Messi's career almost reads as fiction, too good to be true. Living and watching football in his era is the only way one can quantify and comprehend what he's managed. I can't imagine I'll see a better player in my lifetime.
And yet Pele was still better, had a better goals to games ratio, scored more goals and won 3 World Cups. Only reason he didn't win the Ballon D'or is because he wasn't based in Europe when that was the qualification for it.
@@garymaidman625 firstly, the Ballon d’Or committee did do a rerun of the winners if South American players were eligible for voting and Pelé would’ve won 7, same as Messi.. Also, Pelé’s time is from a bygone era…Football has changed drastically from Pelé’s era to modern Football.. You can say, Pelé is the Best from the Older Generation (past - 1970s), whereas Messi is the Best from the Modern Era (1970s - present)
@@vb2388 true, it's close, but the fact that he has won 3 World Cups does it for me. No other player has ever won 3. R9 is the only other player that came close.
Yeah, this is just a video in RUclips with the goal of promoting Messi and CR7, nothing to take too seriously. 1988 balloon d'or is worthy all 5 and 7 balloon d'or of Messi and CR7 combined. You will never find another single performance so dominant like that year.
Putting Owen before Nedved is insane. Owens career was done at the age of 25, Nedved was an absolute baller till 37. Owen has to be 44th or 45th regardless of his talent during his liverpool days
Matthias Sammer is maybe the best German central mitfielder after Matthäus and Kroos and maybe Ballack, he is one of the best Germans ever, should be 20+
I notice the large amount of Seria A recipients of this award but the fact that Kaka was the last player to win while playing in Seria A back in 2007 really shows the drastic decline of that league and Italian football in general
@@eggselent9814 agree. Of the top 5 leagues, I personally would rank it as the PL as first, the Bundesliga as second, Ligue 1 as third, Serie A as fourth and La Liga as fifth. Third and fourth is a lot closer than fourth and fifth btw.
Micheal owen ahead of George weah is something I’d wholeheartedly disagree with. But also FINALLY someone said it about cannavaro. To me he was so up and down in terms of consistency
@@xxxs8309 oui mais c'était un vote sur l'année à cette époque, sextuplé pour Liverpool, et le point sur la carrière a été de nouveau supprimé pour éviter l'arnaque Messi/Lewandowski
So uderrated these days... I hated him when he betrayed Gullit, but in prespective it wasn't his fault. The son of a very rich man, Vialli played just because he loved the game.
He would have turned 60 3 days ago. I brought him up to my mate, amazing seeing him shouted out on this vid, made my day. Incredible person and player.
Glad to see someone appreciate the talents of Lothar Matthäus. I remember back in the late 90s, when germany probably had the worst team ever, Matthäus at 39 was still the best player on the field compared to everyone else, including the younger ones. Guy played top class for 2 decades straight.
No, he was not! Absolutely not! It was basically his fault that we lost to Croatia in 98 and even in 2000 when the team was rubbish he was not. Mehmet Scholl was our best player in 2000 and in 98 Möller was better, Hässler was better, even Klinsmann was better. But that 2000 team is actually an interesting case. Only one year before that Bayern reached the CL final with 10 German players in their starting line up. So there were good enough players there. But Erich Ribbek just wasn't Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Started Italia90 on fire but after the Dutch game Germany struggled through the tournament.They were Dreadful against the Czechs in the Quarter final.And England probably the better side in the semi .But they got the job done .Good captain .
@@realmadridkingsofeurope1394 and?? How is this better than Modric?? 5* Champions league, 2 medals fro World cup with dark horse Croatia...much better resume TBH...and also Modric still balling out at 37!!!
Both them and Rivaldo were better players than Figo. His win in 2000 for what should be seen as a poor season for him only happened because of the fuss around his transfer.
2:20 Igor Belanov 3:34 Pavel Nedved 4:05 Matthias Sammer 4:40 George Weah 5:15 Paolo Rossi 5:50 Allan Simonsen 6:32 Michael Owen 7:16 Fabio Cannavaro 8:07 Jean-Pierre Papin 8:45 Florian Albert 9:30 Kevin Keegan 10:08 Karim Benzema 10:52 Andriy Shevchenko 11:23 Hristo Stoichkov 12:03 Josef Masopust 12:32 Kaka 13:01 Dennis Law 13:34 Luka Modric 14:12 Rivaldo 14:40 Luis Figo 15:14 Oleg Blokhin 15:47 Ruud Gullit 16:24 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 16:57 Raymond Kopa 17:34 Omar Sivori 18:00 Gianni Rivera 18:32 Roberto Baggio 19:11 Luis Suarez 19:55 Ronaldinho 20:24 Marco Van Basten 21:00 Zinedine Zidane 21:42 Lothar Matthaus 22:33 Stanley Matthews 23:17 Gerd Muller 24:00 George Best 24:33 Bobby Charlton 25:12 Eusebio 25:56 Lev Yashin 26:37 Michel Platini 27:14 Franz Beckenbauer 27:56 Ronaldo 28:46 Johann Cruyff 29:36 Christiano Ronaldo 30:20 Alfredo Di Stefano 31:09 Lionel Messi
It's a crime against football that Sammer was given the award when Ronaldo clearly deserved it far more, scoring almost a goal per match at the age of 19. Ronaldo only lost BY ONE VOTE, and it's a clear case of some old farts not wanting to give the award to a teenager.
Putting Benzema below Sheva, Modric below Rummenigge, Nedved below Owen makes no sense. This guy doesn't know football at all. Also, I'd personally rate Müller above Kaiser Franz, because both Breitner and Beckenbauer acknowledged Gerd as the best and most important player of their dynasty.
Hey Alfie, you should do a video on the rise and fall of Portuguese team Belenenses-SAD or B-SAD. They were a team which was only founded in 2018 and, played in the Portuguese first division last season, but are now being faced with relegation from the second division. They have a interesting history, although rather short, and i’m sure you could turn their story into a very interesting video.
These rankings are always interesting to watch. I really like and usually agree with Alfie's takes on things... But If there is one point that I kinda struggle to understand is why he holds Michael Owen in such high regard. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge he was very gifted and could've had an even greater career If it wasn't for injuries... But I still feel like Alfie sometimes overestimates his talents and judges more for what he could've been than for what he actually was . 😅 Maybe it is because he grew UP with Owen being that teenage superstar of english football, and that proximity leaves a bigger impression. As a Brazilian, maybe I didn't have this closer look on his football. Anyway, disagreements are healthy to the discussion. Another great video from probably my favorite Football RUclips Channel.
@@daarom3472 there was 2 English guys over van bastan. 1 had arguably the greatest longevity of any footballer playing into his late 40s which is insane. The other being a star of a world cup winning team who also finished second in the balon'dor twice who was regarded as one of the best from his generation
It‘s English bias. Alfie always overrates English players. I mean putting Gerd Müller behind the English greats? Gerd Müller won everything there is to win as a footballer and he was the main reason why his teams performed so well. He made Bayern a giant in European football and led the golden era of German football. Also his goal rate is absolutely insane.
@@kaiharding7996 last time I checked Charlton did win significantly less trophies than Gerd Müller. He also scored less goals. I mean he was a great player but as Alfie said he wanted to look at the entirety of a player’s career
Could be an interesting video (or livestream, I guess?) to break down the Ballon d'Or voting from each year and give your thoughts on who should've won, who got overlooked etc., maybe also considering players from outside of Europe before the Ballon d'Or voters actually did.
