Ranked: the 150 best footballers of all time

Goalkeepers in red.

1 Lionel Messi

2 Pelé 

3 Diego Maradona 

4 Cristiano Ronaldo 

5 Johan Cruyff 

6 Zinédine Zidane 

7 Ronaldo 

8 Franz Beckenbauer

9 Alfredo Di Stéfano 

10 Ferenc Puskás 

11 Garrincha 

12 Paolo Maldini 

13 Michel Platini 

14 Gerd Müller 

15 George Best

16 Marco van Basten 

17 Bobby Charlton

18 Zico 

19 Ronaldinho 

20 Franco Baresi

21 Xavi

22 Eusébio 

23 Andrés Iniesta 

24 Romário 

25 Lothar Matthäus 

26 Giuseppe Meazza

27 Gianluigi Buffon 

28 Lev Yashin 

29 Ruud Gullit 

30 Luis Suárez (Spain) 

31 Raymond Kopa 

32 Roberto Baggio 

33 Manuel Neuer 

34 Rivelino 

35 Juan Alberto Schiaffino 

36 Jairzinho 

37 Gento 

38 Charro Moreno 

39 Rivaldo

40 Johan Neeskens 

41 Stanley Matthews 

42 Sócrates 

43 Didi

44 Thierry Henry 

45 Luka Modrić

46 Mattias Sindelar 

47 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 

48 Bobby Moore 

49 Paolo Rossi 

50 Neymar 

51 Dino Zoff 

52 Arjen Robben 

53 Günter Netzer 

54 Kevin Keegan 

55 Carlos Alberto Torres

56 Roberto Carlos 

57 Kaká 

58 Gianni Rivera 

59 Thomas Müller 

60 Iker Casillas 

61 Sándor Kocsis 

62 Kylian Mbappé 

63 Fritz Walter

64 Luis Suárez (Uruguay) 

65 Sandro Mazzola

66 Robert Lewandowski 

67 Giacinto Facchetti

68 Ronald Koeman 

69 Cafú 

70 Andrea Pirlo

71 Kenny Dalglish 

72 Valentino Mazzola 

73 Nándor Hidegkuti 

74 Michael Laudrup 

75 Sergio Ramos

76 Kevin De Bruyne

77 Ángel Di María 

78 Daniel Passarella 

79 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

80 José Nasazzi

81 Paulo Roberto Falcão

82 Dani Alves

83 John Charles 

84 Gordon Banks 

85 Gunnar Nordahl 

86 Dennis Bergkamp

87 José Leandro Andrade 

88 Toni Kroos 

89 Gaetano Scirea 

90 Sepp Maier 

91 Frank Rijkaard 

92 Omar Sivori 

93 Diego Forlán 

94 Nílton Santos 

95 Antoine Griezmann 

96 Oleg Blokhin

97 Francesco Totti 

98 Raúl 

99 Mario Kempes 

100 David Villa 

101 George Weah 

103 Gareth Bale 

104 Ruud Krol 

105 William "Dixie" Dean 

106 Teófilo Cubillas

107 Alessandro Del Piero

108 Patrick Vieira 

109 Philipp Lahm,

110 Dennis Law

111 Fabio Cannavaro 

111 Ryan Giggs 

112 Obdulio Varela

113 Virgil van Dijk 

114 Jimmy Johnstone 

115 Hugo Sánchez 

116 Paul Scholes 

117 Eden Hazard 

118 Hristo Stoichkov 

119 Gabriel Batistuta 

120 Jimmy Greaves

121 Éric Cantona 

122 Rob Rensenbrink 

123 Radamel Falcao 

124 Flórián Albert

125 Just Fontaine

126 Zizinho 

127 Bernd Schuster 

128 Nils Liedholm 

129 Josef Masopust

130 David Beckham 

130 Dejan Savićević

131 József Bozsik 

132 Arturo Vidal 

133 Wayne Rooney

134 José Altafini ("Mazzola") 

135 Steven Gerrard

136 Alan Shearer 

137 Frank Lampard 

138 Allan Simonsen 

139 Sergio Busquets

140 Karim Benzema 

141 Carles Puyol 

142 Ruud van Nistelrooy

143 Elías Figueroa 

144 Mesut Özil

145 Andriy Shevchenko 

146 Peter Schmeichel

147 Juan Román Riquelme

148 Uwe Seeler 

149 Sergio "Kun" Agüero 

150 Enzo Francescoli

Today 11 years ago: Bayern Munich 2-3 Man City

 

