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The 50 Greatest Players In Football History Have Been Revealed

The 50 Greatest Players In Football History Have Been Revealed

Napoli icon Diego Maradona's success at the 1986 World Cup helped catapult him to the top of a star-studded list of legendary players.

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Legendary Argentine Diego Maradona has been named the best footballer of all time ahead of Pele, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Napoli hero, who passed away in 2020 after he suffered a heart attack at his Buenos Aires home, enjoyed a glittering career for both club and country.

Maradona lifted two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia trophy, Italian Super Cup and UEFA Cup with Napoli, along with winning the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona.

The former Argentina international added to his silverware on the international stage by winning the World Cup in 1986.

FourFourTwo compiled the rankings and placed Maradona top of the pile, highlighting the iconic former footballer's exploits at the 1986 World Cup.

The football magazine wrote: "In retrospect and in truth, most of his [Argentina] teammates were merely adequate.

"Never again has one man dragged a team to such an important triumph through individual brilliance -- and it may never happen again."

Posted below are FourFourTwo's rankings for the 50 best footballers in history.

PA

50. Xavi

49. Nilton Santos

48. Michael Laudrup

47. Rivellino

46. Juan Alberto Schiaffino

45. Oleg Blokhin

44. Didi

43. Fritz Walter

42. Matthias Sindelar

41. Gianluigi Buffon

PA

40. Kenny Dalglish

39. Nandor Hidegkuti

38. Gianni Rivera

37. Ruud Gullit

36. Paco Gento

35. Luis Suarez (born 1935)

34. Stanley Matthews

33. Gunter Netzer

32. Paolo Rossi

31. Juan Manuel Moreno

30. Lothar Matthaus

29. Raymond Kopa

28. Socrates

27. Bobby Moore

26. Valentino Mazzola

25. Carlos Alberto Torres

24. Ronaldinho

23. Eusebio

22. Lev Yashin

21. Romario

PA

20. Paolo Maldini

19. Sir Bobby Charlton

18. Giuseppe Meazza

17. Gerd Muller

16. Zico

15. Franco Baresi

14. George Best

13. Marco van Basten

12. Michel Platini

11. Garrincha

PA

10. Ronaldo

9. Ferenc Puskas

8. Zinedine Zidane

7. Franz Beckenbauer

6. Alfredo Di Stefano

5. Cristiano Ronaldo

4. Johan Cruyff

3. Pele

2. Lionel Messi

1. Diego Maradona

PA

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Football, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Pele, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Cristiano Ronaldo

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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