You were right, I would love a video ranking individual Ballon d'Or years/seasons. Obviously that would be a crazy long video so maybe just do it from the year 2000 onwards?
@@SWARM_777 that is my point. One can't compare Ballon D'or wins between the two players because one wasn't eligible to win them. If he was, he would have won multiple times.
@@garymaidman625 , we did not say Pele wasn't great just because he never won a ballon d'or. It's just that the criteria of the video would only comprise of ballon d'or winners. Just like if a video of best goalkeepers or golden boot winners would only consist of goalkeepers or golden boot winners. Those videos do not mean others were never good enough. If a video of great players or world cup winners then Pele would be included. It's just a criteria.
Oh man it feels surreal that we have been witnessing two of the greatest players of all time week in and week out for almost two decades now. How lucky are we
@@elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633 That's because one is 21 and the other 24 my point is if they could keep playing like they have been for 10-15 more years. Its a big if as that's the reason why Best, Ronaldinho, CR9 and at least a few others aren't in the same category as CR7 and Messi.
@@weixiangpeh6988 especially when he says that he is looking on the entire career of the winners and not the calendar year they won the award. Must be English bias
@@tristanhoepffner1815 British bias, fact he put George Best so high despite the fact Best was finished at the top level so early shows it. He put Zidane in 15th lmao.
I have followed Real Maddrid since 1964 and I assure you that Di Stefano was considerably better than Cristiano. In fact, the difference is almost grotesque I would have one Di Stefano before 2 or 3 Cristianos. Not even close.
@@oommcc Sensationalism & nostalgia comment. Ain't no way was Di Stefano a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo. Was he greater than Ronaldo in real Madrid? Yes that I can accept... Was he greater than Ronaldo if he compare their overall careers? Hell No. Was he better than Ronaldo? Hell No. Being more versatile doesn't necessarily equate to being better.
@@SmartPsychopat1 Absolute nonsense. Of course he was better, he was a lot better. He wasnt just a great finisher (that too, with better ratio) but unlike Cristiano he was also able to distribute, conduct, dribble, manage the tempo, etc. Not even close. Just to compare them shows great ignorance.
@@oommcc No Di Stefano is not a better player than Ronaldo.. Di Stefano was a great player but he is no Cristiano. This thing football fans do in trying to discredit or limit Ronaldo to just being a goal scorer in insane... Barring Messi who is better than him & Pele who is on the same level as him individually to some extent, there's no other player better than Cristiano in history. His impact, his consistency, his longetivity, big game performances, & influence on the pitch in a modified way as he grew older surpasses that of Di Stefano career wise easily. Whatever you just said Di Stefano could do, John Charles was also doing that,both are not better than Cristiano. Ronaldo could dribble, the fact he became more predictable post 2015 in his dribbling doesn't mean he wasn't a menace in that aspect prior to 2015.. Ronaldo could also distribute too, this is actually one of Ronaldo's most underrated strait. For setting the tempo, yes di Stefano was better but Ronaldo didn't have to do that, he had Kroos, Xabi Alonso, & modric over the years.
Nostalgia has gotten the better of you. Ronaldo is 2nd, his records speak for themselves. Only bested by Messi. They are the greatest of all time. The older game was so slow, awful defending, no healthy nutrition, poor physique. I could go on. We shouldn’t be so quick to think that was came before was better, because it wasn’t.
hey i disagree with you're telling older gen were too slow ,awful...etc so here r the points i have to support my argument 1) yeah old were less athletic compare to modern footballers cause modern fitness technolgies were improved to increase the athletisism and medicine industry also developed to reduce injuries. 2)in mordern era analytics,statistics, what are all the box to check to improve my skill have been developed hence it will increase the players efficiency . 3)yeah modern athletes are far athletic,skillful,and better players compare to older generation , 4) but the greatness is not measured like that , it is measured by how dominant they were to their peers, alfredo is the goat of his time period no one can come close when he's in his prime he won 2 ballondors in his 30 and he also retires in his early 30s. but it is not the case with cristiano in his time messi is goat . but by the stats,awards u can logically make argument that cr7 is greater than alfredo ,but brother greatness is not measured by stats it is measured by how we are dominant to ur peers. 5) i'm not a hardcore football guy , i'll watch it sometimes . i'm a quiet basket ball guy since from 2007 i started watching basketball so i have a knowledge about, in basketball mj is the goat no one can disagree with it otherthan hardcore lebron fans , eventhough lebron is has more points,assists,rebounds in any stats catagory but doesn't come close to mj by dominance . literally many nba players were feared him, that's the level of dominance that is wgat makes him as goat not his stats. yeah that's it .
Maybe we could do 7 players 'robbed' of the Ballon D'or. Whether it be for players such as Pelé who was unable to receive it due to not being European, Lewandowski not getting it due to the awards being voided in 2020, or simply just players who were better in a certain year than the eventual winner.
@@brrrrrtenjoyer how about you check stats. Lewa won the UCl in 19/20. He deserved it more than Messi. If it wasn't for Corona virus lewa would have won.
Only disagreement, and it could just be because of his immense influence, but I think George Weah could be higher on the list, but since you said career was a criteria, he almost certainly didn't have as successful of a career as those who came above him, so it makes sense in that regard.
George Weah became the leader of an entire nation; so if Aristotle would be putting together that list, then Weah would be NR. 1, and it wouldn't be even close.
@@bababababababa6124 Quite a lot. In April they were purchased by some crypto bro types that had made a previous unsuccessful attempt to buy Bradford City. They promised the world but are currently 20th in League 2, just sacked a manager after 3 games, are selling a main striker to the league's bottom club (if not happened already) with other senior players allegedly being dropped and there's a lot of just bad vibes there right now
@@chlcrk I’m pretty sure the manager resigned, rather than was sacked, due to disagreements about transfers (like selling their best striker to relegation rivals, which has already happened). They’re basically people who don’t really know anything about football, with the chairman even being in the dug out for a recent match. Feel sorry for the fans to be put through this. Just another reason why Crypto needs to die
Ronaldinho . Those five years had some of the most amazing ball skills I have ever seen . Imagine if he had the drive of Messi or Ronaldo . I am just glad that I got to watch who I think was the most talented player ever to play although for such a short period .
Holy shit, the amount of research for such a video 😆 I can think of (in random order, just counting the numbers) 1 Alex Ferguson 2 Guardiola 3 Rinus Michels 4 Cruyff 5 Mourinho 6 Bobby Robson 7 Jupp Heynckes 8 Trappatoni 9 Arrigo Sacchi 10 Ancelotti 11 Capello 12 Brian Clough 13 Shankly 14 Paisley 15 Herrera 16 Happel 17 Lattek 18 Hitzfeld 19 Del Bosque ..on the top of my head - not even halfway there!!
@@foa0695 As a LFC fan myself, I'd agree - I was typing on the move, so I just went with the first I could think of :P 20 Klopp 21 Arsene Wenger 23 Matt Busby 24 Marcelo Lippi 25 Roberto Mancini ..that makes halfway to 50 lol.
to put Ronaldo 3rd when he has the 2nd most Ballon D'Or's in an Era where the 1st most played is crazy. Not to mention all the world records he holds...
I found out just over the holidays that my granddad was at the 3rd/4th playoff at the 1966 world cup and watched Eusebio score against Yashin in a 2-1 win for portugal
Kaka's ranking is insane, but I can only imagine how hard it must have been to put together this list. Great shouts on most spots. Thanks for putting this together.
Can't believe you still haven't done a top 7 passers of all lime list on this channel... I mean we all know who would be number 1 but still it would be good to see who fills out the rest of the list.
