Americans call it soccer. Europeans call it football. Either way, it is by far the most popular sport on the planet. It has produced some genuine artists both on and off the pitch throughout the course of history. We are going to deal with the 6 Greatest Soccer Players in this specific article. It is very hard to draw parallels between players from different eras. Can you really compare Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona, or Cristiano Ronaldo and Pele? We do live in an era of the former ones, but who are we to say that Messi is a superior player to Maradona?
It is easier to compare the players who belong to the same generation as both individual and team’s titles support someone’s arguments. As a matter of fact, some online betting sites offer odds on which footballer will win the next Ballon d’Or reward. This is how important these individual prizes have become in present times. Now, with all due respect to everyone else, we have decided to put the following six players on the list.
Although Africa gave birth to some legendary players like Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Mohamed Salah, or Sadio Mane, who has been crowned as King of Africa in 2019, we just couldn’t find a spot in this exclusive list for anyone other than these Europeans/South Americans.
6 – Johan Cruyff
A synonymous with “Total Football”, Johan Cruyff left a deep mark in the history of the game. He established himself as one of the greatest European players ever with fantastic spells at Ajax and Barcelona in the 1960s and 1970s. He led mighty Ajax to eight domestic league titles and three European Cup trophies.
5 – Zinedine Zidane
He may not be among the top six all-time players by trophies he has won, but we just had to find a place in this list of Zizou. The central midfield magician inspired the French national team to back-to-back major trophies at the World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000. He was the main protagonist of one of the most remembered moments in the history of the game – a head-butt to Marco Materazzi in the final of the World Cup 2006 against Italy.
4 – Diego Maradona
Speaking of the most remembered football moments, we have to mention Diego’s infamous “Hand of God” goal. If you ask Argentineans, they’ll still say that Grande Diego is their best player ever.
3 – Cristiano Ronaldo
We often argue that Messi is the more talented player, but Cristiano is the one who puts in more effort. In general, it is very hard to separate the two of them as the duo has won almost everything a player can win both on individual and club levels.
2 – Pele
Pele is still widely considered as the best to have ever played this game. If we take a look at his brutal successes with Brazil at World Cups, we can easily understand why.
1 – Lionel Messi
Finally, we decided to put Lionel Messi atop the list. Much like his main rival Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel has won Ballon d’Or five times. However, his lengthy dominance in a highly competitive field and the beauty of his game earned him the top spot in this list.
