All Time Best Player list

How it works

Because of the nature of this list, it is necessarily more subjective than previous entries on Football Pantheon. Except, that is, our last list – the 50 greatest players of 2010-11. Like that list, it is based on as many objective stats and analyses as is possible, as well as three primary strands:

Ability

This is the effective ‘control’ for the list. Every player is given a mark out of 100 for the general level of ability throughout their careers.

As a majority of analysts, commentators and stats indicate, genuinely elite players such as Diego Maradona and Pele had the highest technical ability in football history. As such, they are the bar.

And, although such figures may appear arbitrary, we have attempted to judge it on as many respectable reports, opinions, analyses and stats as possible.

What’s more, we have attempted to ensure that every rating is position-relevant. For example, a top defender isn’t overly punished for not having the dribbling ability that Diego Maradona did.

In saying that, however, it should not be discounted that the most technically capable players often dominate games and influence teams by default. As such, the top rankings are naturally awarded to those who transcend their position by dint of their technical abilities.

Club career

Essentially, how well a player applied his ability over the course of his club career. A rating is warded out of 100 for overall performance. To give an example of how it was broken down, Johan Cruyff’s 1971-72 season – in which he was influential in securing a treble for Ajax – could be considered an almost-perfect season: 95 out of 100. By contrast, his 1974-75 season may have ended a long drought for Barcelona in securing a domestic title but didn’t quite reach the same level in Europe, as the side was eliminated in the semi-finals: 83 out of 100. An average was then calculated, with this extended across a player’s entire career.

International career

Exactly the same as with the club career, except broken down into campaigns (World Cup plus qualification, European Championship plus qualification) rather than seasons.












100. Danny Blanchflow
99. Jozsef Bozsik
98. Just Fontaine
97. Elias Figueroa
96. Josef Masopust
95. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger
94. Johnny Rep
93. Daniel Passarella
92. Marcel Desailly
91. Enzo Francescoli
90. Grzegorz Lato
89. Antonio Cabrini
88. Jose Santamaria
87. Zoltan Czibor
86. Dino Zoff
85. Luis Figo
84. Fabio Cannavaro
83. Fernando Redondo
82. Roy Keane
81. Djalma Santos
80. Matthias Sammer
79. Velibor Vasovic
78. Armando Picchi
77. David Villa
76. Dixie Dean
75. Kurt Hamrin
74. Nils Liedholm
73. Marco Tardelli
72. Jimmy Johnstone
71. Iker Casillas
70. Thierry Henry
69. Ladislao Kubala
68. Frank Rijkaard
67. John Charles
66. Arie Haan
65. Roberto Baggio
64. Samuel Eto’o
63. Omar Sivori 85
62. Juan Schiaffino
61. Bobby Moore
60. Peter Schmeichel
59. Ruud Krol
58. Kenny Dalglish
57. Ruud Gullit
56. Sandro Mazzola
55. Francisco Gento
54. Vava
53. Roberto Rivelino
52. Paolo Maldini
51. Michael Laudrup
50. Raymond Kopa
49. Luis Monti
48. Mattias Sindelar
47. Valentino Mazzola
46. Sepp Maier
45. Bobby Charlton
44. Gunter Netzer
43. Nilton Santos
42. Tarcisio Burgnich
41. Sandor Kocsis
40. Lothar Matthaus
39. Ronaldinho
38. Jose Manuel Moreno
37. Romario
36. Mario Coluna
35. Gerson
34. Hristo Stoichkov
33. Paul Breitner
32. Luis Suarez 82
31. Gaetano Scirea
30. Andres Iniesta
29. Tostao
28. Giacinto Facchetti
27. Lev Yashin
26. Zico 25 Rivaldo
24. Marco van Basten
23. Jairzinho
22. Xavi
21. Nandor Hidegkuti
20. Gerd Muller
19. Johan Neeskens
18. Ronaldo
17. Obdulio Varela
16. George Best
15. Carlos Alberto
14. Franco Baresi
13. Eusebio
12. Didi
11. Michel Platini
10. Giuseppe Meazza
9. Zinedine Zidane
8. Leo Messi
7. Ferenc Puskas
6. Garrincha
5. Franz Beckenbauer
4. Alfredo Di Stefano
3. Johan Cruyff
2. Pele
1. Diego Maradona