He's the 5th best player of all time in any knowledgeable person's opinion. It's not hate it's just neglect of how much people have enormously overrated him for the last 15 years and have had the audacity to say he's more worthy of the title of best ever than Messi. It's ridiculous.
Di Stefano over CR7, R9 and R10 is criminal. The guy played in an era where smoking was commonplace as well as the game just isn’t what it has been in the last 30 years in regards to tactics, physicality and many other things. MVB, Platini, Cruyff and Zidane should be right behind them too. Wow.
For those struggling w/no 2, I think due to recency bias Di Stefano’s achievements with Real Madrid aren’t put into proper perspective. His 5 European cups back-to-back (& 8 La-Liga) are the reason why Real Madrid holds itself to a higher standard and are seen as the number 1 glamour club. Di Stefano is Real Madrid! The totality of his game (we haven’t seen @ that level since) offers more to a team than Cristiano’s athleticism and goal scoring alone. Di Stefano was scoring like a striker and then some lol.
Ronaldo is top 5 on assists as well tho… he also has 5 CL wins, dominated three different leagues and won 5 ballon dors over the greatest player of all time. I don’t care what di Stefano did, he’s not close.
@@BenV7_ De Stefano also won 5 ucl’s carrying his team and scoring in ALL 5 finals, he could’ve won 4-5 ballondors or even more if it was made in his early days. I do still think cr7 is 2nd but it’s really close
People who think Pele is the greatest care about marketing, not football. Pele got famous because he played a lot of friendly games in Europe, but never played in a top league. Brazillians don't even think he is the best, they prefer Garrincha. If you think Pele is the best, you don't know football.
I prefer Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima tbh. But I believe that it highly depends on which players you grew up with. As a Dutchman I was brought up with the idea of Johan Cruijff being our absolute greatest player ever. Cruijff however, stopped playing in 1983, when I was one year old. How could Cruijff be my personal Nr. 1 when I only know him from archived footage? I believe there is no best player ever, there are only best players of eras, years or decades. For me Dennis Bergkamp is bigger than Cruijff because I saw him play at Ajax, Internationale, Arsenal and the national team. So, for some Pele truly was the greatest Brazilian, but others prefer Garincha, Ronaldo or Ronaldinho and they are all correct!
Suggestion for a sequel: ranking every ballon d’or winning season - e.g. Messi in 2022 would be middle of the pack, but Messi 2012 would be right at the top.
Video idea: With CR7’s move to the Saudi league, you should do a seven of the best players to move to a relatively obscure league in their career, evaluated based on their playing level at the time of the move (iniesta, del piero, zico, hulk, oscar, xavi, etc.)
Xavi and Inestia moved to Asian leauges because they didn't wanted to face Messi and cristiano moved to Al Nasr because he wanted to save his most important goals record from Messi
To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, France Football published a reevaluation of the awards presented before 1995, when only European players were eligible to win the award. 12 out of the 39 Ballons d'Or presented during this time period would have been awarded to South American players & Pele would have won 7.
@@garymaidman625 because Pele played in a much weaker era. He is not even the best from his nation. I do not know why Ronaldo does not get the same love Pele does. Pele did not even play in the second world cup. If Ronaldo was not injured he would have won 1998 world cup and contended for the 2006 world cup... That would be 3/4 world cups!
To put Zidane in the same basket as Maradona Pele Cryuff di Stefano Messi CR7 is as ridiculous as putting him in the same basket as Iniesta Xavi Laudrup Baggio and the likes. He belongs somewhere in between probably the 15-20 in the GOAT list.
@@oommcc Look back at ronaldos career.Started off as a winger-midfielder at united. He was the best dribbler in 2008, came to real madrid scored 450 goals with 131 assists in 438 matches. Got a serious knee injury in 2014 and adapted to becoming a striker. Won the ucl three times in a row.He wouldve won the ballon dor in 2018 if not for the rape case at the time. Went to juventus and became the top scorer of the seria a . He won portugal their only 2 major trophies. If messi wasn't in this generation ronaldo would have atleast 11+ ballon dors, I understand putting messi above ronaldo . Hes definitely 2nd best if not the best of all time.
Messi is easily the reflection of how Pele, Di Stefano, George Best would have looked like playing these days. So much more than goals and assists. I salute you for recognizing de Stefano at 2nd olace ahead of Cruyff and Cristiano. I feel the rankings are more like how good these players were in their non ballon do'r winning season.
I agree on this, Alfie did a great job there. The list shows his love of Football History, and football has existed association-wise for a century and a half - CLX odd in fact.
Players used to score goals at a much higher rate than Messi/Ronald. There were 10+ players like that in Europe alone any given season. But yeah, rewrite history to suit your bias haha
The only player you can truly compare to Messi is Maradona and maybe Puskas, because they were left-footed as well and their left foots were ultra precise, same as Messi's.
@@theawesome1rjcfootball statistics at those times were kick the ball in the net 😂 don’t compare that era to the organised defencive systems of late 80s onwards
Hey I have a a question, would you ever consider to make a video on Lev Yashin? I think his story and how he became one of the best goalkeepers would he amazing to hear!
@@tancredelegalileen9777this guy has a personal agenda against ronaldo, it seems. And Müller not being on the top 5 is not just stupid, but funny as well.
@@tancredelegalileen9777 Cause Ronaldo is a striker and messi a winger yet messi can score more although the ballon dor is basically based off goals and what you won he only won cause he won the champions league
If only you saw Di Stefano you would understand that its actually blasphemous to even suggesst Cristiano as number 2. Di Stefano wasnt better tha Cristiano, he was twice or even three times as good. Not even close.
If maradona was eligible, he would have won in ‘85-87 and ‘89-‘90. England-based players have always been under-represented. Kevin Keegan should have won at least one more ballon dor, had to leave England to win his award. Some of those ‘75-85 Liverpool greats should have been a lot higher in the voting too - rush, dalglish, etc. If English teams were eligible for Europe, John Barnes would have certainly challenged for a ballon dor at least twice.
i always found it weird that from the great liverpool team of the 70s and 80s only keegan the ballon d'or won and from the man United team in the 60s three players with charlton, law and best, although liverpool was much more succesfull. Liverpool in the 70s/80s is probably the most underrated team in the history of football
@@footballchannel8430 100%. Won 4 out of 6 champions leagues. (In an era by the way, when English teams slaughtered Europe - 7 out of 10 UCLs between Liverpool, Vila and Forest.) Domestic dominance vs incredible competition. Treble in 1984. The fewest goals allowed ever in a 42 game season. Scoring records for rush. Those Liverpool teams - as much as they were hyped at the time - are under-appreciated today.
Putting CR7 third behind DiStefano makes this a completely emotional list. There is no question where Ronaldo stands in any list based on career facts. Ranking Owen so high is a similarly emotional take.
I think the Ballon d'or award is unfair because this award is only for players who play in the front or midfield. while the defense or goalkeeping department is rarely appreciated for this award, in my opinion the ballon d'or award should be divided per category. Football is a game that involves all the players. If only the forwards or the middle players win the most, I think it's not fair
I understand your point but at the end it's pretty easily explained imo. Firstly, dividing it would just take away the meaning even if it might be more fair. At the end of the day attackers are the ones who can make the difference by themselves. Defenders as players are rarely as good because no defender can do alone what a great attacker can do alone, it's much more about the collective and tactical setup than the individual. It's also why worse teams tend to focus on defending because you can compensate for a lack of quality in defense through tactics but you can rarely compensate for a lack of attacking quality
Hmmm,up the top of my head right now post 90's United Carrick Chelsea Williams Arsenal Febregas Liverpool Henderson Man City Bernardo Silva Spurs Eriksen Everton Fellani
You should do one on best players to miss being world cup winners, when their team won like you mentioned Papin either for slightly being too old, young, injury, disagreements etc.
