The greatest football (soccer) player ever?

[the_ultimate_evil]

with dickie best(george best father) recently passing away, it got me thinking back to an old micheal parkinson interview where both pele and best was asked who was the greatest footballer to ever play, pele said it was best and best replied who was he to argue with pelet:

so who do you think was the true greatest, forget what else they did who was the best on the pitch

 

[Odin's Lapdog]

you'd have to make a really hard case against maradona in his prime....

 

[Mr. Thing]

Johan Cruijff.

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[Addendum]

Pelé. Case closed

 

[thehippie]

i'll second Johan Cruijff
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[FaT_tONle]

Jerry Rice...

 

[Alex The Great]

Bob Sanders

 

[Green eyed Hulk]

It has to be Maradona. I've never seen another player who can consistenly win games on his own, damn he even went to a bad Napoli side and won the league twice literally on his own. He is just dismissed due to his private life, but if football is the main measure there was no one bet ter IMO.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

Pele won many games on his own as well with Santos his club team. the thing is he played in Brasil and matches were not as televised as they were in Maradona's time.

When it comes to talent, Best is certainly up there but his discipline was not what it needed to be. Pele had it all plus when he was playing Brazil had many players who would have been considerred extraordianry today.

 

[Green eyed Hulk]

The Argentina and Napoli teams Maradona played in were not that great he made them great, and on the case of Napoli he did it in serie A which was probably the best league at the time. The Cristiano Ronaldo's and David Beckham's of this world couldn't hold a candle to Maradona IMO. Apparently Sheffield Utd had an option to sign him for £200k when he was 17. Damn they missed out there.

 

[Strong Guy]

I believe Pele was the greatest.I even read that there was this one time Pele was playing against this team and he was scoring goals a lot.And the goalkeeper was crying begging him to stop crying.I was like "wow.He was that DAMN good."

 

[giggs11uk]

George Best > Pele

People don't realize how good he is because he didn't have an international team to bring him the same level of fame as Pele.
Same thing with Ryan Giggs he's completley underrated

 

[Gamma Burst]

Pelé.It's not even a contest.

 

[Pluto]

JIM BROWN! He would could have killed in soccer. Trust me.

 

[Two-Face]

As a Man Utd fan I never seen Best play apart from watching videos and DVDs so you have to see a player in action and LIVE!

Anyway I vote RYAN GIGGS, now that's an quality player there,, dribbling, pace and can past four or five players at once see (example) Arsenal vs. Man Utd in 99 FA Cup semi-final, what a run from Giggs and beating Arsenal's extra men, where's Utd had Roy Keane sent off so to do it with 10 men down is amazing. He is the best winger I have watched.

 

[The Game]

As a Man Utd fan I never seen Best play apart from watching videos and DVDs so you have to see a player in action and LIVE!

I totally agree, as much as I love Pele and Maradona, one can not make a grand statement by just watching old footage, you have to see these performers live, which why I say the best footballer I have SEEN in my 20+ years on this earth is Zidane.

 

[Odin's Lapdog]

this whole seeing them live thing is kinda nonesense. How can your vote for the greatest player ever when we are limited to the ones we've seen play within our own lifetimes?

psssh..

the thing about pele and best were that they were pretty much surrounded by greatness in their prime while maradona was surrounded by ordinary players and still made his teams great by just being there.

pele's played in arguably the best internation squad of all time, best played for the man u BUT never made a great contribution for wales.

apart from maradona, the rest of the argentine squad he played for never stood out internationally and he forcibly dragged them to the greatest victory in international sport.

That must mean something.

 

[04nbod]

As a liverpool fan I have to say the one that didn't play for united!

 

[D.Rex]

Pele is the greatest ever no doubt, the things he did will never be done again the most impressive player ever not only the greatest soccer player ever but one of the greatest athletes in any sport

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Bobby Moore all the way. He was the perfect player, team captain and role model off the pitch. Does anyone remember that tackle he did on Pele in the 1970 world cup? Greatest tackle ever. Georgie Best was brilliant but he was a ******** off the pitch so that brings him down. Pele and Maradonna where brilliant aswell, but Maradonna was a coke-head ******** years before he got caught and Pele would sometimes go missing in big matches.

Bobby Moore was the ultimate proffesional and greatest team captain of any sport ever. He'd be rolling in his grave to see J.T leading England now. R.I.P Bobby!

 

[Zephyr Alexian]

Pelé. Case closed

Definitely. He changed the game with his innovative kicks, movements, and more than made up for his lack of scoring with his ability to rally his teams and remain a perennial favorite. This isn't even close.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Lack of scoring? Pele is one of the few players to have over 1000 career goals.

 

[christhn]

David Beckham! j/k

Pele all the way.

 

[mcentepede]

I like soccer/football. Not my number 1 sport, but I watch it on t.v., live when I get the chance and read articles and books and listen at the testimonials. My opinion is regulated to all this plus "World Cup" action, which everybody at least watches at a given point (Even the girlfriends). I would have to got with Pele, Maradona, Best, Zidane. In that order. Fortunately, I saw filmed action of 3 of these guys. Maradona has to be up there, 1986 world cup was his peak, hard to stop him then. Pele regarded as the best athlete of the past century for his sport. Even his movies, looked good when he does his bike kick shot. That's it. Zidane won his World Cup for France and his head-butt was a classic.

 

[ih8nyy]

Capt. John Colby from the Movie "Victory".