Crossing has become somewhat of a footballing art form because of the way wingers, full-backs and other players can pick their man out with sumptuous balls into the box. Towering centre-forwards love nothing more than to see a teammate race down the flank before sending a floating cross their way.
The precision with which stars such as Kevin De Bruyne can hit the ball is quite remarkable. They produce eye-of-the-needle crosses that often are met with a thumping header, usually Erling Haaland in Manchester City's case. There are several types of crosses: in-swinging, out-swinging, low-driven, lofted, and whipped. These can cause all sorts of problems for defenders and goalkeepers. Corners are a clever way of utilizing a playmaker's crossing abilities, and you wouldn't want to defend one delivered into the box by David Beckham.
With that said, GIVEMESPORT has ranked the top 10 best crossers of the ball during the 21st century by assessing their consistency, delivery style and reputation. Many top stars have perfected the art of crossing, and here are the best of the lot.
Ranking Factors
Assists (How many crosses contributed to goals)
Reputation (Players renowned for their crossing abilities)
Style (Those whose crosses were picturesque)
Consistency (Football's most dominant in crossing situations)
A custom image of David Beckham, Luis Figo and Cafu Related
Ranking the 11 Best Crossers in Football History
Ballon d'Or winners, Premier League record breakers and multiple World Cup champions have all mastered the art of crossing a football.
10 Riyad Mahrez
Notable Clubs: Le Havre AC, Leicester, Man City, Al-Ahli
Riyad Mahrez
Left-footed players often thrive at crossing because they are more technically gifted, and Riyad Mahrez knows how to deliver a deadly ball into the box. The Algerian winger usually twists and turns his way past the opposition before floating one into the path of an attacking teammate to get on the end of. It's a shame we only got to see Mahrez set Haaland up for one season before he departed City.
Mahrez curls the ball exquisitely, and his knack for finding the likes of Haaland at City and Jamie Vardy at Leicester was a massive benefit for those Premier League title-winning teams. His pinpoint accuracy also makes him superb at set pieces. One constant trick under his sleeve is his knack for faking a shot when cutting inside onto his left foot and instead sending the ball to the far post for a striker to head home.
Riyad Mahrez Career
Club
Country
9 Joshua Kimmich
Notable Clubs: Stuttgart, Leipzig, Bayern Munich
Joshua Kimmich
A good crosser of the ball is that much more difficult to deal with when they are as versatile as Joshua Kimmich, one of Europe's best handymen. The German flourishes at right-back and in multiple midfield positions, and this helps him get into dangerous positions to bend a cross into a striker, which Robert Lewandowski made the most of during his Bayern Munich career.
One assist that sticks out is when Kimmich found the Pole with a wicked cross in a 3-0 win against Augsburg in the 2017-18 Bundesliga season. The Germany captain is also a menace on corner duty, able to cause chaos in the box when curling the ball with his slick left foot. Harry Kane is the Bavarian frontman now relishing seeing the versatile full-back get down the wing and look up to see who is in the box.
|Joshua Kimmich Career|
|Club|Appearances (466) Goals (45) Assists (113)|
|Country|Appearances (97) Goals (7) Assists (22)|
|---|
8 Philipp Lahm
Notable Clubs: Bayern Munich, Stuttgart
Philipp Lahm
Another German who was a nightmare because of his versatility and crossing abilities was Philipp Lahm, who mastered the art of playmaking in both full-back positions. Every time he sent a cross into the box, it found a teammate. He'd venture forward on the overlap and take the ball in his stride before putting backspin on it to leave defenders bamboozled.
Thomas Muller was one of Lahm's teammates who often knew when to time his run to get on the end of one of the Bayern legend's crosses. His finesse was a sight to behold, and he was another German who relished taking corners. Pep Guardiola used his wide range of crossing brilliance to transform him into an inverted full-back.
|Philipp Lahm Career|
|Club|Appearances (588) Goals (19) Assists (77)|
|Country|Appearances (113) Goals (5) Assists (17)|
|---|
7 Angel Di Maria
Notable Clubs: Benfica, Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United, PSG
Angel DI Maria PSG
Angel Di Maria's wing play was outrageous at his peak and made him so unpredictable because of his box of tricks, which also included a trademark Rabona cross. Just when defenders thought they had the better of the PSG hero, he'd turn them inside out by delivering a cross in the most unorthodox of ways. This capricious style made him a master at crossing, and the precision with which he hit the ball was sublime.
The pick of the bunch from Di Maria's long list of goals from crosses arguably has to go to the outside-of-the-boot, low-driven one he played to Cristiano Ronaldo in Real Madrid's 5-1 win over Real Murcia in 2010. He may have flopped at Man Utd, but the Argentine icon was stellar at picking out Ronaldo during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu with deep and low-driven crosses.
|Angel Di Maria Career|
|Club|Appearances (786) Goals (188) Assists (272)|
|Country|Appearances (145) Goals (31) Assists (32)|
|---|
6 Trent Alexander-Arnold
Notable Clubs: Liverpool
Trent Alexander-Arnold
If you want to know why low-driven crosses are such a nuisance, then you needn't look further than Trent Alexander-Arnold's quick corner that Divock Origi tucked home against Barcelona in the 2018-19 Champions League. It was a clever assist and just one of Alexander-Arnold's marvellous crosses he's delivered during his career for Liverpool. The precision with which the England international lofts the ball into the box sees the opposition constantly try to close him down.