It's hard to judge player from so long ago based on 8 min RUclips vids, but I'd say Puskas>Di Stefano. Looking at the highlights, Puskas looks a lot smoother and more like a modern player.
@@Prasko131 Still better then Messi and Im fan of neither of them, Just for few things That CR7 u ridicule well came from Celtic god damn what club is thaat oh shitt when to demolish England then Spain against arguablly strongest Barcelona world has seen then slaped Itally, Messi cae from Barcelona slaped Spain then went to PSG did something then oh well who cares where he is now, I am not a fan of either I think Ronaldinho and Kaka even maybe to some extent Modric are on par if not better then those 2 considering it all Ronaldinho IMO untachouble. Kaka simple player but efficient. Modric arguablly best passing world has ever seen and still plays for top league and top club in the world, But oh well
@@mikenogen Under Park, we won an AFF Cup, two back-to-back SEA Games, and a runner-up in the AFC U-23 Championship (first Southeast Asian team to do so). We reached a fourth place finish in the Asian Games and the quarterfinals of the AFC Asian Cup. We also became the first Southeast Asian team to win a match in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers. By no means are we "overrated" lol.
Alfie, would you consider doing a video with seven bosman players who sold out their career's for money? Not old over the hill players who wind's down in the middle east for example. Rather someone like Max Meyer, who at the time was 22, an international for Germany and a future hot shot. Since his wage demands scared away bigger and better clubs than Crystal Palace. Four and a half years later now and I saw that he plays for Luzern in Switzerland, previously played in Denmark. Not the career many predicted for him.
I hope Messi get the Super Ballon d.OR, because he's completed football, that would attract every new generation footballer to follow Messi's foot step or even surpassed him.
No I agree with the position, just not enough goals for such a talented player which give you the ultimate high ranking position in history. Still a great player but he's not better than the 13 above him.
@@lenburnette9556 his job wasnt scoring goals tho, also when he needed to score most he did, world cup 2 goals cl final goal etc, goals isnt the only aspect of the game that matters
@@Coalitionz Yeah Shotz but we are comparing the all time greats here. What you said about what Zidane did above, Platini did exactly the same - goal in the Euro 1984 final breaking the deadlock, winning penalty in the Euro Cup (CL) 1985 final beating defending champions Liverpool, plus top league scorer 3 seasons straight in a brutally defensive Italian football back then. You are saying Zidane should be placed higher, but there is no evidence there to prove that.
@@Coalitionz ZZ won 1998 Ballon d'Or after WC success but he was sent off during the tournament, missed a match, needed Lilian Thuram to save the semi final against Croatia - his best match was the final but he didn't dominate the tournament before the final. But again, he has a great career, loved his dribbling, but the ones above him had even greater impacts in their Ballon d'Or years.
It's funny how all these useless inconsistency arguments against Zidane are spewed by the people that rate Ronaldinho and such... Zidane might be just a big games man, but he's the greatest of them all... Bomber and Zidane not being top 10 is sacrilegious
Karmim benzema deserves more respect. That CL run was the best run in its history. Those comeback victories were unheard of. The quality of opponents on the way to the CL was the hardest I have ever seen. They played the 3 best teams and the previous years CL champions. He should be higher for what he did not even mentioning what he did in La Liga
I absolutely adored Owen growing up, but putting him ahead of Rossi (a World Cup winner, Golden Boot winner, and European Cup winner) is absolutely criminal tbh.
I‘m sorry but Gerd Müller should definitely be in the Top 10. He had an unbelievable career being the main reason why Bayern became a giant in European football and the German national team winning the World Cup and the euros with his insane goal rate. One could also argue for Zidane being higher on the list. He also won everything with him being the main man.
@@epicmarschmallow5049 Müller's best WC was obviously in 1970, when he scored a ridiculous 10 goals. Who do you say was West Germany's best player in 74? Breitner?
According to results he is the best ever and would add by miles. According to entertainment well, there are maybe 100 better than him. It is a dilemma.
I think it would be prudent to add that the current Ballon D'or is a very different award from the Pre 2007 Ballon D'or. In the days of Shevchecnko and Owen the Ballon D'or wasn't the award that signified the recognised "best player in the world". That was the Fifa world player of the year. The awards were merged in 2007. Pre 2007 there were years where Uefa gave the Ballon D'or to the next best player in a sort of consolation award. In 2004 Ronaldinho was clearly the best player on earth and duly won the Fifa world player of the year award. but the Ballon D'or was given to Shevchenko who although great wasn't at the level of a few other players that year. Like wise the year Micheal Owen won he was no where near the top player in the world that year. Fifa world player of the year award that year going to Luis Figo. now that both awards have been merged there its much less confusion. If they had been merged prior. r( Ronaldo probably would have won 3 or 4 Ballon D'ors
Complete bollocks. FIFA was always a clown award that relied on stardom than substance. For example Zidane and Ronaldo being nominated in 03 and Zidane winning it despite doing nothing worthy of it. If anything, merging with FIFA brought the integrity of Ballon picks of those years into question. I agree Owen shouldn't have won that year though. Raul had performances on a higher level of competition
@@4zafinc I think “complete bollox” is a bit harsh. I wasn’t saying the fifa award had any integrity. I was just saying that that was the award the signified the recognised player of the season where as Ballon D’or would go to player like shevchenko and Owen as a secondary award. Also you said merging brought integrity. That’s pretty much what I said. I was just stating historical facts and circumstance. To come in and call what I wrote “complete bollox” is a bit extreme
@@tiekumark okay bollocks was harsh, I concede. Immediate reaction, sorry about that. As for the merger, I said it brought Ballon's integrity down a bit. Not uplift it. As for Owen and Shevchenko, I thought Raul and Deco were more worthy candidates. However they were still better picks over FIFA winners of those years- Zidane and Ronaldo. Like I said both of them won on virtue of being superstars than actual performance that year (Calender year of both those awards might've been different though. I don't remember exactly). So Ballon was more accurate representation of the performance whereas FIFA award was PR event. A lot of the participating coaches and captains of membership countries that voted dint even follow club football on a regular basis back then. Ballon actually had a dedicated panel that took yearly performance into consideration. Not all years might seem to have been adjudged correctly, but at least the intention was there
Fair play. I read the integrity but wrong. I mean the whole integrity verses actual performance argument can easily be levelled at both awards. I’m 42 years old. I clearly Remeber who the best player in the world in 1996 season was. It was R9 Ronaldo and it wasn’t even close. He won Fifa World player of the year that year. Ballon D’or went to Mathias Sammer who granted had a wonderful champions league campaign that year but was not the best player that season
It's been 27 years but I've still never seen anyone convincingly explain why George Weah was selected in 1995 instead of Jari Litmanen. Would love to see a specific video about that.
If u took the longevity factor out of the equation, this list would change significantly. One can only imagine what Ronaldo's or Ronnie's careers would look like had they been more focused in their training (and free of injuries)
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
Messi's career almost reads as fiction, too good to be true. Living and watching football in his era is the only way one can quantify and comprehend what he's managed. I can't imagine I'll see a better player in my lifetime.
