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DIEGO Maradona and Lionel Messi occupy pole positions in the si.com World’s Top All-Time list soccer players.
Both had glittering careers for club and country.
Here is the final list of stars as selected by si.com.
Lionel Messi
Messi won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina/Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images
Peak: 2009-12
Major achievements: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023 Ballon d’Or, 2009 Fifa World Player of the Year, Barcelona all-time top goalscorer, La Liga all-time top goalscorer, six-time Pichichi winner, Argentina’s all-time top goalscorer, most goals scored in a calendar year, 2011 and 2015 Uefa Men’s Player of the Year, seven-time La Liga Player of the Year, 2014 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 2005 Young European Footballer of the Year, five-time European Golden Shoe winner, four Champions Leagues, 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey, two Ligue 1 titles, two Copa América titles, 2022 Fifa World Cup,
Leagues Cup 2023 title
He’s extraordinary. Truly extraordinary.
Certain generations identify with certain groups of players and superstars. This generation, for better or for worse, will forever be defined by Messi vs Ronaldo. The 2022 World Cup might’ve ended the debate forever.
At his peak he scored 91 goals in a calendar year, won five Ballon d’Ors and a boatload of club honours; in his relative decline, he’s still the best player in the world. His 2022 Fifa World Cup triumph with Argentina cemented his place at the top of the list of the greatest-ever soccer players. — si.com
Alfredo di Stefano
Peak: 1956-62
Major achievements: 1957 and 1959 Ballon d’Or, five European Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, eight La Liga titles, five-time Pichichi winner, World Team of the 20th Century, one Copa del Rey.
“People argue between Pele or Maradona. Di Stéfano is the best, much more complete.” (Pele)
“Di Stéfano was one of the greatest footballers ever. He had such great balance.” (Alex Ferguson)
“The most complete footballer in the history of the game.” (Eusebio)
“He was simply the most intelligent football player I ever saw. If I had one player to choose, out of all of them, to save my life, he’d be the one.” (Bobby Charlton)
After reading the aforementioned praise of Alfredo di Stefano, is there anything else to add?
Roberto Baggio
Peak: 1990-94
Major achievements: 1993 Ballon d’Or, 1993 Fifa World Player of the Year, Italy’s Player of the Century, 1994 Fifa World Cup Silver Ball, 1994 Fifa World Cup runner-up, two Scudetti, one Uefa Cup, one Coppa Italia.
Spoke of almost exclusively using biblical allusions, Roberto Baggio was a glimpse of God.
A player divinely inspired to conjure the impossible on a pitch and change Italian fans’ perception of the beautiful game forever.
Michel Platini
Peak: 1982-85
Major achievements: 1983, 1984, 1985 Ballon d’Or, French Player of the Century, two-time French Player of the Year, three-time Capocannoniere, 1984 Uefa European Championship Player of the Tournament, 1984 Uefa European Championship, one European Cup, two Scudetti, one Ligue 1 title, one Coppa Italia, one Intercontinental Cup.
Remember when it was said earlier that Bobby Charlton was like Frank Lampard, only 100x better? Well, Platini was like Frank Lampard, only 200x better.
Michel Platini is undoubtedly the greatest goalscoring midfielder of all time.
In three consecutive seasons in his prime, Platini won the Golden Boot award in a league, which boasted the best defenders of all time; scratch that, the best players of all time.
Platini was similarly potent for France, guiding the nation to their first ever major football success by scoring nine goals in five games at the 1984 Uefa European Championships.
Ronaldo
Peak: 1995-98
Major achievements: 1997 and 2002 Ballon d’Or, 1996, 1997 and 2002 Fifa World Player of the Year, 1998 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 2002 Fifa World Cup Golden Shoe, 1996/97 European Golden Shoe, 1994 and 2002 Fifa World Cup, 1997 and 1999 Copa America, two-time Pichichi winner, 1998 Serie A Footballer of the Year, two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, one KNVB Cup, one Uefa Cup, one Intercontinental Cup.
Are Ronaldo’s knee injuries the only things that stopped the Brazilian from being the number one, undisputed, greatest footballer of all time? Quite possibly.
Pre-knee injury, R9 was well on his way to becoming the best to ever lace up a pair of boots.
In short, he was the perfect forward.
The perfect exemplification of R9’s mastery is his goal against Compostela. Sir Bobby Robson’s reaction says it all.
Zinedine Zidane
Peak: 1997-2002
Major achievements: 1998 Ballon d’Or, 1998, 2000 and 2003 Fifa World Player of the Year, 2002 Uefa Club Footballer of the Year, 2000/01 Serie A Footballer of the Year, Uefa Champions League Best Player of the Past 20 Years, L’Equipe Best French Player of All Time, 2006 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, only player to be named Player of the Year in three of the top five leagues, most goals in Fifa World Cup finals, 1998 Fifa World Cup, 2000 Uefa European Championships, one Champions League, two Scudetti, one La Liga title, one Intercontinental Cup.
