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Ronaldo Has Been Voted The Greatest Brazilian Footballer Of All Time Ahead Of Pele

Ronaldo Has Been Voted The Greatest Brazilian Footballer Of All Time Ahead Of Pele

Brazil legend Ronaldo and Pele edged Ronaldinho into third place, while Neymar can't crack the top 10.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo have been voted the four greatest Brazilian footballers of all time - with 'O Fenomeno' edging out Pele to claim top spot.

The 32-player knockout poll, conducted by football magazine FourFourTwo, saw a spicy Ronaldo vs Pele final. In that match-up, Brazil's 2002 World Cup Golden Boot winner saw off the nation's all-time top scorer in a tight, 60-40 split.

Ronaldo, with his incredible speed and skill for a big man, is seen by many fans as the ultimate No 9. Pele, however, is known as the king of football in Brazil and owns just the three World Cup winners' medals.

Neymar, currently second on Brazil's highest goalscorer list behind Pele, couldn't quite crack the top 10. He was eliminated in the quarter-final stage (but with a high percentage of the vote, earning him 11th place).

The list overall shows the incredible depth of Brazilian talent, which arguably no other nation can match.

Cafu, the only player to have played in three consecutive World Cup finals, is only good enough for seventh spot - and isn't even the highest-placed full-back, as Roberto Carlos bombs forward into fifth.

There is some 'recency bias' as you would expect, with double World Cup winner Garrincha - widely viewed as one of the best players in football history - only making 10th spot, only six places above Gilberto Silva.

In 32nd and last place, Philippe Coutinho only managed 0.8% of the vote in his appearance in the poll. But when you look at the quality of players above him, it's really not so bad for the Barcelona man.

FourFourTwo's full list of results are below.

32. Philippe Coutinho

31. Casemiro

30. David Luiz

29. Dunga

28. Denilson

27. Dida

26. Lucio

25. Leonidis

24. Carlos Alberto

23. Gerson

22. Adriano

21. Roberto Firmino

20. Juninho Pernambucano

19. Falcao

18. Ze Roberto

17. Rivellino

16. Gilberto Silva

15. Zico

14. Marcelo

13. Dani Alves

12. Jairzinho

11. Neymar

10. Garrincha

9. Kaka

8. Romario

7. Cafu

6. Socrates

5. Roberto Carlos

4. Rivaldo

3. Ronaldinho

2. Pele

1. Ronaldo

Let us know whether you agree or disagree in the comments.

All imagery: PA Images

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Ronaldinho, Cafu, Football, Rivaldo, Kaka, Ronaldo, Pele, Roberto Carlos, Brazil

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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@otheralexreid