Find Out Everything You Want to Know About Your Favourite Footballer: 10 Best Football Players of All Time! (2020)

Football, also known as soccer in America and Canada, is the most played and watched sport on this planet. This sport was invented in China in 476 B.C., and the first professional game of the modern world was played between McGill University and Yale University in 1869. You would be surprised to know that the first game of basketball was played with a football.

The size of a professional football has a circumference of 28 inches, and it remains unchanged for the last 120+ years. In an unfortunate event, an entire football team was killed when lightning struck them during a game in the year 1998. And, a 20-month-old baby named Bryce Brites became the world's youngest football player in the year 2013.

This legend is a retired Brazilian football player who used to play as a forward in Brazil football team. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) has voted him as World Player of the Century in the year 1999, and Pele also shared World Player of the Century award jointly with Diego Maradona. Pele is the most successful professional footballer and a world record holder for scoring the most number of goals (1282 goals in 1366 games). He is also the only player to have won three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, respectively. Pele is 79 years old, and his current net worth is over $100 million.

Maradona is the only player who earned the honour of sharing the prestigious FIFA Player of the 20th Century award jointly with the great 'Pele'. With a height of just 5'5", he stunned the world with his dribbling skills on the field and was able to establish himself amongst the top players in the world of football. Maradona played 490 matches and scored 259 goals in his career. Later, he started his second career as a Team Manager. Currently, he is the coach of an Argentine Sports Club - Gimnasia de La Plata. Maradona is 59 years old, and his total net worth is about $200,000.

Lionel Messi is a 32-year-old Argentine football player who plays forward and wears the coveted No. 10 jersey. Messi has won a record six European Golden Shoes, a record six Ballon d'Or awards, and also the Olympic Gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Messi announced his retirement in 2016, but overturned his decision and led his country Argentina to qualification in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Messi was the highest-paid footballer for five years between 2009 and 2014 and was also ranked as the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes Magazine in 2019. Messi has scored a total of 498 goals in 625 games till now and is one of the wealthiest soccer players in the world with a net worth upwards of $400 million.

Zinedine Yazid Zidane is a former French professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000, and 2003 respectively, and won Golden Ball in 2006 World Cup as Player of the Tournament. Zidane also won UEFA Champions League for three consecutive years (2016, 2017, and 2018) as a coach.

He is also one of the eight players who have won all the three coveted tournaments - FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or. Zidane took retirement from professional football in 2006. Then for four years, he was involved in charity matches, tours, and events before starting his second career as coach and advisor in 2010. He is currently the Team Manager of Real Madrid, and his current net worth is $85 million.

A Portuguese professional football player, Cristiano Ronaldo, plays forward in the Portugal National Team. Ronaldo has won four European Golden Shoes, five Ballons d'Or, 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year, 2016, and 2017 Best FIFA Men's Player awards, five UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League.

Other noteworthy credentials of Ronaldo include world's most famous athlete by ESPN from 2016 to 2019, world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes Magazine in 2016 and 2017, 100 most influential people in the world in 2014 as per Times and was ranked second in the Forbes list of highest-paid athletes of the decade (2010 – 2019). Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 626 goals in a total of 837 appearances in his career, and his total worth is $460 million.

Ronaldo Nazario is a former Brazilian professional footballer who used to play as a striker in Brazil's team. Ronaldo's credentials include FIFA World Player of the Year for three years (1996, 1997 and 2002), the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 1998, the Ballon d'Or in 1997 and 2002, one of the footballers named in the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living players compiled in 2004 by Pelé, an inductee in the Italian Football Hall of Fame and Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame and Golden Ball for player of the tournament at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

In the year 1998, Nike custom made Nike Mercurial boots R9 for Ronaldo. Owing to his injuries and health-related complications, Ronaldo retired in 2011 after which he was involved in social life and was appointed United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2000 and an ambassador for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Later, Ronaldo bought 51% shares of La Liga club Real Valladolid and became the owner of the club. Ronaldo has scored 414 goals in a total of 616 appearances throughout his career, and his personal wealth is over $165 million.

