Most Iconic Soccer (Football) Players of All Time

The Top Ten
1 Diego Armando Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (October 30, 1960 - November 25, 2020) was an Argentine professional footballer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award. Maradona was given the nickname "El Pibe de Oro" ("The Golden Boy"). He was known for the "Goal of the Century" and the "Hand of God" goal... read more

Yep, with probably the two most famous goals in the sport. A player who was on a league of his own in his time.

He is just #1 of all time

2 Pelé

Pele's skills is speechless

Pele the best in history.
LOL Messi better than Pele.
Stupids.

MOST COMPLETE PLAYER OF ALL TIMES.

He is the GOAT

3 Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona. He is also known as one of the greatest football players of all time. He was born in Rosario, Argentina on June 24th, 1987.

Wow. After years of television I have not found a single mistake in his plays. Anything he does is for a reason. His vision is what makes him superior to anyone else. And I am sure biome can be compared to his dribbling

Messi is the best soccer player in the world nobody could take the ball from him like wow I would want to be like him

Lionel Messi is the real great player of all time. Above Pele and Maradona.

He's best of all time in history of football asist dribling goals record vision for this game best best

4 Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Juventus and captains the Portugal national team.

Absolutely the best! Hip Hip Hooray for Ronaldo!

I love this guy more than football itself!

Best of all time...

5 Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and coach. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974. Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels, and is ...read more.
6 Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (born 11 September 1945, died 7 January 2024) was a German professional footballer and manager. Early in his playing career, he was nicknamed "Der Kaiser" because of his elegant style, dominance, and leadership on the field. His first name "Franz" is reminiscent of the Austrian emperors... read more
7 Zinédine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane, nicknamed "Zizou", (born 23 June 1972) is a is a French former professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or. He is the current manager of Real Madrid.

-The best European player of the past 50 year award was given to him in 2004. Meaning no one who played in Europe was as good as him from 1954-2004 (this includes the argentine diego maradona who played for roma and Barcelona).
-Many agree he is the greatest French player of all time!
- he has won 4 awards equivelant to todays b'allon dor {3 FIFA player of the year award + 1 European player of the year(this was changed to ballon dor)}
-He has won every trophy you can win in soccer except confederation cup. But no one has as much variety of trophies as he does.

8 Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional footballer and current ambassador for Barcelona. He played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Often considered one of the best players of his generation and regarded by many as one of the greatest of all time, Ronaldinho won two FIFA World Player of the Year awards and a Ballon d'Or. A global icon of the sport, he was renowned for his technical skills, creativity and dribbling ability, as well as his use of tricks, feints, overhead kicks, no-look passes and accuracy from free-kicks.

This tricks are inspirational and mesmerising

9 Ronaldo Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, commonly known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian business owner, president of La Liga club Real Valladolid, and a retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Popularly dubbed in Portuguese O Fenômeno ("The Phenomenon"), he is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time. As a multi-functional striker who brought a new dimension to the position, Ronaldo has been the influence for a generation of strikers that have followed. His individual accolades include being named FIFA World Player of the Year three times, and winning two Ballon d'Or awards.
10 Alfredo Di Stefano

One of the most legendary football players, best player till Pele appeared.

The Contenders
11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic Zlatan Ibrahimović (3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for an Italian club AC Milan and the Sweden national team for which he is captain.
12 Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played for Ajax and Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, in the 1980s and early '90s as a forward.
13 Férenc Puskás

A legendary left-p footed player who scored 514 career goals.

14 Lothar Matthäus
15 Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos, known by the nickname Garrincha, was a Brazilian footballer who played right winger and forward.

An absolute god his dribbling could beat anyone and his crosses were pure class.

Garrincha sucks

16 Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional football coach and former player. He is the second assistant coach of the Belgium national team.

Most iconic to arsenal

17 Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former Liverpool player who currently manages Scottish Premiership club Rangers.
18 Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from involvement in football under FIFA's organisation, over ethics violations. The ban will last until 2023. Regarded as one of the greatest ...read more.
19 Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. Eusébio is considered by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time. During his professional career, he scored 733 goals in 745 matches.
20 Stanley Matthews

Greatest British player ever. The first winner of Ballon d'Or (1956).
His professional career lasted 33 years (! ).

21 Giuseppe Meazza

Greatest Italian player ever.

22 Raymond Kopa

Raymond Kopa was a French footballer, integral to the French national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three European Cups.Often considered one of the leading players of his generation, Kopa was a free-role advanced playmaker.
In 1958 Kopa was awarded the Ballon d'Or.

23 Héctor Scarone

A legend of the first half of 20th century.

24 Juan Alberto Schiaffino
25 Gianni Rivera

One of the best players of the 60s.
P.S.The proposed players are more for :historicsl' reasons as in the big list with 142,000 votes a lot of great players are lost due to the lack of knowledge.

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