1-0 5' Thomas Müller l (Dante), 2-0 12' Mario Götze r, 2-1 28' David Silva l (James Milner), 2-2 59' Aleksandar Kolarov penalty (James Milner), 2-3 62' James Milner r (Jesús Navas). Att: 68.000.

Bayern : Manuel Neuer 6,40 - Dante 5,60, Jérôme Boateng 5,10, Philipp Lahm 5,60, David Alaba 5,80, Thiago 6,10, Franck Ribéry 6,40, Mario Götze 6,10 (55' Javi Martínez 5,80), Toni Kroos 5,60, Mario Mandžukić 5,60 (68' Xherdan Shaqiri 5,60), Thomas Müller 6,10. - coach: Pep Guardiola. = average: 5,83 [mediocre]

Man City: Joe Hart 6,20 - Micah Richards 5,60 (16' Pablo Zabaleta 6,30), Joleon Lescott 5,30, Aleksandar Kolarov 6,10, Martín Demichelis 5,80, James Milner 7,40, Javi García 5,90, Jesús Navas 6,60, David Silva 6,90 (73' Álvaro Negredo), Fernandinho 6,10, Edin Džeko 5,60 (88' Jack Rodwell). - coach: Manuel Pellegrini. = average: 6,15 [solid]

National teams' World Cup scores with key players

                                  w d l goals points avg score

Brazil with Pelé                 12 1 1 37-14 89,3%  2,64-1,00
Brazil with Garrincha            10 1 1 30-12 87,5%  2,50-1,00
West Germany with F. Beckenbauer 15 1 2 45-19 86,1%  2,37-1,00
France with Kylian Mbappé        11 2 1 30-14 85,7%  2,09-0,98
West Germany with Gerd Müller    11 0 2 31-14 84,6%  2,27-1,02
Brazil with Didi                 11 3 1 38-14 83,3%  2,48-0,91
Brazil with Ronaldo              15 1 3 42-16 81,6%  2,17-0,83
Germany with Philipp Lahm        15 2 3 45-13 80,0%  2,11-0,61
Brazil with Sócrates              7 2 1 25-7  80,0%  2,42-0,68
Holland with Arjen Robben        11 2 2 27-12 80,0%  1,69-0,75
Italy with Franco Baresi          7 2 1 11-3  80,0%  1,03-0,28
Brazil with Roberto Carlos       13 1 3 33-13 79,4%  1,90-0,75
Brazil with Zico                  9 4 1 31-9  78,6%  2,16-0,63
Holland with Johan Cruyff         5 1 1 15-3  78,6%  2,14-0,43
Italy with Roberto Baggio        10 5 1 23-10 78,1%  1,33-0,58
Germany with Miroslav Klose      17 3 4 52-15 77,1%  2,08-0,60
Brazil with Neymar                8 4 1 25-9  76,9%  1,83-0,66     
Spain with Xavi                  11 1 3 24-14 76,7%  1,53-0,89
Colombia with James Rodríguez     6 0 2 17-6  75,0%  2,12-0,75
Italy with Paolo Rossi            9 3 2 21-12 75,0%  1,50-0,86
France with Zinédine Zidane       7 4 1 19-6  75,0%  1,50-0,47
Italy with Alessandro Del Piero   7 4 1 17-6  75,0%  1,28-0,45
Italy with Paolo Maldini         14 6 3 31-15 73,9%  1,26-0,61
West Germany with Berti Vogts    12 4 3 40-19 73,7%  2,03-0,97
Belgium with Kevin De Bruyne      9 1 3 21-11 73,1%  1,58-0,82
Poland with Kazimierz Deyna       9 1 3 22-11 73,1%  1,69-0,85
Spain with Raúl                   7 2 2 27-13 72,7%  2,38-1,15
USSR with Albert Shesternev       6 1 2 15-6  72,2%  1,61-0,64
Germany with Lothar Matthäus     15 6 4 43-26 72,0%  1,68-1,01 
Uruguay with Luis Suárez         10 3 3 21-11 71,9%  1,29-0,67
West Germany with Uwe Seeler     13 4 4 45-26 71,4%  2,05-1,18
West Germany with Paul Breitner   9 2 3 25-14 71,4%  1,74-0,98
