Top 50 Greatest Footballers by Position

[The_Special_One]

44 Artur (Portugal)

I was with him tonight at Luz to watch Benfica-Olhanense. Very nice person. Do you know Bastos, former Benfica keeper? One friend of mine, my father, Bastos, Artur and I went to the game in my friend's car talking about past and present football all the time. Very enjoyable night.

 

[ALBICELESTE2010]

I was with him tonight at Luz to watch Benfica-Olhanense. Very nice person. Do you know Bastos, former Benfica keeper? One friend of mine, my father, Bastos, Artur and I went to the game in my friend's car talking about past and present football all the time. Very enjoyable night.

Nothing in the world can buy you those sort of memories amigo.

Excellent list once again Glavisted and very balanced. Some great names from the past there in Andrade and Schnellinger for instance.

 

[ilfenomeno]

The lists look pretty - fotos are the same size, names are in bold but besides that they are just stereotyped and/or totally subjective. You can't compare players from different eras and expect to be taken seriously, football doesn't stand still, it was and always will be in developement, players become stronger in terms of physical abilities, they are more versatile with the ball. Making this all-time-lists is like comparing 1896 Ford Quadricycle with Audi R8.

 

[ALBICELESTE2010]

The lists look pretty - fotos are the same size, names are in bold but besides that they are just stereotyped and/or totally subjective. You can't compare players from different eras and expect to be taken seriously, football doesn't stand still, it was and always will be in developement, players become stronger in terms of physical abilities, they are more versatile with the ball. Making this all-time-lists is like comparing 1896 Ford Quadricycle with Audi R8.

First of all there will be a physiological limit to physical improvement and muscle control.

Secondly the bit I boldened. I've watched footage from the 1930's ad 1940's of players like Peucelle and Loustau. I can tell you for a fact they did not lack in ball skills then or in terms of passing with much heavier less responsive footballs.

 

[ilfenomeno]

Let's agree to disagree.

 

[Rentalkid]

First of all there will be a physiological limit to physical improvement and muscle control.

Secondly the bit I boldened. I've watched footage from the 1930's ad 1940's of players like Peucelle and Loustau. I can tell you for a fact they did not lack in ball skills then or in terms of passing with much heavier less responsive footballs.

And even if they did: The game they learned and trained to play was different back then. Still they were great talents. So, under current conditions, they most likely would be stars again.
Timewarp kid-Pele to the present and give him the training youngsters receive nowadays et voila: future superstar.
Talent is timeless.

 

[ilfenomeno]

So you are implying that you see this classification of players by the grade of their talent?

I have a quote for you:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.

 

[Rentalkid]

So you are implying that you see this classification of players by the grade of their talent?

No, not at all.
Are you implying that these men of different generations wouldn't be able to train like the men of the current generation? It sure sounds that way.
Under the same circumstances, no Messi or Ronaldo would have a genuine advantage over a Pele or George Best, is all I'm saying.

"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

So true. And not in a million years I would deny a professional footballer of past OR present either persistence or determination.

 

[gerd]

Jesus, il fenomeno, you sound pedantic in those posts. Those lists are great by somebody who knows his football..trust me.
To reply with your avatar: Euvgenie Sokolov...

 

[ilfenomeno]

Timewarp kid-Pele to the present and give him the training youngsters receive nowadays et voila: future superstar.
Talent is timeless.

In this post you are talking about talent, then you are telling me you are not implying it at all. Use the words properly if you don't want to be misunderstood.

Are you implying that these men of different generations wouldn't be able to train like the men of the current generation? It sure sounds that way.

What made you think I would imply such an absurd conclusion? You are just misinterpreting my posts and putting words into my mouth that I never said.

Let's not start a discussion based on misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Thank you.

 

[ilfenomeno]

Jesus, il fenomeno, you sound pedantic in those posts. Those lists are great by somebody who knows his football..trust me.
To reply with your avatar: Euvgenie Sokolov...

I want to understand, what criteria was used when this player ranking was done?

P.S. I don't get the last sentence in your post.

 

[gerd]

I want to understand, what criteria was used when this player ranking was done?

P.S. I don't get the last sentence in your post.

Criteria: Glavisted will answer to that question.
Euvgenie Sokolov: that was a cheap shot (very Gainsbarrish of me... Gainsbarre would never apologize for it, but i do...sorry). Go to I-tunes and search the album "Bad news from the stars". Listen to the track: Euvgenie Sokolov and you will understand. If you are a true Gainsbourg fan, you will like my dig at you...but nevertheless, i apologized.

