Beckenbauer surely has to be in the conversation?
Probably the first non-attacking (ironic because he was great going forward, but position wise) player that springs to mind.
Talked to someone who watched a lot of full games from the past and he is amazed by Franz. Said he never saw so many games where a player had so many MOTM performances.
The thing I liked about Ronaldinho was whenever I saw him play, he wanted to enjoy football, whilst entertaining many who love to watch those skills and brilliance. I never saw Maradona play, but from his limited videos I have seen, he did see similar to me.
Garrincha has surely to be in the conversation too? Of course, his career predates the TV era, so it’s difficult to evaluate him nowadays, but all people seeing him play spoke about him as a total genius.
A lovely player indeed!
Sure Kaiser Franz was great, but I also forget Cruyff.
He was my first hero in football 
More than a poll, I just like listening/reading quality descriptions from people who know and/or have watched them played.
As time goes by, it’s difficult to tell how much bias or myth there is, though that is also part of someone’s greatness.
It’s especially difficult in football being a team sport, so many different eras, it’s not all about games played, goals scored, team trophies, individual awards, playing style, influence on or off the pitch. Though you do need to have at least a few of those ticked.
It’s almost mission impossible, but the process is the most enjoyable part, to share opinion/passion and learn something new, if that makes sense?
I think we need a touch of perspective here if this is to be judged in a certain and fair way…
Maradona 1st -
This guy did it consistently on the International stage against the best opposition that there was around. Epitome of a one man reliant team if ever there was.
George Best 2nd -
In internationals he played for Northern Ireland, alas, he never got the chance to show his talents on the world stage. However, if any opposing fan on here now, ever watched him play for Utd in the league, they will recall how it was constantly ‘heart in the mouth time’ every time he took possession of the ball. Seemed to be tied to his foot at all times… Magical.!
Ronaldhinho 3rd
As mentioned in another post… For the pure joy he brought to the game. This guy enjoyed every second out on the pitch entertaining the fans. He knew every trick, dribble and feint that there ever was in beating a player. Mesmerising.!
No vote for Messi… He has certainly had his moments. Taking into account the low standard of opposition on a weekly basis, he has certainly been allowed the time and privilege to hone his skill set… Besides, he is a stroppy bastard that drains more from the game than he puts back.!!
Lev Yashin???
I don’t know about CRonaldo and Messi being on a tier of their own behind Maradona. Players from the 50s, 60s and 70s are always underappreciated because there’s virtually no footage of them, certainly not in good quality.
And Maradona’s claim to the GOAT throne is far from secure. Pele could use both feet, head the ball expertly and do jaw-dropping stuff like this:
In worse conditions than Maradona.
its all nutmegs,
bloody 1 trick pony! 
talking of players, who it seemed the ball was stuck to their foot,
Jimmy ‘jinky’ johnstone, a player way before my time,
but after he died, i watched a documentary on him,
he was joy to watch
Fuck it, it is Pele, anyway.
Stanley Mathews, Puskas
It’s subjective.
Ronaldo CR7 - Fantastic player. Big game player, scored tons of goals, supreme athlete but in the running for all time great? Not for me.
Messi for me has more technical ability than CR7 but again all time great? It’s a no.
Gazza was a really good footballer but no way deserves to mentioned in the same breath as Maradona etc.
I’m gonna put KMD in the top 10 list of all time greats. I’m using my starting point as Pele because the other greats I’ve never seen.
I agree. Too many advances in technology, Better training,fitness,ball, playing conditions(as in grass etc).
Also the footballers now are fitter than the ones before. Coaching has evolved too.
By that reckoning, Johan Cruyff has done jackshit at International level too. He’s only led them to the finals of one world cup (same as Messi btw)
I’m not in favour of using International success as a barometer in gauging Individual players. Too many variables. If you are a fan f cricket , A similar concept would be Brian Lara in cricket , would you rate him as a lesser batsman to say Ricky Ponting or Sachin Tendulkar because he did jackshit in International cups (i.e the cricket worldcup)
Maradona is greater than Messi. In terms of influence and the impact he’s had on the game both worldwide and in his country.
In terms of footballing skills and abilities ? Too many variables have changed from then and now.
There’s a grea story over here about how the myth changes over time. In 1999 ESPN ran a year long series of greatest US athletes ever. Predictibly Jordan was #1 and it probably isn’t a surprise to many, even those with no idea about baseball, that Babe Ruth came in at #2. Somewhere at the high end of the tip 10 was a guy I’m guessing few non-americans here would have heard of, a guy called Jim Thorpe. He was an Olympic gold medalist in the Decathlon and then went on to play professional baseball and football, being considered one of the greatest NFL players of the pre-Superbowl era.
The relevance of that 1999 comparison, is that if you go back to the 50s, a time still long after both Thorpe and Ruth had finished playing, there was almost universal recognition of Thorpe’s superiority. He was almost the guy that Captain America was modelled after (not physically, but in concept). Yet over the following 50 years his legend fell and Ruth’s rose due to issues that had nothing to do with how good they actually were, but more how society interacted with and remembered those legends.
not it isn’t but international tournaments are generally the best players in the world (latter stages more so) and as far as I can remember Messi has been pretty anonymous in all of them. That cannot be said for Cruyff, Pele, Maradona, Zindane, Platini, and so on. Now I don’t want to down play Messi as a player, we have been fortunate to be witness him play but his influence on the game is only really centred around Barcelona. Maradona did it at World Cups, and Italian league that made the La Ligue look like Sunday league at times and also Spain.
to me and this is a really minor thing there is something very small in Messi’s make up that means he doesn’t “switch on” for Argentina, like he has done for Barcelona. Pretty sure the ability is there but there is most certainly some kind of small blockage.
It’s also worth noting that Messi has had far better players around him for Argentina than Maradona had.
Quite possibly. I just look at the genius moments of the two players when they’ve played at that level. Maradona has a few to his name, Messi, I’m struggling to think of one in a Argentinian shirt.
Certainly the best Goalie ever
