The Best North & South American Soccer Players

fireagle71

The Top Ten

1 Lionel Messi Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi 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.
2 Neymar Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, commonly known as Neymar or Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Brazil national team as a forward or winger, and is also the captain of the national team. ...read more.
3 Pele Pele Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as "Pelé", is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is one of the best players in football, hence why he's nicknamed the "king of football".

Widely considered the greatest soccer player of all time. - Metal_Treasure

Eh,he is at 10! lower than neymar? - zxm

HE'S THIRD.

4 Luis Suarez Luis Suarez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Barcelona and the Uruguay national team as a striker.
5 Sergio Agüero Sergio Agüero Sergio Leonel "Kun" Agüero is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for English club Manchester City and the Argentina national team. V 1 Comment
6 Gonzalo Higuain Gonzalo Higuain Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for Italian club Juventus.
7 Alexis Sanchez Alexis Sanchez Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez, known as Alexis Sánchez or simply Alexis, is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Manchester United and the Chilean national team.
8 Diego Maradona Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine professional footballer. He is known for "The Goal of the Century" and the "Hand of God" goal.

The dribbling master at #12? - zxm

9 Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, commonly known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Popularly dubbed O Fenômeno, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest football players of all time.
10 Alfredo di Stéfano Alfredo di Stéfano

One of the 'big 5' of football of the 20th century.

The Contenders

11 James Rodríguez James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio, known as James Rodríguez, is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Colombia national team as an attacking midfielder or winger.

He shouldn't be on #7 comparing all the legends here. - zxm

12 Arturo Vidal
13 Ronaldinho Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a retired Brazilian footballer.

HE WAS MESSI'S ICON

At 16,the player who created a lot of new tricks of football? and I heard he trained lionel messi.Just watch some of his skills on the youtube.I think he should be at number 1 - zxm

14 Zico Zico

Arthur Antunes Coimbra, is a Brazilian former footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder. Often called the "White Pelé", he was a creative playmaker, with excellent technical skills, great passer and finisher.
In 1999, Zico came 8th in the FIFA Player of the Century grand jury vote.
According to Pelé, "throughout the years, the one player that came closest to me was Zico".

15 Garrincha Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos, known by the nickname Garrincha, was a Brazilian footballer who played right winger and forward.
16 Juan Cuadrado
17 José Manuel Moreno

'El Charro' was the first Argentinian legend. He played in 5 differend countries winning 12 top league championships.
He was elected by IFFHS as the 5th South American football player of the 20th century (after Pele, Maradona, Di Stefano and Garrincha).

18 Juan Alberto Schiaffino

Greatest Uruguayan player ever.

19 Javier Hernandez Javier Hernandez Javier Hernández Balcázar is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a forward for German club Bayer Leverkusen and the Mexico national team. V 3 Comments
20 Héctor Scarone

Best player of the first great team in football history, the National team of Uruguay of the 20s.

21 Rivaldo
22 José Leandro Andrade

Great Uruguayan midfielder of the National team of his country that won all tophies including the first World Cup (1930).

23 Didi

Originally Waldyr Pereira.
One of the greatest Brazilian players, took part in three World Cups, won 2 of them and was Best player of the 1958 one.

24 Leonidas da Silva

One of the greatest players and scorers of the first half of 20th century.

25 Arsenio Erico

Greatest Paraguayan player ever, still top scorer of the Argentinian National league (7 decades).

26 Romario Romario Romário de Souza Faria, known simply as Romário, is a Brazilian politician, who previously achieved worldwide fame as a footballer.
27 Zizinho

One of the best Brazilian players.

28 Hugo Sanchez Hugo Sanchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez is a retired Mexican professional footballer and manager. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, Sánchez is widely regarded as Mexico's greatest-ever footballer, and one of the greatest players of his generation.

Mexico's greatest of all time!

29 Cafu

In the best team of all times as right wing defender.

30 Obdulio Varela Obdulio Varela
31 Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha, more commonly known simply as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian retired footballer.
32 Jose Nasazzi Jose Nasazzi
33 Daniel Passarella Daniel Passarella Daniel Alberto Passarella is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a centre back, and former manager of the Argentina and Uruguay national football teams.
34 Teófilo Cubillas
35 Omar Sivori
36 Nilton Santos
37 Carlos Alberto Torres

One of the best deffenders of 20th century.

38 Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta, nicknamed Batigol as well as El Ángel Gabriel, is a retired Argentine professional footballer.
39 Elias Figueroa

Great deffender from Chile, 3 times best South American player.

40 Antonio Carbajal

One of the greatest goalkeepers of the American Continrnt, the first player who took part in 5 World Cups (the second and last was Lauren Matthews).

CORRECT VERSION
One of the greatest goalkeepers of the American Continent, the first player who took part in 5 World Cups (the second and last one was Lothar Matthäus).

41 Luis Funete
42 Adolfo Pedernera
43 Roberto Rivelino
44 Willington Ortiz Willington Ortiz Willington José Ortiz Palacio is a retired Colombian football player. He played 49 times for the Colombia national team scoring 12 goals and is the top Colombian player in the IFFHS's rank of South American Player of the Century.
45 Manuel Cuadra Serrano

Serrano was the best player in the history of the football of Nicaragua.
A very prolific striker who scored 742 goals for clubs in 662 games (between 1967-1985) and 59 in 111 for his National team. None of this stats are officially recognised but this has nothing to do with his playing and goalscoring abilities. Finally, he was 14 times top seasonal scorer of the Primera División of his country (maybe a world record).

46 Alejandro Morera Soto

Alejandro Morera Soto was a Costa Rican football player, who played as a striker mostly for Alajuelense in the Costa Rican Primera División. He is considered the best and most talented player of all time in Costa Rica.
He also played in Spain for 3 years, including two years in Barcelona with great success - 68 goals in 76 games.
His overall club goals were 615 and additionaly 6 in 7 caps for his National team. Very prolific scorer (goalscoring rate of 0,87).

47 Tostão Tostão

Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade, generally known as Tostão, is a Brazilian footballer who played as a forward or attacking midfielder. Tostão represented Brazil in two World Cups, capped 54 times and scored 32 goals.

48 Amadeo Carrizo

Amadeo Raúl Carrizo popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", is a former Argentinian goalkeeper. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and strategies for goalkeepers. IFFHS ranked Carrizo as the best South American keeper of the 20th century in 1999.
He was the first goalkeeper to wear gloves, the first one to leave the penalty area to defend his goal and the first one to use goal kicks as a strategy to start counterattacks.
He played for River Plate and the National team of his country (1954-1964).

49 Djalma Santos
50 Luis Cubilla

Luis Alberto Cubilla Almeida was a Uruguayan winger, who played both in Peñarol and Nacional, but also in Barcelona and River Plate of Argentina. He took part in the World Cups of 1962,1970 and 1974 with the National team of his country.

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