Argentina with Leo Messi         16 5 5 47-28 71,2%  1,68-1,00
France with Thierry Henry         9 6 2 22-8  70,6%  1,22-0,44
Poland with Grzegorz Lato        12 4 4 33-16 70,0%  1,65-0,80
Brazil with Jairzinho            10 2 4 29-17 68,8%  1,81-1,06
Italy with Francesco Totti        6 3 2 17-7  68,2%  1,42-0,58
Spain with Andrés Iniesta         8 3 3 18-15 67,9%  1,23-1,02
Holland with Ruud Krol            8 3 3 30-13 67,9%  2,09-0,91
Argentina with Diego Maradona    12 4 5 33-17 66,7%  1,52-0,78
Spain with Emilio Butragueño      5 2 2 17-8  66,7%  1,76-0,83
Sweden with "Nacka" Skoglund      5 2 2 18-18 66,7%  2,00-2,00
England with David Beckham        6 5 2 17-9  65,4%  1,24-0,66
England with Bobby Charlton/Moore 8 2 4 20-13 64,3%  1,36-0,89
England with Terry Butcher        6 6 2 18-8  64,3%  1,20-0,53
England with Harry Kane           6 2 3 25-11 63,6%  2,14-0,94
Italy with Andrea Pirlo           6 2 3 16-8  63,6%  1,37-0,69
Argentina with Daniel Passarella  7 1 4 23-11 62,5%  1,86-0,89
France with Jean Tigana           6 3 3 23-16 62,5%  1,77-1,23
Denmark with Michael Laudrup      5 1 3 19-13 61,1%  2,11-1,44
Poland with Zbigniew Boniek       7 5 4 18-16 59,4%  1,12-1,00
Croatia with Luka Modrić          7 8 4 30-14 57,9%  1,45-1,16
Argentina with Gabriel Batistuta  6 2 4 20-12 58,3%  1,62-0,97
England with Gary Lineker         5 4 3 15-9  58,3%  1,15-0,69
Belgium with Eric Gerets          6 2 4 18-16 58,3%  1,35-1,20
France with Michel Platini        6 4 4 26-18 57,1%  1,77-1,23
Hungary with Flórián Albert       4 0 3 16-10 57,1%  2,29-1,43
Hungary with József Bozsik        4 1 3 30-15 56,2%  3,75-1,88
Scotland with Kenny Dalglish      3 3 2 14-13 56,2%  1,75-1,62
West Germany with K-H Rummenigge  7 7 5 30-22 55,3%  1,53-1,12
Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo   9 6 7 34-24 54,5%  1,52-1,07
Mexico with Cuauhtémoc Blanco     4 4 3 15-13 54,5%  1,36-1,18
Italy with Giacinto Facchetti     5 3 4 17-14 54,2%  1,38-1,14
Argentina with Mario Kempes       8 3 7 32-23 52,8%  1,75-1,25
Mexico with Rafa Márquez          8 4 7 21-20 52,6%  1,09-1,03
Holland with Ronald Koeman        3 3 3 11-10 50,0%  1,22-1,11
England with Wayne Rooney         3 5 3 10-11 50,0%  0,88-0,97
Portugal with Pepe                4 3 5 17-16 45,8%  1,42-1,33
Sweden with Tomas Brolin          3 3 4 18-14 45,0%  1,74-1,35
Cameroon with Roger Milla         3 3 4  9-19 45,0%  0,84-1,78
Peru with Teófilo Cubillas        4 3 6 18-27 42,3%  1,38-2,08
Ghana with Asamoah Gyan           3 3 5 11-15 40,9%  0,94-1,29
Sweden with Björn Nordqvist       3 2 5  9-10 40,0%  0,90-1,00
Sweden with Zlatan Ibrahimović    1 2 2  3-5  40,0%  0,60-1,00
Sweden with Ralf Edström          2 3 4  8-9  38,9%  0,89-1,00
Uruguay with Luis Cubilla         3 1 5  7-12 38,9%  0,75-1,29
Sweden with Bo Larsson            2 4 5  8-10 36,4%  0,73-0,91
Colombia with Carlos Valderrama   3 1 6  9-12 35,0%  0,84-1,12
Ivory Coast with Didier Drogba    2 1 5 10-12 31,2%  1,25-1,50
Chile with Elías Figueroa         0 3 6  6-15 16,7%  0,67-1,67