The players who missed out and why

With a long-list that ran to almost 1,000 and a so-called shortlist that approached 500, it is inevitable that some highly celebrated players were going to miss out on our list. Indeed, so tight were the margins that even the slightest tweak in the formula could have seen radical changes to the entrants. Below are the names of those who came closest. Although not all of the names afforded reasons were as high as some of those without, we anticipate that the popularity of specific players will demands responses in terms of omissions. For others, though, there was simply nothing to say other than the fact that there stellar careers missed out by the smallest of margins.

Players who missed out most narrowly

Gabriel Batistuta
Zgibniew Boniek
Andreas Brehme
Cafu
Arsenio Erico
Gunnar Gren
Ghoerge Hagi
Uli Hoeness
Wolfgan Overath
Mario Kempes
Jurgen Klinsmann
Ronald Koeman
Hector Rial
Gianni Rivera
Alberto Spencer
Wesley Sneijder
Socrates
Zizinho

Explanations

Gabriel Batistuta
Why he missed out Only did so by a whisker because of the fact his goals never quite translated into true glory.

Jim Baxter
Why he missed out So gifted. But the elite stages of the game never got to really see it.

Dennis Bergkamp
Why he missed out A player blessed with the very best technique. Unfortunately, he only ever applied it in instalments at the top level. Beyond that supreme quarter-final against Argentina in 1998, his performances in the top international tournaments and Champions League were at best moderate when placed in the context of his exact qualities. As Johnny Rep argued, “he lacks the hardness to win. Bergkamp is a very big player but he doesn’t have the character in his body.”

Zgibniew Boniek
Why he missed out another player to miss out narrowly, his performances in the domestic Italian league only slightly costing him.

Eric Cantona
Why he missed out Undoubtedly transformed the history of Manchester United. But was unfortunate to never be able to bring his best form to Europe nor play at a more opportune time for the French national side. As such, only really enjoyed domestic success in a league that was one of Europe’s most mediocre at the time.

Duncan Edwards
Why he missed out Unfortunately, all of his wondrous ability can only leave us pondering what-ifs

Steven Gerrard
Why he missed out A player of top-class talents but not necessarily top-class positioning or team discipline. Throughout his career there seemed an eternal debate about where his best role was. Because of that, he only ever exerted maximum influence on the 2004-05 and 2008-09 seasons and never an international tournament.

Kaka
Why he missed out the best player in the world between 2005 and 2007 but that period proved all too brief as injuries took their toll.

Denis Law
Why he missed out Injury robbed him of Manchester United’s crowning glory in 1968 and, like Kenny Dalglish, never fully applied his ability at the top international level.

Luigi Riva
Why he missed out Hugely productive but not quite prolific enough to match the very, very elite strikers.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Why he missed out highly likely to be in the top half of this list by the end of his career – or possibly the next year. But, as it stands, his exceptional abilities are offset by a selfishness that can prove a liability at the top level. It’s no coincidence that Alex Ferguson’s facilitation of that ego brought the only major trophies of his career.

Hugo Sanchez
Why he missed out Could never bring his club record to the international stage

Paul Scholes
Why he missed out Supremely consistent for Manchester United and occasionally supreme, he did suffer a prolonged dip relative to his abilities between 2003 and 2006 and – for a variety of reasons – never quite translated his true qualities to the international stage.

Andriy Shevchenko
Why he missed out Played in a Milan team that only won trophies intermittently and faded out too soon.

Wesley Sneijder
Why he missed out only belatedly and briefly applied his true ability at Inter having struggled to find proper accommodation at Real Madrid.

Socrates
Why he missed out A sumptuous player. But decorated tournaments rather than actually decide them.

Sjaak Swaart
Why he missed out A victim of timing. Just missed out on his club and country’s glory years.

George Weah
Why he missed out A surprisingly underwhelming trophy cabinet for such overwhelming ability.

