The 20 greatest football players of all time

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Pele… The list of legends who have defined and redefined the beautiful game is endless. But who is the greatest of them all? Introducing The Soccer 100: A celebration of the greatest players in football and their definitive ranking by Oliver Kay, James Horncastle and The Athletic’s football writers. Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Joe Devine was joined by Oliver Kay, Amy Lawrence, Nick Miller and Carl Anka to go through the top 20 players as ranked in The Soccer 100 and they also reveal their own rankings The Soccer 100 is available now wherever books are sold or in the link below: https://bit.ly/thesoccer100 Read selected excerpts from The Soccer 100 on The Athletic: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/tag/soccer-100/ ------------ Timestamps: 00:00:00 The Soccer 100 - The story of the greatest players in history 00:00:35 20. Bobby Charlton 00:04:48 19. Franco Baresi 00:07:11 18. Lev Yashin 00:08:38 17. Paolo Maldini 00:11:39 16. Marco van Basten 00:16:08 15. George Best 00:18:41 14. Garrincha 00:20:58 13. Gerd Muller 00:23:48 12. Ronaldo Nazario 00:28:18 11. Eusebio 00:31:16 10. Michel Platini 00:32:07 9. Ferenc Puskas 00:33:45 8. Zinadine Zidane 00:37:02 7. Franz Beckenbauer 00:38:43 6. Alfredo Di Stefano 00:40:55 5. __________ 00:47:45 4. __________ 00:51:08 3. __________ 00:54:46 2. __________ 00:59:29 1. __________ #football #worldcup #soccer ------------ Try The Athletic for FREE for 30 days: https://theathletic.com/checkout2/intro30/?source=video_youtube_theathleticfc Watch our latest uploads here 👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9HdRjQJ0mH6bJW9MeLavdgTi-vMbJtrg&si=uKJJXdcnzAYGWiJo 💻 🎧 Watch the Tifo Football Podcast here https://www.youtube.com/@tifo-podcast 📬 Sign up for The Athletic FC Newsletter here for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-athletic-fc/ Follow The Athletic FC: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAthleticFC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theathleticfc TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theathleticfc Listen to The Athletic Football Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/TAFPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/69AAB4ojTuK7gwy3ZdQdB9 Subscribe to The Athletic FC newsletter for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-athletic-fc/ Follow The Athletic's Premier League WhatsApp Channel here: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va4OzCyKwqSbZb1pna0K ------------ Additional footage sourced from AP Newsroom