defenders tried to kick them out of the game. We need to be careful not to assume that bad conditions only affected certain players.
Jimmy Greaves is named in below list of top 100.
DeleteMost of those players are mentioned in a full version of profile, rating of skill and performance and articles in Positional Hall of Fame xtraimmortal.blogspot.com
And players who is not ranked in positional hall of fame, is still able to be found in International Legendary Museum xtralegend.blogspot.com
I’d imply you give longevity as a more important profile than peak. Anyway, if longevity is given too much weight, many below world-class players could be ranked ahead of superb players with shorter prime. I have created the method to make divisibility in this issue, could find in Historical Rating Methodology.
You have a good point to give credit for players in the past 50 years ago and I have neither not ignored it nor consideration of the limitation of circumstance let to lose opportunity of prove themselves enough. As I described in historical rating methodology, Circumstantial prevention has been taken into account in my lists.
in ability list, do you only consider prime?
ReplyDeleteYes, the true ability and skill is determined in the prime of each ability function. I mean player could have reached his prime in each ability in different period. For instance, I’d rate Messi’s dribbling ability and skill is his prime at 2009 – 2010 season while his scoring ability and skill will belong to 2011 – 2012 season.
DeleteOh, i understand, for every segment you take when they were the best at it.
DeleteAnd do you have exact rankings for these ten players in every ability and perhaps for some more players?
ReplyDeleteYes, I have it in an excel file with systematic implementation but I’d better not show you now because I need to watch more to improve the skill/ability rating. This is a schedule plan for next year.
DeleteWhy not? I won't criticize, i promise. I'm really interested :)
DeleteThat is not involved about criticism but I just want to share the best work to reader. The current stats anyway will be obsolete in the next year. Anyway, could you introduce yourself, what country are you from and how you find this blog ?
DeleteI'm on big soccer, stcv1974, i'm from serbia. I have a question about skill rankings. Does it work with the same principle as ability, taking ratings from different seasons or is it all from one season?
DeleteOh dear stvc, I first guess it should be you but I am just not sure because I also guess you are from England. Skill is made from the same sample range as ability (all seasons) because it is a potential in which could be transformed as unsteady performance within the career.
DeleteAre you support Redstar or Partizan or even neither ?
Red star, or as we say CRVENA ZVEZDA! But i love Liverpool even more, they are just my favorite club since childhood.
Deletethis must be a joke, in top10 dribling there is no Pele, in dribling, technique, creativity, passing there is no one who can be claimed to be as good as Pele.(I will share videoes) and in strongness also I think arguably Pele is the best, in speed?! Pele is the best dribler and better than pele and garrincha. I have watched so many videos of Maradona, games of ROnaldos and Messi, footages of Garrincha, Best and e.t.c games of Pele and Crouyf, Pele is the best. now, Pele challenge:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPM5CeL89AU I have yet to see another player who can drible as pele does in the link I have just pasted.
and more, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebvQ36lnbq4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcvdYj9h9mw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzr8bG-z5I all of this are parts of dribling of Pele, if there is any player who coyld do this all, share his/her footages please.
and now on technique:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18JRNjfegko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcvdYj9h9mw
I am not going to write point by point, just visit this page: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJ2a_Xjc4DmlcwXR0zGXNw/videos Pele is the best footballer ever in any offensive criteria and one of the best if not the best in defensive criteria.
this post must be a joke, I have no doubt, if this is not a joke, then people who wrote this knows nothing about either pele or football.
I very doubt this post of mine will be approved since it will expose how wrong authors are, I very doubt they will dare to answer and share this.
If you refer to only the clip, you need to also watch a clip of Pele’s scenes of failure in dribbling. Pele is one of the best dribblers in his era but it would be difficult to rate him among the best ever when consider his dribble performance against less tough defenders in the 1960s. He did not an extreme one-man-show style of player so the scenes he got pass a number of defenders is rarer.
DeleteSir Artur, you are so wrong. Pelé was an excellent dribbler, but better than Maradona, Best and Garrincha? No, never. In creativity and technique Maradona is the best without doubt. Did you see matches of Maradona? And in passing, is obviously that Pelé is not one of the top 10 passers of all time. If you think that Pelé was the best player of all time, ok. But Pelé wasn't the best in every aspect of the game, thinking that it's very stupid. If you are a superfan of Pelé, it's your problem, but this post is being realistic, not subjective (by the way, it's one of the best football posts I've ever seen). Please go to watch and learn something about football before saying these things.
