The Best Footballers of All Time

So who are the best footballers of all time? It’s a debate that has been raging for years, decades even. Piers Morgan and David Beckham have both claimed they are the best football players of all time, while other such controversial figures have made claims about their abilities. So who are the greatest Footballers of All Time? Well there are many different answers to this question.

Some might point to Pele as the greatest Footballer of all time. Others may choose Ronaldo, or Beckham, or even Diego Maradona. But in my opinion the top four Footballers of All Time are Pele, Ronaldo, David Beckham and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. I don’t necessarily rank them in order of their popularity, for there are many who would rank them very differently, and of course these are all Footballers!

When you are judging the best footballers of all time, you have to take into consideration the major achievements they have individually achieved, and also the major achievements they have achieved together with their team mates. For instance, Pele, was arguably the best ever soccer player in the world, a competitor at the Olympic Games and an individual sporting star. He is the first person to win the World Cup three times, and he did it by beating a host nation. Then he went on to join United, which means he has huge international experience, which was important when trying to win the trophy at the Olympic Games. David Beckham was a great football player, but didn’t really perform at a high level internationally, and didn’t really manage to win the major achievements he claimed, like with Pele.

The great thing about these players is that they managed to combine their individual talents with a team mentality, which is rare in many other cases. Diego Maradona was a footballing genius, who changed the game forever, leading Argentina to the world cup final, scoring the winning goal. He did this with his creativity, hitting the target like a ton of bricks, and also creating some fantastic scores. He is still rated as the best ever, although he did retire in 1999. Zidane is another footballing genius, who is rated second only to Pele, and is now a top manager in France. The pair formed Benzema alongside David Beckham and have created one of the greatest partnership’s in the game.

Then you have to look at what Pele achieved, after retiring. He became the greatest ever football player in the world, winning the greatest and most competitive tournament in history, the World Cup. He was a goalscorer for the Republic of Ireland, as well as the hosts Brazil, and also the Netherlands. It was this double act of being a goalscorer for the Republic of Ireland and a goalscorer for Brazil that defined him as the best ever, and made him the major achievements of all time.

Then you have to look at what David Beckham has achieved, since moving from playing for Manchester United to a top scorer for Chelsea. He is currently top scorer in the English league, and is on his way to becoming the most influential and respected player in the game. However, it was not just the Premier League that he redefined when he moved to Chelsea from United. He became the first player in the entire competition to score three goals in a single match and is now regarded as the peak of English footballing history.

And finally, there is to be given to the man himself. Pele, Diego Maradona, David Beckham, and Messi are all great players, but when compared side by side they are actually no comparison. In terms of trophies won, they are all equal to one another, and David Beckham is the World Cup’s greatest goalscorer, while Pele is second. Furthermore, there is no doubt that David Beckham represents the very essence of a football player, having a winning mentality, incredible physique and an all round talent that cannot be matched. However, nobody can match up to a player like Hugo Sanchez who broke records, a player who is a goalscorer for club and country, a player who established a philosophy of never giving up, and a player who inspired a generation, and is still leading the game today.

So who has truly earned the right to be placed at the top of the list? Well, based on the criteria we have mentioned above, the consensus is clear. David Beckham, Pele and Hugo Sanchez deserve to be included in the list of the World’s Greatest Footballers of All Time. And the sad thing is that they probably will never be in the same team as the legends. So, as they say, they are the ones that will show you what they are made of! So when next you hear somebody refer to these players as the “Pole of Glove” or the “Master of clutch”, you know you are referring to some of the best that the game has ever seen.

So, in my honest opinion, the best so far are: Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Beckham and Pele.