Greatest male footballer of all time

[stu in nottingham]

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Totally agree - if Best had been playing at the top level for much longer then maybe I would include him in the list. But his career at the upper levels was far too short. I would say Gareth Bale is more aggrieved not to be on the list as he's achieved a lot more than Best in his career and consistently at a higher level (e.g. Euros Semi).

I wouldn't agree really. George had over a decade at Old Trafford and was consistently brilliant throughout that time. He'd achieved greatly by the time he was in his early twenties.

In general, players who played in past eras tend to be ignored or underrated in these types of debates - which is perfectly understandable as people see more currently players more often and sometimes even there is little footage to by if we go far back enough. We will never see great and elite players such as Puskas, Di Stefano, Garrincha or even home grown players such as our own Gordon Smith or Matthews, Finney and Duncan Edwards. Indications and repute would say they are likely contenders though.

[JoeT]

Ronaldo 3 Spain 3
He gets my vote

[worcesterhibby]

Messi failed to make the difference today and failed to score a penalty. Lost his side 3 points.

Pele for me. Ronaldo (the thin one) second.

[theonlywayisup]

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I wouldn't agree really. George had over a decade at Old Trafford and was consistently brilliant throughout that time. He'd achieved greatly by the time he was in his early twenties.

In general, players who played in past eras tend to be ignored or underrated in these types of debates - which is perfectly understandable as people see more currently players more often and sometimes even there is little footage to by if we go far back enough. We will never see great and elite players such as Puskas, Di Stefano, Garrincha or even home grown players such as our own Gordon Smith or Matthews, Finney and Duncan Edwards. Indications and repute would say they are likely contenders though.

Let's agree to disagree.

IMO Best isn't even in the top 20 World Best ever players.

[jgl07]

Half those listed are not fit to lace up Eusebio’s boots.

[Scouse Hibee]

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Let's agree to disagree.

IMO Best isn't even in the top 20 World Best ever players.

I agree, he was way ahead of most folk at the bar though.

[theonlywayisup]

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Half those listed are not fit to lace up Eusebio’s boots.

Before my time, but I read....

Eusébio is considered by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time.*During his professional career, he scored 733 goals in 745 matches (41 goals in 64 matches for Portugal).

[JoeT]

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I wouldn't agree really. George had over a decade at Old Trafford and was consistently brilliant throughout that time. He'd achieved greatly by the time he was in his early twenties.

In general, players who played in past eras tend to be ignored or underrated in these types of debates - which is perfectly understandable as people see more currently players more often and sometimes even there is little footage to by if we go far back enough. We will never see great and elite players such as Puskas, Di Stefano, Garrincha or even home grown players such as our own Gordon Smith or Matthews, Finney and Duncan Edwards. Indications and repute would say they are likely contenders though.

George age 33 signs for hibs. Ronaldo age 33 scores hatrick at world cup v fancied Spain

[Skol]

Comparisons are too difficult as they are rarely like for like. I will use sauzee and latapy as an example. There is a case for either to have been the greatest hibs player and they were both great players in their own way. Sauzee was the best, but at time Latapy was just awesome. It might be easier to pick a group of say 5. So for me:

Hibs players I have seen, top 5 would be sauzee, latapy, archibald, collins and either stanton or best - but I was very yound and didnt see much of either

Widen it out to players I have actually seen and I would say Messi, Dalglish, Gascoigne. Laudrup and Bryan Robson

Then players I have seen on the telly and its Ronaldo, Maradona, Van Basten, Beckenbauer and baggio

And finally players I have seen footage of and you have Pele, Best (pre hibs), Di Stefano, Puskas and Eusebio

[stu in nottingham]

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Let's agree to disagree.

IMO Best isn't even in the top 20 World Best ever players.

It's only ever opinion. Happy for you to have yours as I shall have mine.

[stu in nottingham]

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George age 33 signs for hibs. Ronaldo age 33 scores hatrick at world cup v fancied Spain

George was an alcoholic by that time. Not much of a comparison.

[stu in nottingham]

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I agree, he was way ahead of most folk at the bar though.

And every Liverpool player.

[JoeT]

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George was an alcoholic by that time. Not much of a comparison.

And that's a shame and probably why George isn't on the list

[Scouse Hibee]

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And every Liverpool player.