DeleteWhat did Ronaldinho do to you. He is viciously underated he is number 8 also Rivaldo and Romario should be higher
ReplyDeleteI'm providing scorecard in this list. It will lead to re-ranking one again and we will see if Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Romario will be raised up.
DeleteCristiano Ronaldo has to be Queen Gold Class now.
ReplyDeleteDear, Readers
ReplyDeleteAs Scorecard of domestic and international country has been completed (please see in competition-based level greatest ever), the ranking has been adjusted. The new comer is Jairzinho in replacement of Valentino Mazzola who got too few opportunity in NT career.
However, international club is pending and bonus point and conditional point (highest and lowest performance and ability) has not been taken to the scorecard, the ranking will be updated again after completion of scorecard.
By ability i suppose you mean the same method as in top 10 ability but what do you mean by highest and lowest performance? I assume it's prime and worst season?
DeleteYou are right on ability rating. Yes, it is the best and worst period within a whole season by all competitions.
DeleteOutstanding work here. Love this stuff. One small quibble. Francesco Totti belongs somewhere in here. I've seen very few with his skills as a complete attacking playmaking mid.
ReplyDeleteIn only pure performance, he is below standard in international games as Roma did not success in Europe and he is known to decline when switch to play for his nation.
DeleteHe is also not one of the best ever in any specific skill. Even so, he was great in all offensive skills. As a result of skill level, he is also not one of the great ability possessors.
Thanks for the response Nararorn. I understand your position. While it is true Roma's performances in Europe have been mediocre, that's not exclusively Totti's fault or problem. As for the Azzurri, we should treat this carefully as many players in history struggled to perform at the international level and shouldn't necessarily penalize a player for it - for example, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi until recently were heavily criticized for their play in international competition. Totti has a World Cup to his name and played very well for Lippi in 2006. He fulfilled what was asked of him. He also earned a Scudetto. Last, I must respectfully disagree about his skill set. I've been watching soccer since the 1970s and very, very few players have that kind of talent at that position. Totti could play 'trequartista' and False 9 or 10 as well as any player on the planet during that time. Perhaps European titles eludes him, but his play in one of the historically toughest leagues in the world in Serie A counts for much I reckon. He's definitely under rated. Just check him out on youtube. Just my opinion. Cheers!
Delete
DeleteI’m interested you have watched football since the 1970s. Which league or national team did you follow in the 1970s ?
With Italy, Totti was assigned in an extreme tactical awareness so he attempt to play in simple way and not dare to make spectacular contribution not likes what he made with Roma and he also helped to score too few goals from his position. Surely he is not considered as an failure NT performer but also could not make difference to other superstars in the same era (Raul and Owen performed greater than him in overall NT games)
You’re right on declining performance from club to NT in general but the top 50 is contained with many great players who successfully performed in NT games in exception of some players who could compensate with his phenomenon club performance likes Ronaldinho and George Best, etc. Totti was very consistent in Series A with 5 - 6 world-class seasons by media rating but never get status of one of the very best players in the World. For my personal assessment, I’d name him nearly outside top 50 best domestic players ever as specified in “Competition-Based Level Greatest Ever
UNBELIEVABLE The gift Elias Figueroa not be among the first thirty players.
ReplyDeleteHe is named in top 50 domestic player ever in Competition-Based Level Greatest Ever.
DeleteInternationally,he did play well in qualifying or major tournament first round but the limited opportunities in deeper round left him out of the best ever group.
I thought it was the 50 best football players of all time, then only it comes to the best competitors in international competitions and not the best. Now I understand why this ranking is not in talent order.
Deletec.ronaldo has received "the greatest portuguese player ever award" from FPF. I think that is the good reason to promote him higher in ranking list
ReplyDeleteActually he is now at least 17th for my current status of rating but he might be ranked up in maximum one rank when scorecard will have been completed. I also confirm Eusebio is still the best Portuguese player ever based on my rating in this moment and should be until the end of this season at least.
DeleteDear, Readers
ReplyDeleteAs a progression of top 50 player scorecard, Michael Laudrup has replaced Schiaffino by a large margin and most of top 20 has been adjusted but need to confirm final result again.