Leagues with the highest total attendance

14.661.755 Premier League 2023/24

12.207.009 MLS 2024

12.083.936 Bundesliga 2023/24

11.729.280 Serie A (Italy) 2023/24

11.024.398 La Liga 2023/24

 9.690.166 Série A (Brazil) 2024

 8.233.057 Ligue 1 2023/24

Top 25 female players in the world in 2024

According to The Guardian.

1. Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona)

2. Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona)

3. Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)

4. Khadija Shaw (Manchester City)

5. Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)

6. Lindsey Horan (Lyon)

7. Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride)

8. Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona)

9. Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars

10. Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave

11. Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal)

12. Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)

13. Patri Guijarro (Barcelona)

14. Tabitha Chawinga (Lyon)

15. Mayra Ramírez (Chelsea)

16. Lauren James (Chelsea)

17. Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG)

18. Keira Walsh (Barcelona)

19. Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current)

20. Lauren Hemp (Manchester City)

21. Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City)

22. Ewa Pajor (Barcelona)

23. Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)

24. Lucy Bronze (Chelsea)

25. Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid)

Top rated La Liga players 2024/25

6,95 Álex Baena (Villarreal)

6,85 Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

6,78 Ayoze Pérez (Villarreal)

6,73 Raphinha (Barcelona)

6,64 Thibaut Courtois, Vinícius (Real Madrid)

6,58 Oihan Sancet (Athletic), Casadó (Barcelona)

6,57 Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

6,51 Pedri, Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)

Top rated Premier League players 2024/25

6,93 Mo Salah (Liverpool)

6,81 Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

6,74 Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

6,67 João Pedro (Brighton)

6,62 Mads Hermansen (Leicester)

6,57 Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford), Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)

6,54 Luis Díaz (Liverpool)

6,50 Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth), Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)

6,48 Amad Diallo (Man United), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

6,46 Alex Iwobi (Fulham)

Today 11 years ago: Werder Bremen 0-7 Bayern Munich

 0-1 21' og Lukimya (Ribéry), 0-2 27' van Buyten h. (Kroos), 0-3 38' Ribéry r. (T. Müller), 0-4 60' Mandzukic r. (Ribéry), 0-5 68' T. Müller r. (Götze), 0-6 82' Ribéry r. (Alaba), 0-7 90' Götze r. (T. Müller). Att: 42.100.

Bremen: Wolf 6,10 - Fritz 4,10, Lukimya 4,10, Caldirola 4,70, Santiago García 4,40 - Gebre Selassie 4,70, Makiadi 4,30 (61' Bargfrede) - Hunt 5,50 (69' Öz. Yildirim) - Elia 5,10 - Di Santo 5,00 (61' Ekici) - Nils Petersen 4,60. - coach: Dutt. = average: 4,76 [outrageous]

Bayern: Neuer 6,70 - Rafinha 7,00, van Buyten 6,90, J. Boateng 6,90 (61' Dante 6,10), Alaba 7,50 - Thiago Alcântara 8,00 (76' C. Pizarro) - Kroos 7,20 (69' Kirchhoff) - T. Müller 7,50, Götze 7,50, Ribéry 8,50 - Mandzukic 7,50. - coach: Guardiola. = average: 7,28 [incommensurable]

Today 29 years ago: Roma 3-1 Brøndby

1-0 22' Totti, 2-0 72' Balbo, 2-1 84' Møller, 3-1 90' Carboni. Att: 46.376.

