The top 100 players of all time have been ranked by FourFourTwo, some of the ranks will surprise you
Football magazine, FourFourTwo have released a ranking of their top 100 players of all time. Some of the results are unexpected.
FourFourTwo have released their rankings of the top 100 football players of all time. There is a wide range of names from Philipp Lahm to Lionel Messi and both Ronaldos.
The rankings list does explain just how hard it is to choose a definitive 100 players whom are the best of all time, comparing it to a manager's selection headache when they have multiple great players in the same position.
For the most part the list is very fair, nearly all the big names you'd expect to be in the list are in and around there somewhere, whether that be Kaka who is ranked 98th or Lev Yashin who is 31st.
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A lot of the rankings are likely to cause plenty of debate amongst football fans about who should be where and why one player is ahead of the other.
For example, Northern Irish cult football hero, George Best has been placed at number 7 ahead of 10th placed Ronaldo (the Brazilian one!). Have FourFourTwo got this one right?
Unsurprisingly, ex-Barcelona star, Lionel Messi has been given the number one spot, however his long-time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't managed to snatch 2nd place.
Pipping Real Madrid and Portugal legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, for 2nd place is none other than Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi's Argentinian compatriot. This sparks debate over whether Cristiano Ronaldo has ever been that close to Lionel Messi's status in football...
Following Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo are Brazilian and French legends, Pele and Zinedine Zidane coming in at 4th and 5th respectively.
Iconic Barcelona player and manager Johan Cruyff has also cemented himself in 6th place just on the tail of the top 5, a player known for his immense skill and technical ability. Cruyff was also of course one of the most influential managers of all time at Barcelona and Ajax.
It is definitely a tough task to rank the top 100 players of all time and it is a topic that could be dwelled on and discussed for endless amounts of time but it is fair to say FourFourTwo has done a pretty good job.
It is also exciting now to look ahead to the future and wonder if any of today's young superstars will find their way into the high up spots on this list. We're looking at you Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
Bart Smallman