And yet Pele was still better, had a better goals to games ratio, scored more goals and won 3 World Cups. Only reason he didn't win the Ballon D'or is because he wasn't based in Europe when that was the qualification for it.
@@garymaidman625 shut up
Ring me up when he plays in Europe
@@garymaidman625 firstly, the Ballon d’Or committee did do a rerun of the winners if South American players were eligible for voting and Pelé would’ve won 7, same as Messi..
Also, Pelé’s time is from a bygone era…Football has changed drastically from Pelé’s era to modern Football..
You can say, Pelé is the Best from the Older Generation (past - 1970s), whereas Messi is the Best from the Modern Era (1970s - present)
@@garymaidman625 he was shit compared to Messi he couldn’t do half the things Messi did and scored less. What a fruad
@@vb2388 true, it's close, but the fact that he has won 3 World Cups does it for me. No other player has ever won 3. R9 is the only other player that came close.
3 ballon d’or while retiring at age 28 due to a career full of injuries.
Van basten is one of the most overlooked superstars
Yeah, this is just a video in RUclips with the goal of promoting Messi and CR7, nothing to take too seriously. 1988 balloon d'or is worthy all 5 and 7 balloon d'or of Messi and CR7 combined. You will never find another single performance so dominant like that year.
@@NelloPotri-gw6weThis is blatantly false
South American Players were not considered for Ballon D'or in those days . So yeah he is good but not the best . It's pretty arguable fact to state .
@@NelloPotri-gw6we genuinely delusional
@volkan7844 nah..... you know only CR7 and Messi. The only competitor is 1984 balloon d'or.
One of the few occasions where being the worst is actually a high achievement it simply shows the immense quality that make up this list
I made a video on Messi being the most overrated player to ever play a sport
You should all check it out
Greatest player to not win it despite being European - Ferenc Puskas.
Putting Owen before Nedved is insane. Owens career was done at the age of 25, Nedved was an absolute baller till 37. Owen has to be 44th or 45th regardless of his talent during his liverpool days
Yup and Charlton up there in top 🤣🤣
Totally agreed. Nedved was the driving force of Juve and Czech Republic
Nedved was a awesome player but he shouldn’t of won the balon d’or !! Henry should of won it that year
Both overrated.
Matthias Sammer is maybe the best German central mitfielder after Matthäus and Kroos and maybe Ballack, he is one of the best Germans ever, should be 20+
I notice the large amount of Seria A recipients of this award but the fact that Kaka was the last player to win while playing in Seria A back in 2007 really shows the drastic decline of that league and Italian football in general
Its getting better now, while La Liga is in steep decline
@@eggselent9814 agree. Of the top 5 leagues, I personally would rank it as the PL as first, the Bundesliga as second, Ligue 1 as third, Serie A as fourth and La Liga as fifth. Third and fourth is a lot closer than fourth and fifth btw.
Interesting opinion. Did you rank it based on the amount of superstars in each league or the quality of teams in each league?
@@garymaidman625 Ligue 1 in 3rd? Remove PSG and it's the 5th by a considerable margin.
@@garymaidman625 I'd say Seria A is clear of Ligue 1 and about level with the Bundesliga but else i agree.
Micheal owen ahead of George weah is something I’d wholeheartedly disagree with. But also FINALLY someone said it about cannavaro. To me he was so up and down in terms of consistency
tbh i think Buffon should have won it instead of Cannavaro
@@gergoszalanczi179 I can agree to that tbh. It’s just Cannavaro was way too inconsistent for people to label him as world class man.
Weah is way better than Owen
@@xxxs8309 my thoughts wxactly
@@xxxs8309 oui mais c'était un vote sur l'année à cette époque, sextuplé pour Liverpool, et le point sur la carrière a été de nouveau supprimé pour éviter l'arnaque Messi/Lewandowski
RIP Gianluca Vialli. Not a player of the same calibre of the ones here but a reference nonetheless.
Yeah, that was really sad to hear...lovely human being, certainly seemed that way from the outside 😢
RIP
So uderrated these days... I hated him when he betrayed Gullit, but in prespective it wasn't his fault. The son of a very rich man, Vialli played just because he loved the game.
God rest him in peace
He would have turned 60 3 days ago. I brought him up to my mate, amazing seeing him shouted out on this vid, made my day. Incredible person and player.
Glad to see someone appreciate the talents of Lothar Matthäus. I remember back in the late 90s, when germany probably had the worst team ever, Matthäus at 39 was still the best player on the field compared to everyone else, including the younger ones. Guy played top class for 2 decades straight.
No, he was not! Absolutely not! It was basically his fault that we lost to Croatia in 98 and even in 2000 when the team was rubbish he was not. Mehmet Scholl was our best player in 2000 and in 98 Möller was better, Hässler was better, even Klinsmann was better.
But that 2000 team is actually an interesting case. Only one year before that Bayern reached the CL final with 10 German players in their starting line up. So there were good enough players there. But Erich Ribbek just wasn't Ottmar Hitzfeld.
@@AblemanSy Yes, the players from 2000 wanted, that Matthäus will be their head coach, so he can't play anymore.
Started Italia90 on fire but after the Dutch game Germany struggled through the tournament.They were Dreadful against the Czechs in the Quarter final.And England probably the better side in the semi .But they got the job done .Good captain .
Wow,Modric is still so criminally underrated.Nedved near the bottom of the list as well?
Imagine putting Charlton ahaid of Modric 🤣🤣🤣..what bias...amazing
@@republikadugave420 During his time, Bobby Charlton was arguably one of the greatest players of all time…also won England’s only World Cup in 1966
@@realmadridkingsofeurope1394 and?? How is this better than Modric?? 5* Champions league, 2 medals fro World cup with dark horse Croatia...much better resume TBH...and also Modric still balling out at 37!!!
Both them and Rivaldo were better players than Figo. His win in 2000 for what should be seen as a poor season for him only happened because of the fuss around his transfer.
@@arispan Figo was better than Nedved imho. On par with Modric.
2:20 Igor Belanov
3:34 Pavel Nedved
4:05 Matthias Sammer
4:40 George Weah
5:15 Paolo Rossi
5:50 Allan Simonsen
6:32 Michael Owen
7:16 Fabio Cannavaro
8:07 Jean-Pierre Papin
8:45 Florian Albert
9:30 Kevin Keegan
10:08 Karim Benzema
10:52 Andriy Shevchenko
11:23 Hristo Stoichkov
12:03 Josef Masopust
12:32 Kaka
13:01 Dennis Law
13:34 Luka Modric
14:12 Rivaldo
14:40 Luis Figo
15:14 Oleg Blokhin
15:47 Ruud Gullit
16:24 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
16:57 Raymond Kopa
17:34 Omar Sivori
18:00 Gianni Rivera
18:32 Roberto Baggio
19:11 Luis Suarez
19:55 Ronaldinho
20:24 Marco Van Basten
21:00 Zinedine Zidane
21:42 Lothar Matthaus
22:33 Stanley Matthews
23:17 Gerd Muller
24:00 George Best
24:33 Bobby Charlton
25:12 Eusebio
25:56 Lev Yashin
26:37 Michel Platini
27:14 Franz Beckenbauer
27:56 Ronaldo
28:46 Johann Cruyff
29:36 Christiano Ronaldo
30:20 Alfredo Di Stefano
31:09 Lionel Messi
Spoiler
@F5 Anabolic no one cares
It's a crime against football that Sammer was given the award when Ronaldo clearly deserved it far more, scoring almost a goal per match at the age of 19.