 

[ilfenomeno]

No apology needed, I'll bravely take the hit.

 

[gerd]

That's class...

 

[Rentalkid]

In this post you are talking about talent, then you are telling me you are not implying it at all. Use the words properly if you don't want to be misunderstood.



What made you think I would imply such an absurd conclusion? You are just misinterpreting my posts and putting words into my mouth that I never said.

Let's not start a discussion based on misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Thank you.

I meant what I said, but it was easy to be misunderstood. Fair enough.
So to elaborate on my statement that "talent is timeless" ...

The great players of the past, just like those of the present, had to have a certain amount of special abilities to become those iconic figures--talent being one (important one) of the many. Since you and I alike agree, as it seems, that the greats of past generations first and foremost had to be extremely diligent workers to reach those highest levels of skill that separated them from the majority of their colleagues--just like their present "counterparts"--I just don't see a reason why you wouldn't be able to compare them.
All professional football players throughout history always had a level playing field (quite literally, *g*) concerning the sport they learned to play and perfect. So, in my opinion, A Pele who managed to be an outstanding player in the past has every right to be rated amongst a Messi of now; and again: I do think, given modern day circumstances, young Puskas, Charlton and co. would have great chances to prosper in the current world of football.
Would they really? Who knows for sure? But I'd say: Yes, of course!

So, I don't really have any problems with lists like this. They remain subjective, of course, but I believe while putting them together Glavisted at least tries to be as objective as possible.

 

[ALBICELESTE2010]

And even if they did: The game they learned and trained to play was different back then. Still they were great talents. So, under current conditions, they most likely would be stars again.
Timewarp kid-Pele to the present and give him the training youngsters receive nowadays et voila: future superstar.
Talent is timeless.

Indeed so. The tactics and fitness regimes have changed and so has the equipment ie boots and intepretation of some rules but in essence these players had the core qualities.

Spatial vision and awareness, a footballing brain to calculate where to pass to and where to intercept and cover and the ball skills to carry out both.

That's the core of any good footballer. With the baility of instant control and a quicksilver brain leads to one quality pre eminent in all the great's a languid ease on the ball and time.

 

[vee]

where is tafarel,marcos,dida,rogério ceni???

 

[Glavisted]

where is tafarel,marcos,dida,rogério ceni???

No one of them into the Top 50, the closest was Marcos (around 70th position).

Brazilian Moacir Barbosa, Carlos José Castilho and Manga were also in my shortlist.

 

[Lea]

Casillas?
Rogerio Ceni is not an amazing gk but he's made history being the world most top scorer gk.
He's close of 100 goals in carreer.

Come on, what fucking Casillas did as amazing to be one of the 50 worldest great gk of history?

 

[Rentalkid]

Come on, what fucking Casillas did as amazing to be one of the 50 worldest great gk of history?

Being a key asset to one of the biggest and most successful club sides for many years and counting AND part of the magnificent Spanish national team for pretty much the same amount of time, winning with them both the European and World championship back to back - more than once having been a deciding factor in very important games on the way to those trophies?

...

Maybe?

Don't really see a problem here.

 

[PLF]

Lol Casillas definitely belongs there!!

And no Rogerio Ceni definitely doesn't!

 

[gerd]

I completely agree with PLF concerning both Casillas and Rogerio Ceni.

 

[Glavisted]

Already done the 4th list:


Top 50 Greatest Defensive Midfielders

This is the summary list, I posted the complete in my blog in Spanish with their respective descriptions (http://glavisted.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-50-de-mediocampistas-defensivos.html):