Other notable names on the fringes

Altafini
Arthur Friedenreich
Rafael Moreno Aranzadi
Raul
Andrea Pirlo
Bruno Conti
Rui Costa
Bebeto
Miodrag Belodedici
Laurent Blanc
Eder
Oleg Blokhin
Alessandro Del Piero
Luis Del Sol
Didier Deschamps
Robert Prosinecki
Roberto Bettega
Kazimierz Deyna
Ryan Giggs
Piet Keizer
Rob Rensenbrink
Jari Litmanen
Abedi Pele
Teofilio Cubillas
Bryan Robson
Jimmy Greaves
Charlie Athersmith
Billy Liddell
Billy Meredith
Igor Belanov
Stankley Matthews
Gordon Banks
Claude Makelele
Pat Jennings
Ivan Curkovic
Adolfo Pedernera
Domenique Rocheteau
Paolo Rossi
Pepe Samitier
Graeme Souness
Bernd Schuster
Uwe Seeler
Lilian Thuram
Valery Voronin
Fritz Walter
Ricardo Zamora
Paul McGrath
Coen Moulijn
Allen Simonsen
John Giles
Kevin Keegan
Jose Zarraga
Phil Neal
Jean-Pierre Papin

Among other things... Rivaldo at 25 lol. Ahead of R9, Ronaldinho and Romario lol x10000000. Just for France, Platini was ahead of Zidane and having Desailly there when both Blanc and Thuram were better is laughable.

^^^^

How on earth is Platini ahead of Zidane?

edited


but casillas again top 4 GKs of all time :queen: \

Khan who?

I saw Villa ahead of Figo and i stopped reading

Thing is International perfomance carries Extra weight

And Messi at #8. Biggest lol ever.

Edited again with how it works

is cr even in the list?

Villa and samuel etoo placings are dubious and hilarious but every list will have a flaw.

Villa in and Batistuta out??????

I don't have any problem with this list except fo one. # 1 Madonna is ridiculous. The guys in positions 2-5 behind him were much much better. Primadonna is just so overrated largely due to his infamous hand ball.

Seppuku wrote:^^^^

How on earth is Platini ahead of Zidane?

I saw both play and Platini was much better than Zidane, although i love Zidane too. If you look at the all-time rankings of the top football magazines, they'll have Platini in the top 5 mostly and definitely top 10.

You do realize that, as a CAM, he led Serie A in scoring for 3 straight years and had 3 straight ballon d'or awards. In 13 full seasons as a pro, he scored 30+ goals 8 times (6 in a row with 3 of them at Juve)... and he had 29 twice. And he was more known for playmaking and assists than goals lol. Just to put that in perspective, his rival was Maradona and Maradona only scored over 20 goals twice in Europe with a high of 23.

You guys just don't know how good he was.

I honestly never understood why people always rate pele as #2 and handy/druggy as #1....

Biggest piece of crap i've ever read.

The excuses for leaving out certain players was a joke.

People should stop attempting to make lists like this. Obviously it will be full of fail.

I'm sorry but that list is beyond insulting.

Ganso wrote:I honestly never understood why people always rate pele as #2 and handy/druggy as #1....

Maradona made his entire rep on WC 1986 (which they beat England by cheating, i.e. "hand of god". Worse than Henry vs Ireland). He couldn't sniff Platini's boots while they were rivals... Platini retired in 1987.

And this whole "he carried Argentina NT and Napoli"argument is ridiculous. Argentina was supremely talented and had already won the WC in 1978 without him.

Very good and the best dribbler i ever saw. But as far as a footballer, i rate 6-7 players easily ahead of him.

izzy26 wrote:I'm sorry but that list is beyond insulting.

I dont think it is that bad list btw,any list will get critizism due to personal point of observation and some will be wrongly placed .

whome do you think is wrongly placed instead of whome? apart from villa and etoo

Yes it is bad, Baggio at 65? This is a bad joke.

Kaka outside top 10? ffs what a joke... if messi is 6 then kaka should be after Don Stefano (2nd)

sportsczy wrote:

Ganso wrote:I honestly never understood why people always rate pele as #2 and handy/druggy as #1....