I welcome the inclusion of Laudrup in the "best 50". I think this is the logical choice. I also think he deserves better position ....
DeleteI think you should read Wikipedia to complete honours, individual and record of each legend so that you can exactly finish the scorecard. Sorry if this opinion annoys you
ReplyDeleteGarrincha is in front of Best in best peak list but in scoreboard Garrincha has AAA- and Best has AAA rating for highest performance.
ReplyDeleteLaudrup has also been selected in the "World Cup 98 all stars" as Zidane.
ReplyDeleteThe number of players chosen is all-stars team is varied. I’ve select only best XI in each all-stars team and the 1998 World Cup best playmaker must be Zidane.
Delete-You mentioned Moore asthe best defender in English league four times according to reader's poll of the 1960s and analysis of performance in the 1970s. Can you post the exact link to see these ratings.
ReplyDelete--Please post the exact link and how to find the assists for players like Rivelino , Didi , Garrincha , Zizinho and Kopa
-Also you named in 54 WC Kopa as best young player and Kocsis MVP in the individual achivements. Are these just ur personal opinions or are they warded by a assotiation?If the later , please post the link
Thanks in advance
Prior to 1982, there was no official award to players in World Cup. I set the status of the best player of the tournament based on intensive discussion between members in Bigsoccer.com.
DeleteThe reference link to Bobby Moore is the same as Gordon Banks. http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/1969-70-british-team-of-the-season.1794502/, http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/team-of-the-season-1970-1980-england-division-one.1820483/
Assist stats of Brazilian players (NT matches) can be found in http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/brazil-nt-great-players-statistics-and-discussion.1981757/page-3
Maradona a King Gold Class? At the same level as Cruyff? He has to be a Crown Class without doubt, at the same level as Pelé. They are considered the best players ever (and personally, I think Maradona was better).
ReplyDeleteMaradona is much less successful in international club than Pele and a large number of players in history. However, Maradona and Pele are very closed in domestic and international country competition. Aside from 1989 UEFA Cup, Maradona failed to lead Napoli to get deeper round. You can check evaluation result in “Competition Level-Based Greatest Ever”.
DeleteDear, Readers
ReplyDeleteThere is a few adjustment in ranking due to a new criteria of credit bond rating with more frequency of point ranges.
The Highest Footballers' Peaks Of All-Time does not fit with credit bond rating of highest performance in the table for some players.
ReplyDeleteOK, I have updated.
DeleteBut on scoreboard G. Best still has AAA and Garrincha AAA-.
DeleteOK, Even Garrincha performed superbly in all competitions, I'd still stay George Best as a slight more dangerous performer in their peak period.
DeleteWhat criteria did you use to decide the best free-kick specialist? I saw that Mihajlovic was the number one in that list before and now is Zico.
ReplyDeleteNumber of free-kick goals, Zico scored more than Mihajlovic at least 2.5 times. Bigsoccer has a thread in attempt to collect free-kick stats but it is difficult to complete stats for all great players.
DeleteDear, Readers
ReplyDeleteThe most completed player ever list has been added the list of the most completed players by function. It has been also set a new criteria for completion aspect in rating methodology.
I have a doubt. Why did you put "pure attacker" and not "forward"? What's the difference?
DeleteIn the aspect of completion, I set only three main sets of position because of multifunctional play requirement. Pure attacker is not include only forward but also trequartista (likes Maradona, etc). So midfielder category would include only all-round midfielder (majority of them are CM but some attacker is qualified such as Gullit, DI Stefano, etc)
DeleteGreat , great work you have done here. Congratulations! But it's human to make mistakes. I think it's obvious you rank way too low Cristiano Ronaldo. Other than that your ranking is fenomenal. Messi-Ronaldo is the greatest rivalry between to athlets in sports history. I think he should definetly be ranked below Messi(at least considering he is older and has more seasons than the Argentinian). I mean how could Eusebio and Muller be possibly ahead of him? Just beacuse they have better NT performance? You must consider that they have played in better generations than CR (apart maybe from EURO 2004 but he was only 19 then). If you make a seasonal comparasion with any player in history I think only Pele and Maradona are clear winners(with Cruyff and Di Stefano being possibly better awell at the moment).
