The question of “Who are the best soccer players of all time” is one of the greatest debates in sports history. Futbol is the world’s most popular sport and athletes from around the world have helped to elevate it to new heights over the last century. However, only a select few are the true immortals for the sport.
So, without further ado, here are the 10 greatest soccer players to have ever played “o jogo bonito” [the beautiful game].
10. Paolo Maldini – 5 European Cup titles
Italy has a great soccer history and the story of Italian futbol can’t be told without Paolo Maldini. During his impressive career, he won five Euro Cup titles and helped take his nation to the brink of a World Cup title in 1994. From 1994 to 2003 few European players were better than Maldini. He was like a create-a-player from a video game because there was little he couldn’t do on the pitch. The Italian legend will be the prototype for Italian players for generations to come.
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9. Ferenc Puskás – 5 LaLiga titles
Ferenc Puskás put Eastern European futbol on the map as he became a superstar in his native Hungary and then went on to build a legendary career with LaLiga powerhouse Real Madrid. During his time with the club, he helped lead them to five championships as he built a reputation as one of the greatest strikers the sport has ever seen.
He also played a major role in Los Blancos’ three European Cup titles in a legendary run during the golden age of big-time soccer.
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8. Ronaldo Nazario – 3 FIFA World Player of the Year awards
Brazil’s Ronaldo Nazario is one of the greatest soccer players ever based on pure talent. He won two Ballon d’Or awards, as well as three FIFA World Player of the Year honors. He was the player that made a generation of sports fans realize that Brazil was a soccer powerhouse, and led his countrymen with otherworldly skills. However, knee injuries curtailed a career that could have been the greatest of all time.
7. Johan Cruyff – 3 Ballon d’Ors
Johan Cruyff has reached mythic levels, not just in his native Netherlands, but across the entire sport. The way in which he played the game and his philosophies on the sport were revolutionary in the 1970s and influenced managers and coaches for decades after he finished playing.
He is the rare player that even has a feint move named after him — the “Cruyff Turn” — and earned three Ballon d’Ors as he blazed a trail through the game. With how sports science has changed the game, if he played today he would be an absolute global superstar.
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6. Michel Platini – 3 Ballon d’Ors
Michel Platini was the greatest player in French football history for a very long time until Zinedine Zidane came on the scene. He won the Ballon d’Or (the sports world MVP award) three years in a row in the 1980s and, he was honored with the award for French Player of the Century.
Not to be outdone, he is also in the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Easily making him one of the best soccer players of all time.
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5. Cristiano Ronaldo – 5 Ballon d’Ors
Cristiano Ronaldo is like the Lebron James of soccer. A freak athlete with incomparable gifts. The proof of his excellence shows in the fact that he has won an impressive five Ballon d’Or awards [second all-time] and owns the records for most goals and assists in the legendary Champions League.
He is such a transcendent figure that he is even known to sports fans who have never seen him play. And like James, at 38 he has shown no signs of slowing down. That is why he is among the best soccer players of all time and why the Saudi Pro League gave him an absurd contract in 2023 to help elevate their brand globally.
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4. Kylian Mbappe – 2 World Cup Finals
While Kylian Mbappe is only 23 years old, he is arguably the greatest player on the planet today and is quickly on pace to become the best that France has ever produced. He was a teenager when he helped his country win a World Cup title in 2018 and has shown that was only the start as he helped lead them to the finals again in 2022.
While Mbappe was unable to earn a second straight Cup title in 2022, it certainly wasn’t his fault. The Frenchman was the best player on the field, scoring all three of his country’s goals in their loss to Argentina. In 2024 he is expected to hit free agency and be one of the most sought-after players ever. Before his career is over, he will rise higher in our list of the best soccer players of all time and likely shatter previous records for player contracts.
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3. Diego Maradona – FIFA goal of the century
Although he may not have a trophy case full of Ballon d’Or or FIFA Player of the Year trophies, Diego Maradona has one honor no one else has: FIFA Goal of the Century. He is adored around the world for his uncanny skills and is the icon of all sports icons in Argentina, for willing them to a World Cup championship almost singlehandedly.
Plus, Maradona’s bad-boy side has always made him a bit of an old-school anti-hero superstar.
2. Pele – FIFA Player of the Century
Pele is one of the most famous soccer players ever. Not only does he have the most goals in the history of Brazilian soccer — an amazing feat all to itself — but he has recorded the most goals on planet Earth (1279). He also has logged the most assists in FIFA World Cup history and helped lead his country to four World Cup titles. He was voted the FIFA Player of the Century, but the award that may say the most about him is landing a spot on TIME’s 100 Most Important People of the Twentieth Century list.
With Pele’s passing after a battle with cancer at 82 in December, soccer fans are sure to be looking back on his distinguished career and his place among the greatest soccer players of all time. For many fans of the beautiful game, he will be seen as the best of them all because he was a one-of-a-kind sports star.
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1. Lionel Messi – 8 Ballon d’Ors, 2022 World Cup
It would seem impossible that any player from Argentina could break through to a level to stand side-by-side with someone like Maradona, but Lionel Messi has done exactly that during his illustrious career. He scored the most goals in history for legendary club Barcelona FC, earned a record eight Ballon d’Ors, and will go down as the greatest player of his generation.
Messi is a once-in-a-lifetime talent who has excelled in an era where athletes are groomed to peak performance and molded into physical freaks. The one goal that has eluded him is a World Cup title and in 2022 his grand chase ended when he helped Argentina win their third Cup title, as he starred in the biggest game of his life and scored two goals.
In 2023 he expanded on his legendary legacy by taking his talents to America and the MLS as a member of Inter Miami CF. Helping take the US league to new heights.
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Who is the richest soccer player?
For quite a while, Messi was the wealthiest player in all of soccer. However, after the oil-rich Saudi Arabia started a soccer league and started throwing around massive sums of money to big-name players willing to play in The Kingdom that has changed. Now, Cristiano Ronaldo is the richest player in the sport after inking a deal with the Saudi Pro League in 2023 that will reportedly pay him $200 million per season.
Who is better Ronaldo or Messi?
The debate over who is better, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, has raged on for the last decade. And the final choice is quite subjective. However, the Ballon d’Or is one of the most prestigious awards in all of soccer, and the new Inter Miami star has won a record seven. Two more than the Portuguese legend, and that may be a great way to decide who is better between the two.