Greatest Soccer Players of the 20th Century: The 20th century was a special time for soccer, and it gave us some of the best players ever. These players were not just really good at the game, but they also motivated their teams and made fans love soccer even more.
Picking the best players from the 20th century is hard because there are so many great ones. But a few names shine brighter than the others. These players were the best on their teams and reached the highest levels of success.
Greatest Soccer Players of the 20th Century
In this article, we’ll show you the list of some of the greatest soccer players of the 20th Century.
World Soccer (magazine)
In December 1999, “World Soccer (magazine)” published a list of the 100 best football players from the 20th Century, as chosen by its readers in a poll.
| Rank | Player | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil |
| 2 | Diego Maradona | Argentina |
| 3 | Johan Cruyff | Netherlands |
| 4 | Franz Beckenbauer | Germany |
| 5 | Michel Platini | France |
| 6 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Argentina, Spain |
| 7 | Ferenc Puskás | Hungary, Spain |
| 8 | George Best | Northern Ireland |
| 9 | Marco van Basten | Netherlands |
| 10 | Eusébio | Portugal |
| 11 | Lev Yashin | Soviet Union |
| 12 | Bobby Charlton | England |
| 13 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 14 | Bobby Moore | England |
| 15 | Gerd Müller | Germany |
| 16 | Roberto Baggio | Italy |
| 17 | Stanley Matthews | England |
| 18 | Zico | Brazil |
| 19 | Franco Baresi | Italy |
| 20 | Garrincha | Brazil |
| 21 | Paolo Maldini | Italy |
| 22 | Kenny Dalglish | Scotland |
| 23 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina |
| 24 | Eric Cantona | France |
| 25 | Gheorghe Hagi | Romania |
| 26 | Romário | Brazil |
| 27 | Jairzinho | Brazil |
| 28 | Zinedine Zidane | France |
| 29 | Ruud Gullit | Netherlands |
| 30 | John Charles | Wales |
| 31 | Lothar Matthäus | Germany |
| 32 | Gordon Banks | England |
| 33 | Jürgen Klinsmann | Germany |
| 34 | Dennis Bergkamp | Netherlands |
| 35 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Germany |
| 36 | Gary Lineker | England |
| 37 | Giuseppe Meazza | Italy |
| 38 | Rivelino | Brazil |
| 39 | Didi | Brazil |
| 40 | Ian Rush | Wales |
| 41 | Peter Schmeichel | Denmark |
| 42 | Paolo Rossi | Italy |
| 43 | George Weah | Liberia |
| 44 | Michael Owen | England |
| 45 | Just Fontaine | France |
| 46 | Duncan Edwards | England |
| 47 | Dino Zoff | Italy |
| 48 | Hristo Stoichkov | Bulgaria |
| 49 | David Beckham | England |
| 50 | Tom Finney | England |
| 51 | Rivaldo | Brazil |
| 52 | Claudio Caniggia | Argentina |
| 53 | Tostão | Brazil |
| 54 | Frank Rijkaard | Netherlands |
| 55 | José Luis Chilavert | Paraguay |
| 56 | Kevin Keegan | England |
| 57 | Paul Gascoigne | England |
| 58 | Roger Milla | Cameroon |
| 59 | Michael Laudrup | Denmark |
| 60 | Andriy Shevchenko | Ukraine |
| 61 | David Ginola | France |
| 62 | Glenn Hoddle | England |
| 63 | Sócrates | Brazil |
| 64 | Roberto Carlos | Brazil |
| 65 | Alan Shearer | England |
| 66 | Daniel Passarella | Argentina |
| 67 | Davor Šuker | Croatia |
| 68 | Dixie Dean | England |
| 69 | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary |
| 70 | Juan Alberto Schiaffino | Uruguay |
| 71 | Christian Vieri | Italy |
| 72 | Mario Kempes | Argentina |
| 73 | Johan Neeskens | Netherlands |
| 74 | Luigi Riva | Italy |
| 75 | José Nasazzi | Uruguay |
| 76 | Günter Netzer | Germany |
| 77 | Alessandro Del Piero | Italy |
| 78 | Carlos Valderrama | Colombia |
| 79 | Ricardo Zamora | Spain |
| 80 | Enzo Francescoli | Uruguay |
| 81 | Edgar Davids | Netherlands |
| 82 | Francisco Gento | Spain |
| 83 | Jim Baxter | Scotland |
| 84 | Falcão | Brazil |
| 85 | Ryan Giggs | Wales |
| 86 | Sepp Maier | Germany |
| 87 | Zbigniew Boniek | Poland |
| 88 | Pat Jennings | Northern Ireland |
| 89 | György Sárosi | Hungary |
| 90 | Giacinto Facchetti | Italy |
| 91 | Alan Hansen | Scotland |
| 92 | Raymond Kopa | France |
| 93 | Bryan Robson | England |
| 94 | Matthias Sammer | East Germany Germany |
| 95 | Ladislao Kubala | Hungary, Spain |
| 96 | Neville Southall | Wales |
| 97 | Gérson | Brazil |
| 98 | Paulo Futre | Portugal |
| 99 | Preben Elkjær | Denmark |
| 100 | Bebeto | Brazil |
