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World’s top 50 soccer players continued
ACTIVE football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, is not in the si.com World’s Top 10 Players as he is featured on 15th position of greats as the countdown continues.
Today, Chronicle features players ranked 11-20 and in there are legends like the great Portuguese star, Esuebio and Dutch star, Marco van Basten.
- Eusebio
Peak: 1962-68
Major achievements: 1965 Ballon d’Or, 1966 European Golden Boot, 1968 and 1973 European Golden Boot, 1962 European Cup, 11 Primeira Liga titles, five Taca de Portugal titles.
Like Romario, Eusebio was a supreme goalscorer. Unlike Romario, Eusebio didn’t exclaim that he scored over 1 000 career goals; but he came pretty close to doing so. - Marco van Basten
Peak: 1988-92
Major achievements: 1988, 1989 and 1992 Ballon d’Or, 1992 Fifa World Player of the Year, 1989, 1990 & 1992 Uefa Best Player of the Year, 1984/85 Dutch Footballer of the Year, two Capocannoniere, 1988 Uefa European Championship, two European Cups, three Scudetti, three Eredivisie, three KNVB Cups.
It’s a testament to Marco van Basten that he won three Ballon d’Ors and is (due to injuries) still considered to be a “what could’ve been” story. That’s how good Marco van Basten was.
Both technically sublime and extremely powerful in equal measure, Van Basten was the perfect number nine.
He could and did, score every sort of goal you can imagine. - George Best
Peak: 1966-71
Major achievements: 1968 Ballon d’Or, 1967/68 FWA Footballer of the Year, 1967/68 Football League First Division top scorer, 1968 European Cup, two Football League First Division titles.
Affectionately known as the “fifth Beatle”, George Best is perhaps remembered more for his off-the-field antics as opposed to his on-the-pitch achievements. However, that’s not to say he wasn’t an extraordinary talent.
Because he was 100 percent was. In fact, he’s the most naturally gifted player the British and Irish Isles have ever produced.
A Ballon d’Or and European Cup winner, Best peaked early in his career, but what a peak it was. - Zico
Peak: 1979-82
Major achievements: Five-time Bola de Prata winner, three-time South American Footballer of the Year, top scorer in Flamengo’s history, 1981 Copa Libertadores Best Player, 1981 Copa Libertadores, 1981 Intercontinental Cup, three Campeonato Brasilerio Serie A titles.
Zico latches on the ball near the halfway line and loops a seemingly aimless pass into the left hand side of the penalty area. To normal humans, such a pass looked aimless, but Zico saw an opportunity. Moments later, Flamengo were 1-0 up against the greatest Liverpool team of all time.
30 minutes later, Flamengo were three goals to the good courtesy of another two Zico assists.
An hour later, they were world champions.
That’s who Zico was. A genius who saw the game in a different way. A genius who could conjure something from absolutely nothing. A genius that made everyone around him better.
Flamengo’s greatest ever goalscorer.
Flamengo’s greatest ever playmaker.
Flamengo’s greatest ever player. - Franco Baresi
Major achievements: AC Milan Player of the Century, Serie A Player of the Century, 1982 Fifa World Cup, six Scudetti, three European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, 1989 Ballon d’Or runner-up.
Unlike a lot of the players on this list, the “peak” criteria means that we’ve had to drop Baresi down a few places. After all, what stands out about the Italian is his incredible consistency throughout his 20 year career.
Nevertheless, Baresi still makes it into the top 20 players of all time, because if you look at the years in which the defender was at the “peak” of his powers, he was impossible to get past. - Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo is one of the greatest goal scorers of all time.
Peak: 2012-16
Major achievements: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 & 2017 Ballon d’Or, 2008, 2016 and 2017 Fifa World Player of the Year, 2014, 2016 and 2017 Uefa Best Player in Europe Award, four-time European Golden Shoe winner, two-time PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Uefa Champions League all time top goalscorer, Real Madrid’s all time top goalscorer, five Uefa Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles, three Premier League titles, one Scudetto, two Copa del Rey, one FA Cup, one Uefa European Championship.
Ronaldo is simply another player who, like Franco Baresi, is hurt by the criteria of this list. That by no means means we don’t think he is a fantastic footballer. He is. The stats prove it. The goals prove it. The five Ballons d’Or prove it. CR7 is one of the best players of his generation. A player who has found the net with such consistency that a 40 goal season is actually somewhat disappointing. - Ferenc Puskas
Peak: 1950-54
Major achievements: European Player of the 20th Century, Olympic gold medal, 1954 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 1960 Ballon d’Or runner-up, 1954 Fifa World Cup runner-up, four-time Pichichi winner, four-time Hungarian league top scorer, two-time European Cup top scorer, three European Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, five La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, five Hungarian League titles.
In the early 1950s, he was at the peak of his physical powers and leading the one of the most exceptional teams of all time.
The star man was, in many ways, the perfect footballer. Strong, skillful, a goalscorer and, maybe most importantly a leader.
Check out his goal against England in the “Match of the Century”. After latching onto the ball on the edge of the six-yard box, the forward dragged the ball back, leaving Billy Wright for dead, before firing into the roof of the net. That goal is how good Puskas was: absolutely exceptional. - Paolo Maldini
Peak: 1994-2003
Major achievements: Most Serie A appearances of all time, most AC Milan appearances of all time, five European Cups, seven Scudetti, one Coppa Italia, two Intercontinental Cup, 1994 Fifa World Cup runner-up, 2000 Uefa European Football Championship runner-up.
If you were to make the perfect player in some sort of lab, you’d probably create Paolo Maldini.
Maldini is most complete footballer of the past 30 years. At the very least, a 9/10 in every single position he could be played in, and a 10/10 week in, week out as a defender.
When Nike ran the ad campaign:
“Italy’s Goalkeeper: Easiest Job in the World.”
They were right. Maldini made it the easiest job in the world. He made every single one of his teammates’ jobs the easiest in the world. - Gerd Muller
Peak: 1970-74
Major achievements: 1970 Ballon d’Or, 1974 Fifa World Cup, 1972 Uefa European Championship, 1970 Fifa World Cup Golden Boot, two-time German Footballer of the Year, two-time European Golden Shoe winner, seven-time Torjägerkanone, thee European Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, four Bundesliga titles, four DFB-Pokals.
The sky is blue. Grass is green. And Gerd Muller is one of the best goalscorers of all time.
68 goals in 62 international appearances for West Germany. The man once scored 67 goals in a single season, in just 49 appearances. He also scored a goal that won West Germany the 1974 Fifa World Cup. A goalscorer for the big moments, the small moments, and every moment in between. - Mane Garrincha
Peak: 1958-62
Major achievements: 1958 & 1962 Fifa World Cup, 1962 Fifa World Cup Golden Ball, 1962 Fifa World Cup Golden Boot, three State Championships.
Garrincha is the original Samba soccer star; someone who brought the game played in the streets of Brasilia, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo to the international stage and utilised it to win two Fifa World Cups.
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