Of all the sports, it is sure that football is the most emotional sport that gives fans a lot of unforgettable moments. Undeniably, it is the legendary players that make a considerable contribution to creating the beauty of this sport.
In this article, we will share the list of top world football legends of all time. Let’s see how these players perform brilliantly during their careers.
Pele
The football legend Pele, who played as a striker for Brazil – one of the most successful football teams in the world, is often called King of football.
This Brazillian player started playing football at the age of 15. Two years later, he helped Brazil to win the World Cup when he was only 17 years old.
During his time with Brazil, he gained three World Cup titles and was the most scoring player throughout the history of Brazillian football. According to the statistics of the IFFHS, Pele also scored the most goals in the history of world football. Specifically, he got a total of 1281 goals in 1363 matches.
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona/ https://squarespace.com
Despite being involved in a host of scandals off the pitch, this Argentine football legend still deserves to be the greatest player in the history of football.
With God-given talent, he made a remarkable contribution to bringing Argentina to the 1986 World Cup championship. At the club level, Maradona was the main factor that helped Napoli rank first in the Serie A in the seasons of 1987 and 1990.
Diego Maradona also won countless football titles and trophies throughout his football career.
Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff/ https://independent.co.uk
It can be said that this Dutch legend made a profound impact on world football. Throughout his career, Johan Cruyff played for top clubs such as Ajax and Barcelona and contributed significantly to the success of these two teams.
The history of world football has seen a lot of excellent players. But Johan Cruyff is not only a talented attacking midfielder but also one of the greatest coaches that bring enormous improvements to modern football. His football philosophy is still applied to this day.
Alfredo Di Stefano
Alfredo Di Stefano/ https://vox.com
Alfredo Di Stefano was considered the soul of the Real Madrid club in the 1950s.
The Argentine striker is the third greatest scorer in the history of this club. His outstanding achievements consist of 216 goals in 282 matches. He is also the most goalscorer in the history of El Clasico.
During the football career, he won five C1 cups, one cup in Spain, eight Spanish championships, two Argentine championships, and one intercontinental cup.
His individual awards include two Ballon d’Or titles and five top scorer awards. Stefano set a record of 49 goals in 59 matches in the Champions League.
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi/ https://vanityfair.com
Along with Ronaldo, Messi is the most accomplished player in contemporary football.
Until now, Messi is the only player to win the Ballon d’Or five times, in the years of 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015. In 2019, he is expected to gain this award for the 6th time.
Lionel Messi started to play for Barcelona when he was only 14 years old. Up to this day, the Argentine superstar has scored a total of over 600 goals for this team.
During his career, Messi has held a lot of records, including La Liga top scorer, top goalscorer in a season, and the best player in the world of all time.
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane/ https://vox.com
On the list of world football legends, Zinedine Zidane cannot be absent. While playing for the French football national team, he helped this team to achieve the trophies of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 d’Or in 1998. He also received the Ballon d’Or in 1998.
Zidane was also included in the list of most expensive association football transfers. The transfer of Zidane from Juventus to Real Madrid was worth 77 million euros in 2001.
The French footballer no longer plays as an attacking midfielder. Instead, he becomes the coach of Real Madrid and has a lot of success.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo/ https://365dm.com
In contemporary football, Ronaldo is undoubtedly the most influential player.
As a versatile player, he is excellent at different skills such as controlling the ball, beating a defender, speeding up, and kicking the ball into the net. For this reason, he is considered a world football legend.
At the age of 34, when a lot of players choose to stop playing football, Ronaldo is still playing with a brilliant performance at both club and national level.
This handsome player has gained a host of achievements, including four Ballon d’Or titles, 22 big and small titles, and innumerable individual and collective records. It is predicted that his number of titles has not stopped here.
Ronaldo Nazario
Ronaldo Nazario/ https://en.as.com
The final name in the list is a player from Brazil whose nickname is Alien. Ronaldo is a leading striker of the Brazilian national team with the second-highest scoring record for the team throughout three World Cup seasons.
In terms of individual honors, he has won the Ballon d’Or title twice and is the youngest player to receive the “European Golden Ball” title at the age of 21.
Through many generations in football, Ronaldo Nazario deserves to be one of the best world football legends of all time.
For the final word,
Do you think who is the greatest player in the list above? In reality, there are dozens of outstanding names in the history of world football. But in the article, we only list some of the most impressive players.
Thanks for taking your time on our article. Hopefully, the information above will bring you relaxing moments. If you have any contributions, please leave your comment below.