Ronaldo only lost BY ONE VOTE, and it's a clear case of some old farts not wanting to give the award to a teenager.
Putting Benzema below Sheva, Modric below Rummenigge, Nedved below Owen makes no sense. This guy doesn't know football at all. Also, I'd personally rate Müller above Kaiser Franz, because both Breitner and Beckenbauer acknowledged Gerd as the best and most important player of their dynasty.
@@ursula3438what about di stefano over Ronaldo?
Hey Alfie, you should do a video on the rise and fall of Portuguese team Belenenses-SAD or B-SAD. They were a team which was only founded in 2018 and, played in the Portuguese first division last season, but are now being faced with relegation from the second division. They have a interesting history, although rather short, and i’m sure you could turn their story into a very interesting video.
Much more complicated than that. Here in portugal everyone hates B Sad because of them Cf os Belenenses had ti restart from 0.
@@pepejr10kingcf os belenenses won the Liga Portuguesa right?
These rankings are always interesting to watch. I really like and usually agree with Alfie's takes on things... But If there is one point that I kinda struggle to understand is why he holds Michael Owen in such high regard. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge he was very gifted and could've had an even greater career If it wasn't for injuries... But I still feel like Alfie sometimes overestimates his talents and judges more for what he could've been than for what he actually was . 😅
Maybe it is because he grew UP with Owen being that teenage superstar of english football, and that proximity leaves a bigger impression. As a Brazilian, maybe I didn't have this closer look on his football. Anyway, disagreements are healthy to the discussion. Another great video from probably my favorite Football RUclips Channel.
This is by far his worst list and his English bias shows lol. 3 English guys above van Basten? Really?
@@daarom3472 there was 2 English guys over van bastan. 1 had arguably the greatest longevity of any footballer playing into his late 40s which is insane. The other being a star of a world cup winning team who also finished second in the balon'dor twice who was regarded as one of the best from his generation
It‘s English bias. Alfie always overrates English players. I mean putting Gerd Müller behind the English greats? Gerd Müller won everything there is to win as a footballer and he was the main reason why his teams performed so well. He made Bayern a giant in European football and led the golden era of German football. Also his goal rate is absolutely insane.
@@davinnicode you can literally say the exact same thing for Bobby Charlton
@@kaiharding7996 last time I checked Charlton did win significantly less trophies than Gerd Müller. He also scored less goals. I mean he was a great player but as Alfie said he wanted to look at the entirety of a player’s career
Could be an interesting video (or livestream, I guess?) to break down the Ballon d'Or voting from each year and give your thoughts on who should've won, who got overlooked etc., maybe also considering players from outside of Europe before the Ballon d'Or voters actually did.
That video would probably be 10 hours long lmao 🤣🤣
@@LuigiLuigi728 True lol, could make a 10-part series out of it
You were right, I would love a video ranking individual Ballon d'Or years/seasons. Obviously that would be a crazy long video so maybe just do it from the year 2000 onwards?
From the year 2000 onwards is exactly the reason why people think Messi is a better player than Pele.
@@garymaidman625 , but the Ballon d'or wasn't available to Pele.
@@SWARM_777 that is my point. One can't compare Ballon D'or wins between the two players because one wasn't eligible to win them. If he was, he would have won multiple times.
@@garymaidman625 , we did not say Pele wasn't great just because he never won a ballon d'or. It's just that the criteria of the video would only comprise of ballon d'or winners. Just like if a video of best goalkeepers or golden boot winners would only consist of goalkeepers or golden boot winners. Those videos do not mean others were never good enough. If a video of great players or world cup winners then Pele would be included. It's just a criteria.
@@SWARM_777 I know that, it still plays on the whole recency bias thing. If a video is made about that, it needs to be comprehensive or not at all.
Oh man it feels surreal that we have been witnessing two of the greatest players of all time week in and week out for almost two decades now. How lucky are we
If Haaland and Mbappe can find the same durability it could be the better part of 40 years
Only 1 greatest player - ronaldo. Messi is an overrated product of the hype machine.
@@phightinphil25 Neither come close to Messi or Ronaldo.
@@elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633 That's because one is 21 and the other 24 my point is if they could keep playing like they have been for 10-15 more years. Its a big if as that's the reason why Best, Ronaldinho, CR9 and at least a few others aren't in the same category as CR7 and Messi.
@@elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633 They have both started their careers in a similar manner to the best players in history, the projection is the mystery.
Just started the video and if you put Pavel Nedved and George Weah that low down then the rest must be literal demigods
Most Ballon d’Or winners were Demigods..
Totally agreed. Nedved was a much better player than Owen.
@@weixiangpeh6988 especially when he says that he is looking on the entire career of the winners and not the calendar year they won the award. Must be English bias
@@davinnicode exactly, he put two english players above zidane for some reason
@@tristanhoepffner1815 British bias, fact he put George Best so high despite the fact Best was finished at the top level so early shows it. He put Zidane in 15th lmao.
Pavel Nedved at second bottom, damn this list is filled with quality of the highest order.
Although I think it was a little bit harsh for Pavel. I would put at least 2 spots higher
Weird that Owen ranks above him lol.
@@daarom3472 Quite the English bias, Charlton and Mathews above Van Basten?
@@guus5504 yea the list is quite bad. Matthaus also way too low. Van Basten is easily top 10 player of all time.
@@guus5504 charlton is imho 40-50 in ranking...def not so high
I’ve got to disagree on two things, Di Stefano being ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and how high Owen is🤷♂️
A couple of questionable ranking placements tbh... benzema being that low is funny.
I have followed Real Maddrid since 1964 and I assure you that Di Stefano was considerably better than Cristiano. In fact, the difference is almost grotesque I would have one Di Stefano before 2 or 3 Cristianos. Not even close.
@@oommcc Sensationalism & nostalgia comment. Ain't no way was Di Stefano a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo. Was he greater than Ronaldo in real Madrid? Yes that I can accept... Was he greater than Ronaldo if he compare their overall careers? Hell No. Was he better than Ronaldo? Hell No. Being more versatile doesn't necessarily equate to being better.
@@SmartPsychopat1 Absolute nonsense. Of course he was better, he was a lot better. He wasnt just a great finisher (that too, with better ratio) but unlike Cristiano he was also able to distribute, conduct, dribble, manage the tempo, etc. Not even close. Just to compare them shows great ignorance.
@@oommcc No Di Stefano is not a better player than Ronaldo.. Di Stefano was a great player but he is no Cristiano. This thing football fans do in trying to discredit or limit Ronaldo to just being a goal scorer in insane...
Barring Messi who is better than him & Pele who is on the same level as him individually to some extent, there's no other player better than Cristiano in history.
His impact, his consistency, his longetivity, big game performances, & influence on the pitch in a modified way as he grew older surpasses that of Di Stefano career wise easily.
Whatever you just said Di Stefano could do, John Charles was also doing that,both are not better than Cristiano.
Ronaldo could dribble, the fact he became more predictable post 2015 in his dribbling doesn't mean he wasn't a menace in that aspect prior to 2015.. Ronaldo could also distribute too, this is actually one of Ronaldo's most underrated strait.
For setting the tempo, yes di Stefano was better but Ronaldo didn't have to do that, he had Kroos, Xabi Alonso, & modric over the years.
Nostalgia has gotten the better of you. Ronaldo is 2nd, his records speak for themselves. Only bested by Messi. They are the greatest of all time. The older game was so slow, awful defending, no healthy nutrition, poor physique. I could go on. We shouldn’t be so quick to think that was came before was better, because it wasn’t.
hey i disagree with you're telling older gen were too slow ,awful...etc so here r the points i have to support my argument
1) yeah old were less athletic compare to modern footballers cause modern fitness technolgies were improved to increase the athletisism and medicine industry also developed to reduce injuries.