50 Demetrio Albertini (Italy)

49 Diego Simeone (Argentina)

48 Arie Haan (Netherlands)

47 Rainer Bonhof (Germany)

46 Michael Essien (Ghana)

45 Mauro Silva (Brazil)

44 Emlyn Hughes (England)

43 Gennaro Gattuso (Italy)

42 Romeo Benetti (Italy)

41 Nils Middelboe (Denmark)

40 Germano (Portugal)

39 Karl Koller (Austria)

38 Mario Rigamonti (Italy)

37 Josep Guardiola (Spain)

36 Toninho Cerezo (Brazil)

35 Antonio Rattín (Argentina)

34 Bo Larsson (Sweden)

33 Stefan Effenberg (Germany)

32 Didier Deschamps (France)

31 Svatopluk Pluskal (Czechoslovakia)

30 Clodoaldo (Brazil)

29 Pirri (Spain)

28 Karel Pesek (Czechoslovakia)

27 Valery Voronin (Soviet Union)

26 Zito (Brazil)

25 Néstor Rossi (Argentina)

24 Osvaldo Ardiles (Argentina)

23 Claude Makélélé (France)

22 Horst Szymaniak (Germany)

21 Edgar Davids (Netherlands)

20 Graeme Souness (Scotland)

19 Billy Bremner (Scotland)

18 Roy Keane (Ireland)

17 Igor Netto (Soviet Union)

16 Marco Tardelli (Italy)

15 Dave Mackay (Scotland)

14 Patrick Vieira (France)

13 Paul Breitner (Germany)

12 Jean Tigana (France)

11 Duncan Edwards (England)

10 Danny Blanchflower (Northern Ireland)

9 Wim van Hanegem (Netherlands)

8 Fernando Redondo (Argentina)

7 Ernst Ocwirk (Austria)

6 Obdulio Varela (Uruguay)

5 Luis Monti (Argentina)

4 José Leandro Andrade (Uruguay)

3 József Bozsik (Hungary)

2 Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands)

1 Lothar Matthäus (Germany)

 

[gerd]

Good work Glavisted, but i don't agree with Tigana. He was not a DMF, at least not for France (and i'm pretty sure he wasn't for his club teams). Luis Fernandez was the DMF of that French team (and should be in your list).

I have a feeling you have overlooked some players, but i san't come with alternatives...

 

[gigimarulla]

i quote gerd....
since you have inserted Demetrio Albertini- not properly a dmf, he was a "regista" as we say in Italy, and the dmf in his Milan was Desailly- i'm quite sure you need to insert Luisito Suarez, that wasn't a dmf too, but was the regista of Herrera's Inter and won also the France Football's Golden Ball...
Mauro Silva deserves a better spot imho, personal taste of course, but where is Dunga?
breitner for me was a sideback more than a dmf too...

 

[Glavisted]

Good work Glavisted, but i don't agree with Tigana. He was not a DMF, at least not for France (and i'm pretty sure he wasn't for his club teams). Luis Fernandez was the DMF of that French team (and should be in your list).

I have a feeling you have overlooked some players, but i san't come with alternatives...

I've to clarify that although the list states be about defensive midfielders, consists not only for purely defensive midfielders, some central midfielders are also included as Albertini, Guardiola, Larsson, Effenberg, Ardiles, Netto, Breitner, Andrade or Matthäus (their positions are clarifield in every single profile in the blog), because all midfielders have only been separated into 2 blocks: defensive and offensive.

Jean Tigana was one of them, a mixed-function central midfielder, but considered in this cathegory because it's more appropiate than attacking midfielder, being that his game had the greatest influence on his team's defensive system (with France sharing the first line of midfielders with Luis Fernández behind the offensive Alain Giresse and Michel Platini in the remembered "Magic Square").

On the other hand, Luis Fernández was in my shortlist but wasn't enough in my opinion. Was ranked around the 70th position.

since you have inserted Demetrio Albertini- not properly a dmf, he was a "regista" as we say in Italy, and the dmf in his Milan was Desailly- i'm quite sure you need to insert Luisito Suarez, that wasn't a dmf too, but was the regista of Herrera's Inter and won also the France Football's Golden Ball...
Mauro Silva deserves a better spot imho, personal taste of course, but where is Dunga?
breitner for me was a sideback more than a dmf too...

As many other players, I considered Luis Suárez had more impact and influence in the attacking system of that Inter than defensive, that's because he's in my shortlist of offensive midfielders and didn't appear here.

I think Dunga wasn't reached the necessary level to compete in this instance, despite his great popularity and remembered figure from the 1994 World Cup, he hadn't an outstanding club career.

Paul Breitner began his career as a left-wing-back, but for more than half of it he played as a very efficient central midfielder, well known as his most outstanding position (also in my opinion), very balanced with defensive and offensive skills (similar to Lothar Matthäus).

 

[gerd]

And what about Johan Neeskens Glavisted?

 

[Glavisted]

And what about Johan Neeskens Glavisted?

He's in my shortlist of Offensive Midfielders.

 

[klashman69]

why is Roy Keane and Davids higher than Claude Makélélé

I mean i'm a gooner, and i think he should be at least as high as Vieira if not higher!

 

[SanaS]

When it will be continued, for the averages, and averages offensive attackers? Finally make a list of the best players, but the best is Messi deserved it!