Top 5 Best Footballers in History

Top 5 Best Footballers in History

March 5, 2012 Sports 
Diego Maradona

Born on 30 October 1960, this Argentinean genius is considering greatest footballer of all time. He is undisputed winner of FIFA Player of the Century award. He is the only player in football history who set world-record contract fees twice. The first, when he was transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5m and the second, when he was transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9m.
Maradona’s greatest achievement was 1986 FIFA World cup win. As a captain he dominated whole tournament and scored 5 goals including a controversial goal in all important game against England, replays showed that the goals was scored by striking the ball with his hand. Later on he accepted that he hit the ball with his hand purposely and knew immediately that the goal was illegitimate.
He is also considered one of the most controversial figures in sports. He was suspended from football for 15 months in 1991 after failing a drug test, he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA after testing positive for ephedrine. Maradona is still worshiped by millions of football fans from all around the world.

Pele

Widely considered as best footballer of all time, Pele is an X-Brazilian footballer.In 1999, he was voted Football Player of the Century by the IFFHS International Federation of Football History and Statistics.In the same year International Olympic Committee named Pelé the “Athlete of the Century”. In his career he scored 760 official goals, 541 in league championships, making him the top scorer of all time.
He is the all-time leading scorer of the Brazil national football team and is the only footballer to be a part of three World Cup-winning squads.At the age of 17 Pele became the youngest player to play in worldcup finals. Also he became youngest ever World Cup goalscorer at 17 years and 239 days, after scoring a match winning goal against Wales in quarterfinals. Against France in the semifinal, Brazil was leading 2–1 at halftime, and then Pelé scored a hat-trick, becoming the youngest in World Cup history to do so.
Pele is still considered as a national hero, in Brazil not just because of his football skills but also for his social work.When he scored his 1,000th goal he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil.

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Zinedine Zidane

Third in our list is this French football genius Zinedine Zidane.Zidane was one of the most important member of French 1998 World Cup winning squad and 2000 European Championship. He also captained France to the 2006 World Cup Final where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s most outstanding player. He is one of only three players to have been FIFA World Player of the Year three times.
His most memorable performance was against Brazil then world champions in 1998 world cup final. France dominated Brazil from the kick-off, with Zidane scoring two identical goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Two years later France won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974. Zidane finished with two goals, a memorable free kick against Spain in the quarter final and the golden goal in the semi final against Portugal, and was named player of the tournament by UEFA.
2006 World cup was Zidane’s last international tournament and he played like a champ and won the Golden Ball award as the best player of the competition, taking his team to the final. Seven minutes into the match Zidane put France ahead with a penalty kick and became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals. Zidane was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi (who had just insulted his sister)[35] in the chest, so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3 courtesy ofDavid Trezeguet’s shot rattling the crossbar.
Johann Cruyff

Cruyff is a former Dutch football player and manager/coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year three times. in 1971, 1973 and 1974, which is a record jointly held with Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Lionel Messi. In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the IFFHS, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll. Cruyff played 48 international matches, scoring 33 goals. Dutch team never lost a match in which Cruyff scored.
Lionel Messi

Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays in La Liga forFC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team as a forward. Messi has won European Footballer of the Year three times. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. His ball skills are second to none, his runs from midfield are usually lethal and he is almost impossible to tackle when he gets his head down. His balance when running at speed is incredible. His playing style and small stature has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his “successor.”