Roma: Cervone 6,25 — Annoni 6,25, Aldair 7,25, Lanna 6,75, Moriero 6,75 (91' Di Biagio), Cappioli 6,50, Thern 6,75, Statuto 6,50, Carboni 7,25 — Balbo 6,50, Totti 7,25. — coach: Mazzone 7,00. = average: 6,72 [very good]

Brøndby: Krogh 6,25 — Colding 5,75, Nielsen 5,50, Vilfort 5,25, Risager 5,50, Bjur 6,50, Jensen 5,75, Thøgersen 6,00, Daugaard 5,50 (79' Bagger) — Sand 5,75, Møller 5,50. — coach: Skovdahl 5,75. = average: 5,75 [mediocre]

Matches between 'big' nations, 1970-1979

Including friendlies as well as competitive matches. 

Average points
1. Brazil : 67,6%
2. West Germany : 66,1%
3. Holland : 55,9%
4. Argentina : 50,0%
5. Italy : 48,1%
6. Spain : 47,1%
7. France : 44,4%
8. England : 36,8%
9. Soviet Union : 27,8%

Scored goals per match
1. West Germany : 1,65
2. Holland : 1,53
3. Italy : 1,33
4. Brazil : 1,24
5. Argentina : 1,13
6. France : 1,06
7. Spain : 1,00
8. England : 0,89
9. Soviet Union : 0,44

Conceded goals per match
1. Brazil : 0,71
2. West Germany : 1,10
3. Spain : 1,12
4. Soviet Union : 1,17
5. Holland : 1,18
6. England : 1,26
7. France : 1,28
8. Argentina : 1,30
9. Italy : 1,41

Overall record
Brazil : 9 5 3 21-12
West Germany : 17 7 8 51-39
Holland : 7 5 5 26-20
Argentina : 7 9 7 26-30
Italy : 10 6 11 36-38
Spain : 5 6 6 17-19
France : 5 6 7 19-23
England : 4 6 9 17-24
Soviet Union : 3 4 11 8-21

Average points in the European Cup 1970-1979

Minimum 13 matches. 

77,0% Ajax (37 matches)
75,0% Hajduk Split (16)
73,6% Bayern Munich (36)
68,8% Dinamo Kiev (24)
68,3% Celtic (41)
67,6% Feyenoord (17)
65,4% Leeds United (13)
64,5% Borussia M'gladbach (31)
63,9% Crvena Zvezda (18)
62,5% Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid (24)
62,0% Saint-Etienne (25)
61,5% Derby County (13)
60,9% Juventus (23)
59,5% Club Brugge (21)
58,9% Real Madrid (28)
56,2% PSV Eindhoven (16)
55,6% CSKA Sofia, Malmö FF (18)
50,0% Újpesti Dósza (32), Benfica (30), Dynamo Dresden (20), Panathinaikos (15), FC Basel (14)
40,6% Austria Vienna (16)

Goals in the national team, 1940s, 50s and 60s

 

World Cup topscorers in bold text.

84 Puskás
77 Pelé
75 Kocsis
68 G. Müller
51 Tichy
49 B. Charlton
48 Lubanski
44 Greaves
43 G. Nordahl, Seeler
42 O. Madsen
41 Eusébio
39 Hidegkuti, Pol
38 Bobek
37 Galic
36 Bene
35 Riva, Jairzinho, Wilkes
33 F. Walter, Lenstra
32 Gren, Ademir, Tostão, Mitic
31 Albert
30 Zizinho, Fontaine, Finney, Lofthouse
29 Di Stéfano [Argentina/Colombia/Spain], Fatton, Enoksen, Deák
28 Veselinovic, E. Hof
27 Simonsson, Míguez, Sándor, Mermans, Cieslik
26 V. Ivanov 