2)in mordern era analytics,statistics, what are all the box to check to improve my skill have been developed hence it will increase the players efficiency .
3)yeah modern athletes are far athletic,skillful,and better players compare to older generation ,
4) but the greatness is not measured like that , it is measured by how dominant they were to their peers, alfredo is the goat of his time period no one can come close when he's in his prime he won 2 ballondors in his 30 and he also retires in his early 30s. but it is not the case with cristiano in his time messi is goat . but by the stats,awards u can logically make argument that cr7 is greater than alfredo ,but brother greatness is not measured by stats it is measured by how we are dominant to ur peers.
5) i'm not a hardcore football guy , i'll watch it sometimes . i'm a quiet basket ball guy since from 2007 i started watching basketball so i have a knowledge about, in basketball mj is the goat no one can disagree with it otherthan hardcore lebron fans , eventhough lebron is has more points,assists,rebounds in any stats catagory but doesn't come close to mj by dominance . literally many nba players were feared him, that's the level of dominance that is wgat makes him as goat not his stats.
yeah that's it .
*Ranking the Top 20 Ballon D'or winning years*
That would be another great one. This was fantastic also, thanks.
I understand your ranking , however i must say Sammer is still underrated as a footballer, especially by new generations
He didn't deserve it tho , r9 was clear that year
@@jonnstewart2023 Sammer lead Germany to a Euro in 96 and Borussia Dortmund to their only UCL win. He was a great leader and player.
Maybe we could do 7 players 'robbed' of the Ballon D'or. Whether it be for players such as Pelé who was unable to receive it due to not being European, Lewandowski not getting it due to the awards being voided in 2020, or simply just players who were better in a certain year than the eventual winner.
Messi would probably top that list tbh
@@bandulad7695 absolutely not. Lewandowski was too good in 2019. He'd have definitely won it.
@@bandulad7695 enough Messi dickriding. He robbed Lewandowski in 2021, Sneijder/Iniesta/Xavi in 2010
@@Aaron-np5xe You mean 2020? Messi was alien in 2019.
@@brrrrrtenjoyer how about you check stats. Lewa won the UCl in 19/20. He deserved it more than Messi. If it wasn't for Corona virus lewa would have won.
Only disagreement, and it could just be because of his immense influence, but I think George Weah could be higher on the list, but since you said career was a criteria, he almost certainly didn't have as successful of a career as those who came above him, so it makes sense in that regard.
George Weah became the leader of an entire nation; so if Aristotle would be putting together that list, then Weah would be NR. 1, and it wouldn't be even close.
I’d love to see do a video on crawley’s situation, because the BTS of that club rn is mental
What’s going on there?
@@bababababababa6124 Quite a lot. In April they were purchased by some crypto bro types that had made a previous unsuccessful attempt to buy Bradford City. They promised the world but are currently 20th in League 2, just sacked a manager after 3 games, are selling a main striker to the league's bottom club (if not happened already) with other senior players allegedly being dropped and there's a lot of just bad vibes there right now
@@chlcrk I’m pretty sure the manager resigned, rather than was sacked, due to disagreements about transfers (like selling their best striker to relegation rivals, which has already happened). They’re basically people who don’t really know anything about football, with the chairman even being in the dug out for a recent match. Feel sorry for the fans to be put through this. Just another reason why Crypto needs to die
Ronaldinho . Those five years had some of the most amazing ball skills I have ever seen . Imagine if he had the drive of Messi or Ronaldo . I am just glad that I got to watch who I think was the most talented player ever to play although for such a short period .
Neymar>>>>could do most things Ronaldinho could & more.
Are you able to do a video ranking the 50 greatest managers of all time?
Holy shit, the amount of research for such a video 😆
I can think of (in random order, just counting the numbers)
1 Alex Ferguson
2 Guardiola
3 Rinus Michels
4 Cruyff
5 Mourinho
6 Bobby Robson
7 Jupp Heynckes
8 Trappatoni
9 Arrigo Sacchi
10 Ancelotti
11 Capello
12 Brian Clough
13 Shankly
14 Paisley
15 Herrera
16 Happel
17 Lattek
18 Hitzfeld
19 Del Bosque
..on the top of my head - not even halfway there!!
He has made a top 7 but yeah a top 50 could be nice
@@Metalton95The research for this type of video would be mad no doubt.
@@Metalton95 Klopp
@@foa0695 As a LFC fan myself, I'd agree - I was typing on the move, so I just went with the first I could think of :P
20 Klopp
21 Arsene Wenger
23 Matt Busby
24 Marcelo Lippi
25 Roberto Mancini
..that makes halfway to 50 lol.
to put Ronaldo 3rd when he has the 2nd most Ballon D'Or's in an Era where the 1st most played is crazy. Not to mention all the world records he holds...
I found out just over the holidays that my granddad was at the 3rd/4th playoff at the 1966 world cup and watched Eusebio score against Yashin in a 2-1 win for portugal
Kaka's ranking is insane, but I can only imagine how hard it must have been to put together this list. Great shouts on most spots. Thanks for putting this together.
CR7 being third automatically renders this list useless. If Messi is ahead of him fair, if Ronaldo isn’t second all time then the list is shit
agreed
He thinks Serena Williams is a goated athlete lmao
dude, you are probably 13, you started to watch football in qatar 2022 and you don't know who di stefano is.. so shut up..
Cr7 isn't even top 5 of all time lmao.
@@Miuranger1Well yh cause she is m8
Can't believe you still haven't done a top 7 passers of all lime list on this channel... I mean we all know who would be number 1 but still it would be good to see who fills out the rest of the list.
Messi, De Bruyne, Laudrup, Xavi, Scholes, Platini, Özil something like that.
Kroos, Pirlo, Febregas, Beckham, Xabi Alonso, are definitely making the list
Di Stefano over Cristiano Ronaldo?
People have gone absolutely mad with the recent Ronaldo hate lol.
So you've seen Di Stefano play have you??
@kennethelliot4152 neither have you me or this guy
2008 Ronoldo the greatest player to grace the pitch
He's the 5th best player of all time in any knowledgeable person's opinion. It's not hate it's just neglect of how much people have enormously overrated him for the last 15 years and have had the audacity to say he's more worthy of the title of best ever than Messi. It's ridiculous.
@@clutcha_drip1382011-now Messi the best player to grace the pitch.
You should do a doc about what's going on at Crawley Town. The club looks like it's on the brink.
Di Stefano over CR7, R9 and R10 is criminal. The guy played in an era where smoking was commonplace as well as the game just isn’t what it has been in the last 30 years in regards to tactics, physicality and many other things. MVB, Platini, Cruyff and Zidane should be right behind them too. Wow.
R9 is overrated so is R10
@@SyedAli-gl7jqagree
@@bestianegrafcbayernmunchen5454 yeah
I hope you realize football ended after 2010, and 2010-2024 is the easiest era in history.
And almost all player stats in the list are better than Ronaldo and Messi farmers, both ain't even top 150 oat.
Alfie kindly do a video on best African 11 to ever play the premier League
It will be a hell of a list.
Be an amazing team!! Struggling to think of who should be in goals though!!!
4-2-3-1 formation (Players put in their rightful position).