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff, popularly known as Johan Cryuff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), was a Dutch professional football player and later turned a coach in the second innings of his career. Cryuff won the Ballon d'Or three times in his career (1971, 1973, and 1974), and the Golden Ball player of the tournament in the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

In the 1974 FIFA World Cup final, Cryuff invented a feint that was later named after him as "Cruyff Turn" and is to date replicated in today's games. Cryuff was also chosen as a member of the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in the year 2002, and was named amongst the world's greatest living players in the FIFA 100 list. Johan Cryuff took retirement as a professional footballer in 1984 and started his second career as a team manager in 1985 and continued till 2013 when he was last managing the team of Catalonia before his demise in 2016.

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé, famous as Alfredo Di Stéfano (4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was a professional footballer and coach in Argentina. Alfredo was awarded Ballon d'Or for the European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959; Royal Spanish Football Federation conferred him as the Golden Player of Spain in 2003 (as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years), Pele named him in the elite FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004, and a special Presidents award was issued by FIFA in 2008 (jointly honoured by UEFA and Real Madrid). Alfredo Di Stéfano started his second career as Team Manager in 1967 and continued till 1991. Alfredo scored a total of 487 goals out of 669 appearances in his professional career.

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé, famous as Alfredo Di Stéfano (4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was a professional footballer and coach in Argentina. Alfredo was awarded Ballon d'Or for the European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959; Royal Spanish Football Federation conferred him as the Golden Player of Spain in 2003 (as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years), Pele named him in the elite FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004, and a special Presidents award was issued by FIFA in 2008 (jointly honoured by UEFA and Real Madrid). Alfredo Di Stéfano started his second career as Team Manager in 1967 and continued till 1991. Alfredo scored a total of 487 goals out of 669 appearances in his professional career.

Gerhard "Gerd" Müller was born on 3 November 1945 and is a retired German professional footballer. Nicknamed as "Bomber der Nation" ("the nation's Bomber"), he was honoured with the title of European Footballer of the Year in 1970. Other achievements of Gerd Müller include the prestigious Golden Boot as top goal scorer for scoring 10 goals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup. International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) voted him at the ninth rank for 'European player of the Century' in the year 1999 and was voted 13th in the 'World Player of the Century' election.

Pele named him in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004. Müller has scored an impressive career total of 652 goals in 707 appearances. He is 74 years old now, and sadly, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2015.

Now let's talk about the best football players of the current generation. Though there are so many footballers who are simply magical and have their own fan following, we have tried to choose the top 10 football players in 2019.

We have talked about his professional life and achievements earlier. Still, you would be surprised to know that Messi has known his wife Antonella Roccuzzo since he was five years old as they used to live in the same vicinity. Messi and Antonella have three sons, and they got married in June 2017.

A 28-year-old dutch professional footballer, Virgil van Dijk plays as a centre-back for English Premier League club Liverpool and is also the captain of the Netherlands national team. Having won several prestigious titles and awards, his personal wealth is $20 million.

Ronaldo is father to four children, the identity of the mother of the first child wasn't revealed as per a legal agreement with her. The second and third children are twins whom he fathered via surrogacy, and the fourth child is from Spanish model Georgina Rodrígue, who is in a relationship with Ronaldo.

Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo is an Argentine football player who is 31 years old and plays for the English Premier League club Manchester City as a striker. He was an Olympic Gold Medal Winner in 2008, and the net worth of Sergio Aguero is $80 million.

A French footballer, Kylian plays for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team as a forward. He is just 21 years young and holds the honor to play in the 2018 FIFA world cup winning team and also received the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award in the same tournament.

Neyman Jr. is a 28-year young Brazilian footballer and plays for the Brazil national team, Ligue 1 club - Paris Saint-Germain. A Golden Ball award winner in 2013, his net worth is $185 million.

He plays from Manchester City and is a 25-year-old Portuguese footballer who has already won many prestigious titles and matches. He also plays from the Portugal National Team, and his personal wealth is $15 million.

Andrews plays for or Premier League club Liverpool and captains the Scotland national team. This 25-year-old won the UEFA Team of the Year in 2019, and his net worth is $50 million.

Trent plays for Premier League club Liverpool and the England national team as a right-back and is just 21 years old. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most assists by a defender in a single season (12 assists), and his total wealth is about $8.5 million.

Alisson plays as a goalkeeper for Brazil's national team and Liverpool. He was named The Best FIFA Goalkeeper in 2019, and the net worth of this 27-year-old is about $8 million.