Goals per appearance:
1,429 Fontaine -photo-
1,303 G. Nordahl
1,103 Kocsis
1,097 G. Müller
1,000 Zarra
0,960 Artime
0,944 Puskás
0,921 Wilkes
0,920 Mortensen
0,909 Lofthouse
0,848 Pol
0,840 O. Madsen
0,837 Pelé
0,833 Riva
0,821 Ademir
0,773 K. Aa. Hansen
0,772 Greaves
0,757 Veselinovic, E. Hof
0,750 Palotás
0,725 Galic
0,724 Sanfilippo
0,708 Tichy, Præst
0,707 Di Stéfano
0,702 Lenstra
0,692 Míguez
0,690 Ponedelnik
0,677 Zambata 
0,676 Hügi
0,641 Eusébio
0,640 Lubanski
0,611 Scherer
0,603 Bobek 
0,600 Cieslik
0,597 Seeler
0,593 Tostão
0,581 Hennum
0,566 Zizinho
0,565 Hidegkuti
0,564 Jair
0,561 Gren
0,548 Baltazar
0,547 Fatton
0,542 Mitic 
0,541 F. Walter
0,538 Abbadie
0,537 Enoksen
0,531 Hamrin
0,529 Simonsson, Hunt
0,525 Rahn
0,522 Liedholm
0,516 Ambrois
0,500 Sideris
0,490 Hurst
0,486 Piantoni
0,485 Milutinovic
0,482 Mermans
0,481 Julinho
0,478 Vincent
0,474 Bene, J. P. Hansen
0,469 Stojaspal
0,462 B. Charlton, Kotkov
0,459 Labruna
0,448 Machos
0,447 Coppens
0,440 Jarosik
0,438 L. Suárez
0,435 Tesourinha
0,433 V. Ivanov
0,432 Jairzinho
0,423 Mannion
0,422 O. Iversen
0,421 P. Vandenbergh
0,419 Corbatta
0,417 Anoul
0,400 Kopa, Moravčík
0,395 Finney, J. Charles
0,394 Haller
0,393 Rajkov
0,389 Cantwell
0,380 Asparukhov, Banishevski
0,377 Chislenko
0,372 Kindvall

Today two years ago: Japan 2-1 Spain

 0-1 11' Álvaro Morata h.  (Azpilicueta), 1-1 48' Ritsu Dōan, 2-1 53' Ao Tanaka (Kaoru Mitoma). Att: 44.851 (Khalifa International Stadium, Doha).

Japan: Shuichi Gonda 6,00 - Ko Itakura 5,90, Maya Yoshida 6,40, Shogo Taniguchi 6,10, Junya Ito 6,20, Yuto Nagatomo 5,40 (46' Kaoru Mitoma 7,10), Hidemasa Morita 6,30, Ao Tanaka 7,20 (87' Wataru Endo), Takefusa Kubo 5,10 (46' Ritsu Dōan 7,60), Daizen Maeda 5,60 (62' Takuma Asano 6,10), Daichi Kamada 6,10 (69' Takehiro Tomiyasu 6,00). - coach: Hajime Moriyasu 7,90. = average: 6,21 [solid]

Spain: Unai Simón 4,70 - Azpilicueta 6,40 (46' Dani Carvajal 5,30), Rodri 5,40, Pau Torres 5,60, Álex Baldé 4,90 (68' Jordi Alba 6,00), Busquets 5,50, Gavi 5,60 (68' Ansu Fati 5,70), Nico Williams 5,50 (57' Ferrán Torres 5,50), Pedri 5,50, Álvaro Morata 6,40 (57' Marco Asensio 5,60), Dani Olmo 5,40. - coach: Luis Enrique 4,80. 0 average: 5,56 [failing]

Argentina ratings ib the 1979 Under 21 World Cup

7,00 Juan Simón 

6,90 Diego Maradona

6,83 Hugo Alves

6,70 Ovaldo Escudero

6,33 Sergio García, Daniel Sperandío

6,25 Juan Barbas

6,10 Ramón Ángel Díaz

6,08 Rubén Rossi

6,00 Juan José Meza

5,67 Barrera