Zinedine Zidane was one beautiful wizard with a ball at his feet.
Headbutts aside, Zizou was the most elegant football of all time, pirouetting his way around Europe; usually winning while doing so.
When he won, it was usually after he’d scored one of the most memorable goals of all time.
Three World Cup final goals and the best goal in Uefa Champions League history in the 2002 final, it’s fair to say that Zidane wasn’t just one of the most entertaining players of all time, but also one of the most “clutch”.
Johan Cruyff
Peak: 1971-75
Major achievements: 1971, 1973 and 1975 Ballon d’Or, 1974 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, Fifa World Cup All-Time Team, three-time Dutch Footballer of the Year, two-time Dutch Sportsman of the Year, three European Cups, one La Liga title, nine Eredivisie titles, one Copa del Rey, six KNVB Cup, one Intercontinental Cup.
It takes a special type of soccer to invent his own skill move, Aiden McGeady aside, obviously.
It takes an even more special type of player to basically invent modern soccer.
Johan Cruyff did both.
A now mythical figure, Cruyff is arguably the most influential player of all time; and one of the most talented too.
The centrepiece of the “Total Football” era (shoutout to Parquet Courts), Cruyff made beautiful teams successful; a feat so incredible that we still see its effects to this day.
Franz Beckenbauer
Peak: 1966-76
Major achievements: 1972 and 1976 Ballon d’Or, Fifa World Cup All-Time Team, 1966 Fifa World Cup Best Young Player Award, four-time German Footballer of the Year, 1974 Fifa World Cup, 1972 Uefa European Championships, three European Cups, five Bundesliga titles, four DFB-Pokals, one Intercontinental Cup.
While Paolo Maldini was the most complete player of the past 30 years, Franz Beckenbauer was the most complete player ever.
Put simply, anything you could possibly want a player to be able to do, Beckenbauer could and did, do it.
A goalscorer: yes.
An incredible defender: yes.
A great athlete: yes.
A consummate professional: yes.
A leader: yes. In a big, big, way.
A winner: yes.
Known as Der Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer was the man behind the majority of Germany’s soccer triumphs over the years.
Oh, he’s also one of two defenders to ever win the Ballon d’Or. Oh and yes, of course he won it twice.
Pele
Peak: 1958-64
Major achievements: Most career goals (of any footballer ever, like ever), Fifa Player of the Century, France Football’s greatest Fifa World Cup player, Time 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century list, Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer, Santos’ all-time leading goalscorer, youngest Fifa World Cup winner, most assists in Fifa World Cup history, 1958, 1962 and 1970 Fifa World Cup, top goalscorer in Fifa World Cup finals, two Copa Libertadores titles, six Campeonato Brasilerio Serie A titles, two Intercontinental Cups, 1970 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 1958 Fifa World Cup Best Young Player, 1970 Bola de Prata.
Important.
It’s the one word that encapsulates Pele.
Pele is important.
One of the 100 most important people of the 20th century according to Time.
The most important player of all time.
Bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old looking to avenge the tears of his father when Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final, Pele would go on to win the World Cup on three separate occasions.
The Brazilian’s peak is fable at this point, possibly because the world didn’t really get to see it due to his injury at the 1962 World Cup, but more aptly because between 1958 and 1962, no one has ever scored more goals than him.
His great achievement was leading the most incredible team of all time to 1970 Fifa World Cup glory, but it’s his peak years of the early 1960s, which make Pele one of the very best.
Diego Maradona
Peak: 1985-90
Major achievements: 90min’s Greatest Footballer of All Time, Corriere dello Sport’s Best Athlete in History, 1986 Fifa World Cup, 1986 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 1985 Serie A Footballer of the Year, Fifa World Cup All-Time Team, Fifa Goal of the Century, Argentine Sports Writers’ Sportsman of the Century, two-time South American Footballer of the Year, four-time Argentine Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year, two Scudetti, one Coppa Italia, one Copa del Rey, one Uefa Cup.
So what makes Diego Armando Maradona one of SI Soccer’s greatest players of all time?
Is it the fact that he won the Fifa World Cup in a way that no one else has ever been capable of doing single handedly?
Is it the fact that he scored the two most significant goals in history?
Is it the fact that one of these goals was the greatest goal of all time? The impossible made possible by a true genius?
Is it the fact that he joined SSC Napoli — a downtrodden, unwanted, unfancied team — and made them the best team in the strongest league Europe has ever seen?
Is it the fact that in his native land he is considered to be a God? A working class hero that empowered a nation through his talent?
It’s all of the above.
Diego Maradona, at his very best, is the second-best footballer we have and will ever see. Effective and exceptional in equal measure.
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