ReplyDeleteHe has been arguably best player in 2007 , by far the best in 2008 , 2nd best in 2009 , in 2010 he had a transitional year to Madrid and suffered injury but still managed a goal per game ratio , in 2011 Messi was the best but Goal.com named him no.1 so you could still consider him very very great considering he could have won it in many other years , in 2012 again Messi named the best but CR arguably the best too , in 2013 named the best by all associations , in 2014 again clearly the best(even transcended football and was named the best athlete in all sports on the planet) and he is still having phenomenal period. I think you should rank him at least 7th to being your list more to perfection. All the best!
Gerd Muller is an opportunistic player and it is easy to imagine how limited was he in case of playing with small nations but not forget in another way that player's great ability of adjustment to the high level divisible team should be creditable. In example, Ibrahimovic met one of his worst seasons in second part of his career with Barca because his style is not very compatible to the team and his adaptability is also an obstacle.
DeleteC.Ronaldo played for smaller nation could be considered in a greater opportunity to contribute the big influence to the team likes Hagi with Romania and Brescia but the fact of matter that C.Ronaldo several times showed his limitation to create opportunity in cooperation with his teammate. What if Zidane played in Premier League ? He is believed by many to be failed because his slow acceleration and I'd not take this advantage to C.Ronaldo who is successful in both league because he is also very fit to the physical emphasis in modern football, would have more limited opportunity to perform greatly if back to play under ultra-defensive circumstance in the 1990s.
Thing is , Muller may have had those results because of the legendary German team , but you simply can't rate him even colse to Ronaldo. Muller is the best goalscorer , but CR is aswell a phenomenal goalscorer but in adititon he is lightyears ahead of him in techincal ability and is probably the best athlete of the sport(at least definetly by far batter than Muller). No way Muller is comparable to him. Again , even his namesake is commonly agreed surpassed by CR . He should most surely by already in top 10. Garrincha for that matter is IMO clearly inferior . I rate Garrincha very high(somewhere in top 15) but he's lack of many world-class seasons simply make him uncomparable for CR. Maybe he is comparable with other inconsitent technical players like Ronaldinho.
DeleteC.Ronaldo’s scoring stats is hidden with high ratio of penalty goals/total scores. I select twice most prolific domestic seasons if Muller and C.Ronaldo as an example.
DeleteGerd Muller
The 1969 – 1970 season : Muller scored only 4 penalty goals. If not count penalty he scored 34 goals in 34 games.
The 1971 – 1972 season : Muller missed many penalty kicks in early seasons and coach decided to switch to assign Roth in this jobs. Subsequently, he scored all goals without penalty (40 goals in 34 games).
C.Ronaldo
The 2011 – 2012 season : C.Ronaldo scored 12 penalty goals. If not count penalty, He would have scored only 34 goals in 38 games.
The 2014 – 2015 season : C.Ronaldo already scored 8 penalty goals. If not count penalty he would have scored 20 goals in 20 games.
Muller also scored around twice times hat-tricks to C.Ronaldo in all competitions.
Based on this context, Muller is clearly a superior goalscorer.
C.Ronaldo also possesses an incomparable greater technique and create chances by his own but when count frequency of missing gold opportunities, C.Ronaldo would have a higher rate as Muller is known as the most effective finishers in football history.
Anyway, the scoring stats is just a part in comparison. As I said, Gerd Muller is much better than C.Ronaldo in NT career. But still, they are now rated in the same point in scorecard (Muller win by basic point) and if C.Ronaldo could return his great performance, he would surpass Muller in the near future.
You are influenced by the media with the penalty thing. I thin you basically gived Ronaldo another huge advantage over Muller by bringing up how the y score their goals. CR is 10 times a more spectacular goalscorer than Muller and Eusebio for that matter. I really think you should rank him a few places above them. It's basicaly the only thing I found visibly wrong in your list
DeleteGerd Muller scoring style is seemingly easy without no spectacular phenomena. He did turn the difficulty of intuitive positioning, movement and synchronization in creating chance of scoring to an easy thing. Rare strikers in history can produce scored as many as him in the similar standard of competition. Therefore, I think this ability should not be overlooked.
DeleteC.Ronaldo scored most of his goals with his powerful drive shot and some of heading, is totally impressive but a large number of forwards have made more spectacular goals than him. I have never seen C.Ronaldo scored a goal by shifting the ball classily as an example.
What do you mean by shifting the ball classy?
