Most people call it football (or fútbol), but for some reason, we in the US call the game played all over the world “soccer.” Although I won’t be going to any of the matches, it is exciting to have some World Cup games being played right here in the Boston area where I live. It is therefore timely for a list of the greatest footballers/soccer players of all time. This is a meta-list – I searched the Internet for lists of the best players and combined them into one meta-list. The list contains the names of every player that was on three or more of the original source lists. They are listed in rank order, that is, with the players on the most lists at the top. For names on the same number of lists, I have organized them in order of birth year. There are 46 names on the list. The oldest player was born in 1910; the youngest was born in 1998.
On 12 lists
Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) (Brazil, 1940-2022)
On 11 lists
Johan Cruyff (Netherlands, 1947- )
Diego Maradona (Argentina, 1960-2020)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 1985- )
Lionel Messi (Argentina, 1987- )
On 10 lists
Alfredo Di Stéfano (Argentina/Spain, 1926-2014)
Franz Beckenbauer (Germany, 1945-2024)
Zinedine Zidane (France, 1972- )
Ronaldo (Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima) (1976- )
On 9 lists
Ferenc Puskás (Hungary, 1927-2006)
Michel Platini (France, 1955- )
On 7 lists
Andrés Iniesta (Spain, 1984- )
On 6 lists
Lev Yashin (USSR, 1929-1990)
Garrincha (Manuel Francisco dos Santos) (Brazil, 1933-1983)
Bobby Moore (UK, 1941-1993)
Eusébio (Eusébio de Silva Ferreira) (Mozambique/Portugal, 1942-2014)
Gerd Müller (Germany, 1945-2021)
Marco van Basten (Netherlands, 1964- )
Paolo Maldini (Italy, 1968- )
Ronaldinho (Ronaldo de Assis Moreira) (Brazil, 1980- )
Xavi (Xavier Hernández Creus) (Spain, 1980- )
Luis Suárez (Uruguay, 1987- )
On 5 lists
Bobby Charlton (UK, 1937-2023)
George Best (Northern Ireland, 1946-2005)
Zico (Arthur Antunes Coimbra) (Brazil, 1953- )
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany, 1955- )
Franco Baresi (Italy, 1960- )
Lothar Matthäus (West Germany, 1961- )
Ruud Gullit (Netherlands, 1962- )
Romário (Romário de Souza Faria) (Brazil, 1966- )
Roberto Baggio (Italy, 1967- )
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, 1978- )
On 4 lists
Giuseppe Meazza (Italy, 1910-1979)
Sándor Kocsis (Hungary, 1929-1979)
Raymond Kopa (France, 1931-2017)
Rivellino (Roberto Rivellino) (Brazil, 1946- )
Thierry Henry (France, 1977- )
Luka Modrić (Yugoslavia/Croatia, 1985- )
Neymar Júnior (Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior) (Brazil, 1992- )
On 3 lists
Omar Sivori (Argentina/Italy, 1935-2005)
Sócrates (Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira) (Brazil, 1954-2011)
Paolo Rossi (Italy, 1956-2020)
George Weah (Liberia, 1966- )
Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite) (Brazil, 1982- )
Manuel Neuer (West Germany, 1986- )
Kylian Mbappé (France, 1998- )