Alexander-Arnold is an assist machine, holding the record for the most assists by a defender in the Premier League with 58. Most of those have come from either corner kicks or crosses that have found the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota. His creative consistency is why Gareth Southgate tried the midfield experiment at Euro 2024, and Glenn Hoddle, who knew a thing or two about crossing, insists he's among the best passers of the ball in world football.
|Trent Alexander-Arnold Career|
|Club|Appearances (346) Goals (23) Assists (89)|
|Country|Appearances (33) Goals (4) Assists (6)|
|---|
5 Ryan Giggs
Notable Clubs: Manchester United
Ryan Giggs
A man of many trades, Ryan Giggs, could do almost everything on a football pitch, but crossing was one of the Welsh Wizard's main attributes. Manchester United's famous number 11 whipped the ball in with pace and power, and defenders struggled to deal with his delivery. If the Red Devils won a corner, you knew Giggs would be heading over to take it because Sir Alex Ferguson could rely on him to find Wayne Rooney or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Former United coach Mick Clegg highlighted how Giggs honed his crossing abilities by using his left hand to achieve better balance. He did this by throwing darts with his left hand, and the Welshman hit a bullseye with his crosses throughout his trophy-laden career. The Red Devils were a real danger at set-pieces during Sir Alex's reign, and Giggs was largely why, as seen when Ronaldo headed home one of his corners against Middlesbrough in the 2008-09 season.
|Ryan Giggs Career|
|Club|Appearances (958) Goals (167) Assists (264)|
|Country|Appearances (64) Goals (12) Assists (7)|
|---|
Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Manchester United's David Beckham. Related
10 Best Free-Kick Takers in Premier League History [Ranked]
There have been some exceptional free-kick takers in Premier League history, ranging from Cristiano Ronaldo to James Ward-Prowse.
4 Roberto Carlos
Notable Clubs: Palmeiras, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, Corinthians, Anzhi
Roberto Carlos
There might not be a more feared left-footed defender in the sport's history than Roberto Carlos, whose accuracy was second to none. Brazilians are renowned for their trickery, quick feet and Ginga style, but Carlos had an almighty left foot that unleashed wicked crosses that sent shivers down the opposition's spines. So fierce on his left, there were many moments when he'd arrive down the byline before bending the ball into the box and the back of the net. Just ask Tenerife, who fell victim to this in 1998.
Yet, direct goals weren't the only outcome when Carlos struck the ball from the wing or the corner flag, as he constantly picked out a teammate. Because of his precision, he was one of a few who rivalled David Beckham for free-kick and corner duty during Madrid's Galactico era.
|Roberto Carlos Career|
|Club|Appearances (773) Goals (101) Assists (144)|
|Country|Appearances (127) Goals (11) Assists (22)|
|---|
3 Luis Figo
Notable Clubs: Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter
Luis Figo
Real Madrid has a rich history of finding Europe's best crossers, and Luis Figo was right up there with the very best. He was primarily used as a winger during his illustrious career because of his outstanding technique of curling the ball when looking for a teammate in the box. He was a genius whose footballing IQ went hand in hand with accurate crossing that brought some of football's most memorable moments in Los Blancos and Portugal colours.
Figo and corner kicks are a staple of La Liga football, not just because of his return to Camp Nou after his controversial Madrid transfer that ended with a pig's head being chucked his way. Fortunately, the cut of pork didn't hit the legendary Portuguese ace, but had he kicked it, he'd likely have been more accurate because that was how precise his powerful right foot was. He sits 10th in Madrid's all-time assist list, and had he spent more than five years at the Bernabeu, he'd probably be higher.
|Luis Figo Career|
|Club|Appearances (657) Goals (118) Assists (218)|
|Country|Appearances (127) Goals (32) Assists (44)|
|---|
2 Kevin De Bruyne
Notable Clubs: Genk, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, Man City
Kevin De Bruyne
Premier League fans have witnessed some of the greatest playmakers conjure brilliance, including Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes, but Kevin De Bruyne is, for many, the best midfielder for crossing the ball. Manchester City's era of dominance during Pep Guardiola's reign has been largely thanks to the Belgian midfield maestro's magnificence with the ball at his feet and his pinpoint crosses.
Haaland is thriving at the Etihad, and his irrepressible goal-scoring feats have come amid De Bruyne's creativity when he floats the ball into the box. He's so stylish with the way he whips a cross into the penalty area that there's a sense of inevitability a goal is on the way. The swerve the six-time Premier League champion gets on his crosses is unlike in the English top-flight. Rival fans are forced to sit back and admire his unbelievable crossing technique.
|Kevin De Bruyne Career|
|Club|Appearances (623) Goals (151) Assists (255)|
|Country|Appearances (107) Goals (30) Assists (50)|
|---|
1 David Beckham
Notable Clubs: Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, PSG
David Beckham crosses for England
No player in football history could deliver a cross like David Beckham. When you have a film named after your crossing technique (Bend it like Beckham), there can be little argument you are top of the crop. Crossing was the Manchester United icon's forte, and he used it in the most important moments, such as the ridiculous assist for Ronaldo Nazario for Madrid against Real Zaragoza in 2006.
Nobody could bend it like Beckham, and he could deliver the goods from anywhere on the pitch. The ex-England captain had young fans trying to curl corners, free-kicks and crosses down their local park similarly. Watching the iconic right-winger cross the ball made for similar viewing to that of Tiger Woods swinging his club. It was a moment fans waited in anticipation of greatness, and he made it look so easy. Beckham's fame has transcended his talent on the pitch, but he wouldn't be where he is today without his highlight reel of magical crosses.
|David Beckham Career|
|Club|Appearances (721) Goals (127) Assists (225)|
|Country|Appearances (115) Goals (17) Assists (42)|
|---|
A custom image of Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold Related
Ranking the 12 Best Crossers in World Football (2024)
There are many ways to create chances in football but crossing is still one of the most effective and pleasing on the eye.
All stats courtesy of Transfermarkt- correct as of 08/12/2024.