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The 100 greatest footballers to have ever graced the game: from Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona to Cristiano Ronaldo, Johan Cruyff, and many more legends in between.

Trying to determine the finest footballers in history is an almost impossible mission, spanning generations, playing styles, positions, and the lasting influence each individual left on the sport.

And now seems like the perfect moment to revisit this debate: with World Cup 2026 on the horizon, it could mark the final appearance for two icons on this list (and perhaps even more, but we’ll keep that under wraps) as we look back at the sport’s evolution through the lens of its biggest stage.

So buckle up, as we present the ultimate GOAT list – and feel free to share what you think of our choices.

After first compiling this ranking in 2022, FourFourTwo brought together a distinguished panel of football experts to reevaluate and refine the list.

The players featured here have been judged solely on their playing careers — their ability, influence, and contribution to the game — without any extra credit for fame or managerial success, no matter their era or position.

Longevity has been considered, of course, but so too have those whose brilliance shone at its brightest. Statistics are important, but so are the emotions a player could inspire — the joy, awe, or fear they evoked. Our experts deliberated for hours to determine who truly shaped football across the last 150 years.

Quite simply, the history of the world’s most cherished sport cannot be told without these names. This is the story of football itself.

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By the time Mohamed Salah departed Liverpool in 2026, there was nothing left for him to win—nothing left to prove.He arrived with doubters, scored on his debut, and never looked back. Salah became both a cultural icon and a nightmare for opposing defenders, setting a new benchmark for consistency in English football during one of its most competitive periods.Statistically, Salah stands just below Ronaldo and Messi, yet above nearly everyone else in Premier League history. He is unquestionably the most celebrated footballer ever to emerge from the Arab world, and his influence will only grow with time.Career highlight: That incredible debut campaign at Anfield, in which he broke the record for most goals in a Premier League season, was later surpassed in individual brilliance by his 2024/25 performance, when he almost single-handedly carried Liverpool to another league title.

Few careers have taken as unique a path as Gheorghe Hagi’s. For nearly a decade, he was a prolific attacking midfielder in Romania’s top flight before mixed spells at Real Madrid and Barcelona.Between those stints with Spain’s powerhouses came two memorable years in Italy, as part of Mircea Lucescu’s ‘Little Romania’ project at Brescia. After relegation in his first season, Hagi stayed loyal to the club, helping them earn promotion back to Serie A.At 30, when many thought he was winding down, he joined Galatasaray and enjoyed a sensational five-year stretch, winning countless trophies and earning legendary status.Career highlight: USA 1994, when Romania reached the World Cup quarter-finals (eliminating Argentina along the way), inspired by Hagi’s left-footed magic.

“1998 was a great year for French football,” read a Nike advert once. “Kylian Mbappe was born.”If Ronaldo Nazario’s explosive brilliance in 1998 earned him the nickname O Fenomeno, then Mbappe — born that same year — is the new-age La Phénomène. The youngest player on this list has already accomplished more in under three decades than many do in entire careers.A wonderkid turned record-breaker, Galactico, and national captain, Mbappe combines lightning pace, lethal finishing, and undeniable swagger. He has defined the post-Ronaldo/Messi generation with comparable dominance.Career highlight: Winning the 2018 World Cup with France. Although he claimed the Golden Boot four years later, nothing quite matches the youthful exuberance and energy of his World Cup triumph at just 19.

Only four Argentinians have been La Liga’s top scorer — Mario Kempes is among them. A robust and clinical striker for Valencia, Kempes was prolific, especially in the 1976/77 and 1977/78 seasons, and later led the club to victory in the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup.Yet his reputation is defined by his heroics during the 1978 World Cup on home soil, where he scored six goals, won the Golden Boot, and lifted the Golden Ball — becoming only the third man to win the trophy and both awards at one World Cup, alongside Garrincha and Paolo Rossi.Career highlight: Scoring twice in the 1978 World Cup final against the Netherlands, including the decisive goal in extra time.

No one has ever backed up their bravado like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a king among journeymen who made every elite club feel like his own playground.He scored in every major derby imaginable, collected every domestic title possible, and did it all with unmatched flair and confidence. In the digital age, Ibrahimovic became a cultural phenomenon — but as a footballer, few strikers have ever led the line with such arrogance and artistry.Career highlight: It may have been a friendly, but his four-goal masterclass against England in 2012 summed up everything about Zlatan — athletic, elegant, and jaw-droppingly audacious.

Teófilo Cubillas is widely considered Peru’s greatest footballer. Remarkably, he remains the only non-German to score at least five goals in two separate World Cups — in 1970 and 1978 (five in each).Gifted with superb vision and a thunderous shot, he was a genius from set-pieces, striking with precision and technique. After dazzling for Alianza Lima, he thrived at Porto and later joined the Fort Lauderdale Strikers alongside George Best.Career highlight: Leading Peru to their second and most recent Copa America title in 1975, including a semi-final triumph over Brazil.

Sergio Ramos was a fiery competitor — sometimes reckless, even deliberately earning suspensions — yet few defenders have ever influenced the game so profoundly.Scoring over 100 goals for Real Madrid, Ramos was as much a threat in attack as he was a defensive rock. Across two decades, he was pivotal to Madrid’s and Spain’s golden eras, leading with determination and intelligence. Many consider him the finest defender of modern football.Career highlight: His stoppage-time header in the 2014 Champions League final shattered Atletico Madrid’s dreams and secured La Decima for Real — the ultimate dramatic moment for football’s ultimate anti-hero.

Javier Zanetti may not only be one of the best right-backs ever but also one of the most enduring performers in football history.Spending 19 years at Inter Milan, after beginning his career in Argentina, Zanetti became the club’s all-time appearance leader with 858 matches and 16 trophies before retiring at 40. His exceptional stamina, intelligence, and technical mastery allowed him to excel both as a full-back and later in midfield. Across his career, he played 1,115 competitive games — a feat matched by very few.Career highlight: Captaining Inter to their historic Treble in 2010, ending a 45-year wait for European glory.

Djalma Santos, named by Pele among the 125 greatest footballers of all time, was a trailblazer. The two-time World Cup winner was the first Brazilian to earn 100 international caps. Despite starting only one match in the 1958 World Cup, he was still named the tournament’s best full-back — a testament to his brilliance.Alongside Nilton Santos, he pioneered Brazil’s tradition of attack-minded defenders, redefining the full-back role for generations to come.Career highlight: In the 1962 World Cup final against Czechoslovakia, Santos provided the assist for Vava’s decisive goal to seal Brazil’s victory.

When Pep Guardiola calls you a smart footballer, it’s the ultimate compliment.While other full-backs may have had flashier styles or greater engines, none matched Philipp Lahm’s all-round brilliance. His consistency at the top level was so routine it was often underappreciated.Upon retiring in 2017, Lahm was rightly recognised as one of the modern era’s greats — a player of supreme intelligence and technique who mastered both full-back and midfield roles. His trophy haul, from a World Cup with Germany to every major honour at Bayern Munich, speaks for itself.Career highlight: Effortlessly reinventing himself as a central midfielder to captain Guardiola’s Bayern to three consecutive Bundesliga titles.

Current page: The 100 greatest football players of all time: 100–91

Chris Flanagan – Senior Staff Writer

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Matthew Ketchell – Deputy Editor