A lot of fantastic players are on my short list for the best player ever.
I will try to present a chronological account of them
1. Garrincha, dominated 1958 and 1962 games. was easily best player of the 50s and the mid 60s.
His dribbling style is still legendary
2. Pele: won the world cup in 1958, and 1970. Was an excellent goal getter. His goals in the 1958 semi final and final are still legendary. A very strong player in what was a very strong brazilian squad. IMHO among the top definitely, but not among the top 5. He never played out of brazil and his 2 world cup wins were with a very strong squad.
3. George best: only seen video footage from him on youtube. His dribblings are truly impressive. Haven't seen enough from him to be able to judge further. I can only say that the footage looks very impressive. So I have to include him. even if he never really had a chance to shine with his national side. Received the Ballon D'or in 1968.
4. Cruijff: A legend and probably the best player of the 70s. Was voted european player of the century and as far as I can see rightfully so. Starred with Ajax, Barcelona and Oranjes. Received the Ballon D'or 3 times.
5. Diego Armando Maradonna:
Not much to say about this Guy. Won the world cup 1986 with a stunning and unprecedented performance. The best performance by any player to date on the stage of the world cup. Won the championship in the Serie A twice with a mediocre Napoli squad. Was the best player of the 80s and in my opinion the best player of all times until recent times.
In an internet poll conducted by FIFA, he received 53.60% of the votes and was chosen as player of the century. Truly a giant of the game.
6. Zinedine Zidane: His stare rose in the 1998 world cup. Already in the world elite since 1996, he scored two goals in the 1998 finals and never looked back. He won everything there is to win in the football world. A true number worthy of the name. The best player of the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. this is why I am omitting other great players like Baggio, Romario, Stoitchkov, hagi and Ronaldo.
He as won the World player award 3 times. Was world champion and runner up. Won the euro in 2000 and won the Champions league in 2002.
7. Messi: The greatest talent soccer has ever seen. He is Maradona but faster. His dribblings seems almost supernatural, his passing is incredible. The only other player that could pass with a negative spin was maradona.
This single footage shows how extraordinary Messi's technique is:
The ball rolls back upon landing on the grass after the pass due to a negative spin instead of rolling away. This enables di maria to score.
And to be able to give pass like that while and after evading a tackle is simply incredible.
Dribbling skills:
I never thought that someone could surpass Maradona. But Messi has made it. He is a better, faster version of him. 26 years old and he has already won the Ballon D'or 4 times and broken almost every record there is to beat in football. Only thing missing to cement the deal and convince the doubters is a very strong performance during the world cup. Two other players from the mid 2000s can be mentioned here. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.
Ronaldinho was just not excellent enough for a long time. He had a very high level for 2 to 3 years and then declined. Christiano Ronaldo is a very good goalscorer but cannot be compared to the all time greats due to a lack of technique, skill and passing ability.
For me hands downs the best player ever, Lionel Messi.
