Summary
Lionel Messi is officially named the greatest footballer of all time by the IFFHS, finally solidifying his GOAT status.
Notable absentees include Puskas, Muller, Maldini, and Platini, with no goalkeepers and one defender in the top 10.
Diego Maradona and Pele rank high, showcasing their legendary status in football history.
The 10 greatest footballers of all time have been ranked by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), and the well-renowned organisation has finally blown the whistle on its pick for the GOAT of the beautiful game. Choosing the greatest footballer ever is no walk in the park. Fans often wear club-coloured glasses, passionately backing their own legends as the all-time best, making objectivity a rare commodity in this debate.
Usual suspects Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, and Pele naturally headline the conversation, and true to form, they feature prominently in the IFFHS rankings - though not always in the order you might expect. While it’s the rest of the top 10 that could surprise a few readers.
Among the notable absentees from the list include Ferenc Puskas, Gerd Muller, Paolo Maldini, and Michel Platini. It's also worth pointing out that no goalkeepers make the cut, and only one defender gets the nod.
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10. Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho typified the tiki-taka qualities that Barcelona would soon become revered for in an era just before Xavi and Andres Iniesta hit their primes. The Brazilian's best spell in Catalonia saw him score 90 goals and earn 70 assists in just 207 matches, whilst he also won the World Cup and Champions League throughout his career.
9. Alfredo Di Stefano
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Alfredo Di Stefano ranks a lot higher in the list of the greatest big-game players, with the only ever recipient of the Super Ballon d'Or having scored 49 goals in 58 European Cup appearances for Real Madrid. He was part of the team that achieved the unrepeatable feat of winning five consecutive European Cups with Los Blancos between 1956 and 1960, scoring in each of them.
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8. Franz Beckenbauer
Rated higher on this list than any other defender on the planet, Franz Beckenbauer is still the example many point towards when talking about the ideal centre-back, as he had it all. Two Ballon d'Ors for a player in his position is unheard of, while he also captained Germany to European Championship and World Cup glory, before then replicating the latter as manager, too.
7. Zinedine Zidane
If “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini's Turandot was a footballer, it would almost certainly be Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman, who won the World Cup and Ballon d'Or in 1998, is one of the most technically gifted players ever, and watching him boss midfields with this trademark panache was like watching a poet or painter deep in thought.
He was also a pretty good manager, though everyone wishes he tried his hand at that for a little while longer after winning the Champions League three times in the Bernabeu's hot seat between 2015 and 2018.
6. Ronaldo
A two-time World Cup and Ballon d'Or winner, Ronaldo could well claim his place as the greatest striker of all time. It's just a shame that injuries stopped his record of 372 goals in 581 games from being any healthier, while he finished his career without having won a European Cup, despite playing for Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.
5. Johan Cruyff
Known for not just playing the game the Total Football way, but also revolutionising the science behind it, Johan Cruyff ranks fifth. He won the European Cup three years on the bounce with Ajax, while he would also claim the same amount of Ballon d'Or mantles during his playing career before completely changing the way the beautiful game was perceived as Barcelona's helmsman.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo settles for fourth, though Mr Champions League himself has already admitted he would place himself first. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is football's all-time top goalscorer, and his backlog of big performances is enviable. But what he perhaps lacks is the creativity side of the game that all his superiors boast in spades.
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3. Diego Maradona
The late but very, very great Diego Maradona was like a sorceror when it came to doing things with a football that nobody had ever seen before, and it's easily debatable whether anyone at present can even do half of the stuff he cut about doing for Argentina and Napoli. The greatest dribbler of all time, he would silence any stadium he played in, such is the attention he demanded.
2. Pele
Claiming a silver medal in the rankings is Brazilian legend Pele - who is still the only player to win three World Cups. Known as the greatest international footballer of all-time, his salad days came when a television wasn't the centrepiece of every hosuehold living room, so it's a testament to his influence that he has survived the sands of time to still be considered among the very best.
1. Lionel Messi
It will hardly come as a surprise that the IFFHS has named Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer of all time. After finally lifting the World Cup in 2022, the little boy from Rosario, Argentina, had nothing left to prove. A master of both scoring and creating, Messi has sent fans into a constant state of frenzy for nearly two decades with his all-around wizardry. See the full rankings below:
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt (correct as of 19/05/2025)