Who is the best footballer of all time?

Question

In your opinion
I'd say Pele
The best of recent times is Zinedine Zidane in my mind

Answer 1

The problem with this discussion is that most of the time, the footballers a certain user votes for is a footballers that the user knows by name only. At the most, they have seen one or two clips about that footballer on YouTube.

Saying that Pele has skill or speed to justify your point is pointless; was there ever a great player without skill or a truly great forward without pace?

Eitherway, I can't comment on all time, neither can most people here.

Of the players I have seen, I would pick either Zidane or Ronaldo (striker, not the winger).

I think Zidane at Juventus was a different class then Zidane at Madrid, but Zidane at Madrid was the best central midfielder of his time.

Ronaldo; simply pure class. The one game I well always remember is when he walked into Old Trafford and scored a hat trick to knock United of the CL on agg. The first goal was so-so, but the other two were pure class.

To bad the end of both careers have been rocky, and he hasn't gone out like a player like Scholes well.

Answer 2

Lets compare the two most popular choices (and least incorrect) : pele and maradona


When pele was 17 he was world champion
when maradona was 17 he was substituted in the national team to play in the juvenile world cup

when pele was 21 he had scored his 500th goal and was two time world champion
when maradona was 21 he played in the spanish world cup with little success, also got a red card there

pele and maradona, when 26 were the best of their time
pele was considered the king of the sport
maradona was world champion
and got famous for his "hand of god" goal (against england) and even more famous for his second goal in that game (he dribbled half the team and the goalie). The english coach said "the first one didnt count, but the second counted for both"

pele when 30: champion of the world for third time, scored his 1000th goal
maradona when 30: second place in the world cup, gets banned from italian football for drug use

pele when 34: hired to help build the NASL (north american soccer league)
maradona: kicked out of the world cup for drug use

pele: 3 world cups, 2 intercontinentals, 2 libertadores, 10 brazilian leagues, 1 NASL championship.......
1281 goals in 1363 games
maradona: 1wc, 1 uefa cup, 1 argentina league, 2 "scudetto"...
352 goals in 692 games

both played 21 years

conclusion: comparing maradona with pele is only a thing of argentinians

PD: the best players I HAVE SEEN in my 22 years would be ronaldinho and kaka, no matter how much it hurts me (venezuelan and italian) to defend brazilians (italy lost two world cup finals to brazil, venezuela gets crushed every time we play brazil)
i wont say zidane because of his dark history (many red cards, 3 headbutts, in his last years with madrid he was clumsy and extremely faulty) but yes he is among the best

Answer 3

Franz Beckenbauer,
Diego Maradona,
Zinedin Zidane.

I cant really chose!

Answer 4

Pele.

Answer 5

Hands down Maradona, amazing speed and skill that I don't think anyone will ever be able to surpass. I've seen videos of him receiving the ball at the half line and simply running the ball past 6 players (no skills needed, he's simply that fast) and then just finish the ball into the top player with a sense that he's not even fully trying. Absolutely amazing.

Answer 6

Pele. He stood out, was creative, and was his own man. Everyone else is just following in his footsteps.

Answer 7

look pele's time was easy as hell sucky defenders marradona is top two but u guys forgot cruyf the guy could play anything and play it dam good so first is marradon/cruyf then zizou look at zidane slow but awesome but what would marradona be w/o his speed?????????????????????????????????

Answer 8

Maradona

Answer 9

I agree, maradona takes the goal

Answer 10

ronaldo
van basten
zidane!