Picking the best footballers to have ever played the game and ranking them in order of a list is a pretty unenvious task that many certainly would not fancy doing.
Of course, the list will be littered with a plethora of names spawning a number of decades; essentially making it incredibly difficult to pick just who might go into the list and where they deserve to be.
Naturally, modern footballers such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would have to be considered in the list of the greatest footballers ever, whilst other names that many might see when looking for the livescore could well appear on the list as well.
Furthermore, there have a been a number of players to have left impressions on many with their skills on the pitch and with a ball, such as the likes of Diego Maradona, Pele, Ferenc Puskas, Franz Beckenbauer and Alfredo Di Stefano to name just a few.
However, FourFourTwo have decided to do all the hard work and provide everyone with their definitive list of the 50 best footballers of all time, which has included some controversial talking points.
For instance, the number one player they chose to sit at the top of the list was Diego Maradona. Of course, the recently deceased legend was one of the greatest to ever play the game, but with this list being so subjective, many are going to argue that there were players greater than him.
However, the creators argue their point well, by highlighting his performances in the 1986 FIFA World Cup as he helped Argentina to win the tournament.
They 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.”
Check out the list below of their top 50 players of all time. In our view, it is certainly worth taking a few hours/days/weeks to watch all the incredible things these men managed to achieve as a footballer.
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
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
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
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