DeleteIn example, Totti shifted the ball to the net in penalty shootout in the mach against Holland in the 2000 Euro.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5gDJfFvObg
DeleteGreat to see this scene even finally it was not permitted to a goal and I need to watch more of them to attest he was just not fluke.
DeleteThe goal wasn't alowed because Nani touched it but from Ronaldo's perspective alone you can consider that a legendary goal. After all , he humiliated one of the geratest teams in history , the Golden Spain. Anyway , I saw you rank players per abilities too , how why isn't he the best ever in shooting ability? For short range I'm sure ur familiar with his hundreds strikes but take alook at his unpreceded greatness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsIEnJm14Aw also you should name him fastest player ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G09AeI7t2U and apart from that I think you missed Pele and Messi in the dribbling section. Maybe you should wait until Messi retires to be included cause it's tough competition in that department but Pele is obviously top 3.
DeleteFor Messi, I have to stay conservative manner since 2011 he start to decline in his dribbling performance, too often failure in attempt to get pass players especially in the 2011 Copa America and the 2014 World Cup. In Pele's ambiguous dribbling status in history, he should be among the best whereas the players within a group is very closed in level and it is highly depend on circumstantial advantage. I dare to rate Savicevic higher than Pele in pure dribbling ability because Savicevic get pass defenders by slower speed and extremely dependent of his dribbling accuracy.
DeleteAnyway, The list of ability ranking is planed to review again after I have finished the current project (Implementation of Positional Hall of Fame)
Savicevic is no way a better dribbler than Pele. Even Neymar , Di Maria and Iniesta are on par with Savicevic belive me. But you have players like Sivori , Sekuralac , Cruyff , Sindelar who are from Pele's era or even older who are no doubt great dribblers but surely O Rey was better than them. Judging on footage alone he is by far better even than Garrincha but I wouldn't vouch on that cause Garrincha is disadvantaged due to lack of footage. And what do you say about the 2 CR suggestions? I think they are very valid strong points and should be added.
DeleteYour statement that Messi had a hard time getting past players in 2014 wc contradicts the facts. He had third most successful dribbles in wc - 46 (since 1966). Only Maradona '86 and Jairzinho in '70 had more, Maradona had 53 and Jairzinho 47. Maradona attempted 90 dribbles which means he had 59% success rate and messi attempted 73 which makes for sky-high 63% success rate, but Jairzinho attempted 70 so he had even higher percentage-67%. So Messi didn't have a hard time getting past players, that is not true.
ReplyDeleteWhat source you get it from ? OPTA Stats ? It has been available in Bigsoccer from 1966 to 1986 World Cup but you are seemed to know rating of other tournaments since 1990 ?
DeleteI’m not sure about the count method of this stats and it seems to include getting pass players by pure acceleration ? Messi did get pass opponents many time by dependence of his speed and less in pure dribbling accuracy.
Anyway, as reviewed, I need to remove Ronaldinho whom I think he basically got pass player by hi speed and technical ability than his own dribbling accuracy and I have named Pele instead of him. When consider Messi VS Savicevic in dribbling ability, I see Messi drib pass players in dangerous zone more often than Savicevic who was just preferable in isolating on the wing whereas he has wider area to make an amazing dribbling.
DeleteYes OPTA: http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/247/Tournaments/36/Seasons/3768/Stages/10274/PlayerStatistics/International-FIFA-World-Cup-2014
DeleteIn detailed tab you can see dribbles attepmted and completed but on Opta twitter account they said that this is the third most dribbles and put Jairzinho's and Maradona's numbers. Yes they do include any type of getting past opponent but that's the goal, the way you do it is not important. Maradona and Jairzinho also relied on their speed, Messi and Maradona have very similar style of dribbling so if we are looking for tricks than nobody comes close R9 and Ronaldinho, also you con't really see on TV those little body feints Messi and all best dribblers use, defenders are the only ones who can feel it. Sometimes it looks like Messi just runs past a player but it involes a lot of skill that is the reason why Bale, Walcott and some other players who are a lot faster than Messi can't get past players in tight space and Messi can.
The Romanian player Nicolae Dobrin had no speed and no strenght to contribute to him getting past defenders. It was sheer deribbling accuracy and nothing more. He should be ahead of R9 who buldozed trough defenders many times via speed and strenght(not saying he doesn't have great dribbling but not nearly as good as dobrin).
ReplyDelete