Maradona made his entire rep on WC 1986 (which they beat England by cheating, i.e. "hand of god". Worse than Henry vs Ireland). He couldn't sniff Platini's boots while they were rivals... Platini retired in 1987.

And this whole "he carried Argentina NT and Napoli"argument is ridiculous. Argentina was supremely talented and had already won the WC in 1978 without him.

Very good and the best dribbler i ever saw. But as far as a footballer, i rate 6-7 players easily ahead of him.

i have been saying this for a while...

I spent a lot of my school break watching World Cups and Pele's Santos matches and the guy was literally a monster on the field at everything:creating,dribbling,scoring,strength,he was like combining Messi and CR...Definitely #1 for me even if i didnt get to watch Zico,Platini,Cruyff etc

omarish wrote:Kaka outside top 10? ffs what a joke... if messi is 6 then kaka should be after Don Stefano (2nd)

no sarcasm detected

Kaka is not a top 100 material at all..even if you argue with villa and etoo there are other players who will easily replace them like batistuta and bergkamp etccc

sportsczy wrote:

Seppuku wrote:^^^^

How on earth is Platini ahead of Zidane?

I saw both play and Platini was much better than Zidane, although i love Zidane too. If you look at the all-time rankings of the top football magazines, they'll have Platini in the top 5 mostly and definitely top 10.

You do realize that, as a CAM, he led Serie A in scoring for 3 straight years and had 3 straight ballon d'or awards. In 13 full seasons as a pro, he scored 30+ goals 8 times (6 in a row with 3 of them at Juve)... and he had 29 twice. And he was more known for playmaking and assists than goals lol. Just to put that in perspective, his rival was Maradona and Maradona only scored over 20 goals twice in Europe with a high of 23.

You guys just don't know how good he was.

Sports, I agree but it's a waste of time trying to explain to all these youngsters how good our heros from the past were. Most of these guys have only been watching futbol for 5 or so years and watch it on TV or Internet. The only things they know about the past is what they read. As we can see from the various posts most are very opinionated and set in their opinions. There are some very knowledgeable exceptions however unforunately that is not the norm.

Adit wrote:

izzy26 wrote:I'm sorry but that list is beyond insulting.

I dont think it is that bad list btw,any list will get critizism due to personal point of observation and some will be wrongly placed .

whome do you think is wrongly placed instead of whome? apart from villa and etoo

Well i'll giive some examples:

Messi: The excuse for CR7 and Hugo Sachez was 1) His career isn't over and 2) He couldn't put his club form into NT perfomances. Messi is exactly the same. How the hell can he be higher than Maldini, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho when he hasn't done shit for the Argies yet for the same reason they exclude Sanchez? Fallacy.

Xavi: 2008 onwards is how we make legends is it?

There's so much more:
Should be higher:
DInho
Ronaldo
Henry
Maldini
Henry
Baggio
Plus more.

How can you exclude people like Sanchez, Socrates and Batigol?

Ganso wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

Ganso wrote:I honestly never understood why people always rate pele as #2 and handy/druggy as #1....

Maradona made his entire rep on WC 1986 (which they beat England by cheating, i.e. "hand of god". Worse than Henry vs Ireland). He couldn't sniff Platini's boots while they were rivals... Platini retired in 1987.

And this whole "he carried Argentina NT and Napoli"argument is ridiculous. Argentina was supremely talented and had already won the WC in 1978 without him.

Very good and the best dribbler i ever saw. But as far as a footballer, i rate 6-7 players easily ahead of him.

i have been saying this for a while...

I spent a lot of my school break watching World Cups and Pele's Santos matches and the guy was literally a monster on the field at everything:creating,dribbling,scoring,strength,he was like combining Messi and CR...Definitely #1 for me even if i didnt get to watch Zico,Platini,Cruyff etc

you can say that about don stefano too, he played almost all positions and pele himself said he was the greatest footballer he has seen.

just becouse he never had success in the WC he doesn't get the same recognisition