At the bar definitely, couldn't lace Kenny's boots
All about opinions though 👍

[JoeT]

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Comparisons are too difficult as they are rarely like for like. I will use sauzee and latapy as an example. There is a case for either to have been the greatest hibs player and they were both great players in their own way. Sauzee was the best, but at time Latapy was just awesome. It might be easier to pick a group of say 5. So for me:

Hibs players I have seen, top 5 would be sauzee, latapy, archibald, collins and either stanton or best - but I was very yound and didnt see much of either

Widen it out to players I have actually seen and I would say Messi, Dalglish, Gascoigne. Laudrup and Bryan Robson

Then players I have seen on the telly and its Ronaldo, Maradona, Van Basten, Beckenbauer and baggio

And finally players I have seen footage of and you have Pele, Best (pre hibs), Di Stefano, Puskas and Eusebio

I like this post. Players I saw in flesh: Shevchenko, Boban, Maldini, Costacurta, Veron. I saw Milan Lazio 20 or so years ago.
In Scotland: Larsson, Gazza,Laudrup, Franck and JoeT! Maybe Shearer and Rooney at Easter Rd. Rooney was just boy and I loved Blackburn fans joining the "what a waste of money" chant when Shearer played one of his first games for them against us after his huge £4m signing

[superfurryhibby]

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Comparisons are too difficult as they are rarely like for like. I will use sauzee and latapy as an example. There is a case for either to have been the greatest hibs player and they were both great players in their own way. Sauzee was the best, but at time Latapy was just awesome. It might be easier to pick a group of say 5. So for me:

Hibs players I have seen, top 5 would be sauzee, latapy, archibald, collins and either stanton or best - but I was very yound and didnt see much of either

Widen it out to players I have actually seen and I would say Messi, Dalglish, Gascoigne. Laudrup and Bryan Robson

Then players I have seen on the telly and its Ronaldo, Maradona, Van Basten, Beckenbauer and baggio

And finally players I have seen footage of and you have Pele, Best (pre hibs), Di Stefano, Puskas and Eusebio

Decent analogy in principle, except only Collins has a case for being in the top ten Hibees of all time. Sauzee , Latapy, Best and Archie don’t come close, sozza

[sauzee6_2]

Absolutely no contest.......the greatest ever male player was (and is) Franck Sauzee.

[Wee Effen Bee]

🥇it’s Pele...no contest.

[Captain Trips]

My choice is Maradona and with the limited TV viewing we had of him which were mostly world cups and a few games from Italy and Spain there is a very very small percentage of his play on film as a pose to Ronaldo/Messi.

I think it's fair to assume the mass percentage of games we didn't see he was as good.

[Haymaker]

Robin Friday

[lochhibs]

for what maradona done for napoli and argentina in the 80's wins it for me. none of the others on the list would have done what he done.

[monktonharp]

had to go for Di Stephano. when I was a young boy, he was the name around football. Real Madrid, winning the European cup 5 times in that era, it was a given that he was top of the list. Barca were not at the races then. Older fans might mention Gordon Smith. shame he did not play at that higher level as for what I have heard, he was soo good!

[Tomsk]

'Male player'! LOL!

What is this? The Guardian?

[nellio]

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Before my time, but I read....

Eusébio is considered by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time.*During his professional career, he scored 733 goals in 745 matches (41 goals in 64 matches for Portugal).

Went on the benfica stadium tour and museum last year. Fantastic Eusebio exhibit. Great stadium too just gutted there wasn't a game on whilst I was there.

[heretoday]

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Before my time, but I read....

Eusébio is considered by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time.*During his professional career, he scored 733 goals in 745 matches (41 goals in 64 matches for Portugal).

Eusebio is my choice too. I remember being stunned by his speed and control plus explosive shot back in the day. Most defences were too!

I think he would have fitted in to any of the modern day one-touch teams - Spurs, City or whatever.

[Sammy7nil]

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At the bar definitely, couldn't lace Kenny's boots
All about opinions though 👍

As much as I cursed him at times when playing for Scotland when you are talking about the greatest British player i think you start with Kenny D and work backwards there after.

[Stranraer]

Zidane for me. Remember watching him in 1998 and being amazed at how good he was on the ball.

[RyeSloan]

As others have said you really hard to just pick one due to the changes in football over the generations.

Pele followed by Eusébio then Maradona from the 80’s.

The 90’s has some great players (Van Basten and Bergkamp to name but two) but I’m not sure there was one that transcended the game like a true great needs to.

Since then it’s the Ron & Messi show...two true greats that have delivered over such a long period it’s hard to argue that any player can be deserving of being ahead of either of them.

So a top 5 of Pele, Eusébio, Maradona, Ronaldo, Messi.

And as for who is ‘greater’ between Ron and Messi....you simply can’t split them

[Keith_M]

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'Male player'! LOL!

What is this? The Guardian?

That's what I was thinking. It's PC gone mad, I tell ya!


The greatest Male Footballer of all time is the greatest Footballer of all time.

Same goes for Tennis, Rugby, Boxing, Athletics, Cricket, Baseball, American Football, Golf.......



Maybe if Nagging and washing the dishes were sports, it might be a topic for debate

[Barman Stanton]

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Decent analogy in principle, except only Collins has a case for being in the top ten Hibees of all time. Sauzee , Latapy, Best and Archie don’t come close, sozza

I’m sure it was Reilly who said Sauzee would have got a game in the Famous Five team. I would certainly put Sauzee in a top ten Hibs list.