Gk - Mendy
RB - Lauren
CB - Lucas Radebe
CB - Kolo Toure
LB - Babayaro
DM - Mikel Obi
CM - Yaya Toure
CAM - Okocha
LW - Sadio Mane
CF - Didier Drogba
RW - Salah/Mahrez
For those struggling w/no 2, I think due to recency bias Di Stefano’s achievements with Real Madrid aren’t put into proper perspective. His 5 European cups back-to-back (& 8 La-Liga) are the reason why Real Madrid holds itself to a higher standard and are seen as the number 1 glamour club. Di Stefano is Real Madrid!
The totality of his game (we haven’t seen @ that level since) offers more to a team than Cristiano’s athleticism and goal scoring alone. Di Stefano was scoring like a striker and then some lol.
Offcourse Puskas nd di Stefano r the biggest reasons that real was the dream club of legends like CR7
Ronaldo is top 5 on assists as well tho… he also has 5 CL wins, dominated three different leagues and won 5 ballon dors over the greatest player of all time. I don’t care what di Stefano did, he’s not close.
@@SonuSharma-zl9bg Puskas was the dream!
@@nmarcus7233 I didn't get u
@@BenV7_ De Stefano also won 5 ucl’s carrying his team and scoring in ALL 5 finals, he could’ve won 4-5 ballondors or even more if it was made in his early days. I do still think cr7 is 2nd but it’s really close
Missing Lewandowski who won it in 2020. Never forget!
People who think Pele is the greatest care about marketing, not football. Pele got famous because he played a lot of friendly games in Europe, but never played in a top league. Brazillians don't even think he is the best, they prefer Garrincha. If you think Pele is the best, you don't know football.
I prefer Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima tbh. But I believe that it highly depends on which players you grew up with. As a Dutchman I was brought up with the idea of Johan Cruijff being our absolute greatest player ever. Cruijff however, stopped playing in 1983, when I was one year old. How could Cruijff be my personal Nr. 1 when I only know him from archived footage? I believe there is no best player ever, there are only best players of eras, years or decades. For me Dennis Bergkamp is bigger than Cruijff because I saw him play at Ajax, Internationale, Arsenal and the national team. So, for some Pele truly was the greatest Brazilian, but others prefer Garincha, Ronaldo or Ronaldinho and they are all correct!
Suggestion for a sequel: ranking every ballon d’or winning season - e.g. Messi in 2022 would be middle of the pack, but Messi 2012 would be right at the top.
As Ukrainian, I am proud that we had 3 ballon for winners. Sheva, Blokhin and Belanov. Future hopes for Mudryk:))
Nunez has better chance to win than mudryk lol
Why do these clowns continue to disrespect CR7
Video idea: With CR7’s move to the Saudi league, you should do a seven of the best players to move to a relatively obscure league in their career, evaluated based on their playing level at the time of the move (iniesta, del piero, zico, hulk, oscar, xavi, etc.)
Would MLS in the United States qualify as an obscure league for such a list? I would think so imho.
@@bumblethebeadle3504 certainly at one point it would count as obscure, now probably a bit less so
@@bumblethebeadle3504 saudi league got more talent . I saw MLS while ibra and bale was there.
Xavi and Inestia moved to Asian leauges because they didn't wanted to face Messi and cristiano moved to Al Nasr because he wanted to save his most important goals record from Messi
@@Alien-re8zc
If that were true, Ronaldo would have moved to MLS as it is an easier league.
To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, France Football published a reevaluation of the awards presented before 1995, when only European players were eligible to win the award. 12 out of the 39 Ballons d'Or presented during this time period would have been awarded to South American players & Pele would have won 7.
he alreadyy mentioned that at the end, but didn't want to cover it.
Really nice seeing Eusébio being apreciated.
Messi really is the greatest dribbler, goalscorer, playmaker and decision maker of all time. They got to re name the Ballon D'or into the Messi award
Which is why Pele has scored more goals at a better goal to game ratio than Messi? Pele is the best player of all time.
@@garymaidman625 you don't know ball, stop commenting to everyone with this it wont make you right
@@garymaidman625 because Pele played in a much weaker era. He is not even the best from his nation. I do not know why Ronaldo does not get the same love Pele does. Pele did not even play in the second world cup. If Ronaldo was not injured he would have won 1998 world cup and contended for the 2006 world cup... That would be 3/4 world cups!
@@Emrystatari fr XD
@@garymaidman625that counts friendlies
To put Zidane in the same basket as Maradona Pele Cryuff di Stefano Messi CR7 is as ridiculous as putting him in the same basket as Iniesta Xavi Laudrup Baggio and the likes. He belongs somewhere in between probably the 15-20 in the GOAT list.
I would put Cruyff and Di Stefano below Messi, Maradona, Pele.
Its worse to put Cristiano next to Maradona, Pele and Messi and you did it.
@@oommcc Look back at ronaldos career.Started off as a winger-midfielder at united. He was the best dribbler in 2008, came to real madrid scored 450 goals with 131 assists in 438 matches. Got a serious knee injury in 2014 and adapted to becoming a striker. Won the ucl three times in a row.He wouldve won the ballon dor in 2018 if not for the rape case at the time. Went to juventus and became the top scorer of the seria a . He won portugal their only 2 major trophies. If messi wasn't in this generation ronaldo would have atleast 11+ ballon dors, I understand putting messi above ronaldo . Hes definitely 2nd best if not the best of all time.
Messi is easily the reflection of how Pele, Di Stefano, George Best would have looked like playing these days. So much more than goals and assists. I salute you for recognizing de Stefano at 2nd olace ahead of Cruyff and Cristiano. I feel the rankings are more like how good these players were in their non ballon do'r winning season.
I agree on this, Alfie did a great job there. The list shows his love of Football History, and football has existed association-wise for a century and a half - CLX odd in fact.
boomer take 😂
Players used to score goals at a much higher rate than Messi/Ronald. There were 10+ players like that in Europe alone any given season. But yeah, rewrite history to suit your bias haha
The only player you can truly compare to Messi is Maradona and maybe Puskas, because they were left-footed as well and their left foots were ultra precise, same as Messi's.
@@theawesome1rjcfootball statistics at those times were kick the ball in the net 😂 don’t compare that era to the organised defencive systems of late 80s onwards
Hey Alfie, maybe you could do a video of the best goal scored in every minute of a match?
Is that even possible?
Ranking every ballon d'or winner based on the season they won it sounds like a good video even though it would take a incredibly long time to make
Nope it's waste of time.
Messi's 2012 will be No. 1 i reckon
@@SonuSharma-zl9bg idk, 91 goals is a pretty bad season i cant lie
@@nishant54 how? lmao
it'd be a good video to watch
Hey I have a a question, would you ever consider to make a video on Lev Yashin? I think his story and how he became one of the best goalkeepers would he amazing to hear!
It'd be definitely interesting to know if Yashin ever read "200 Years Together" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
I think Zidane and Gerd Muller should be in top 10, ahead of Bobby Charlton and Ronaldo not being #2 is blasphemous
While CR7 might not be better than Messi he managed to win multiple Ballon d'Ors over him. How is that not number 2?
@@tancredelegalileen9777this guy has a personal agenda against ronaldo, it seems.
And Müller not being on the top 5 is not just stupid, but funny as well.
@@tancredelegalileen9777 Cause Ronaldo is a striker and messi a winger yet messi can score more although the ballon dor is basically based off goals and what you won he only won cause he won the champions league
If only you saw Di Stefano you would understand that its actually blasphemous to even suggesst Cristiano as number 2. Di Stefano wasnt better tha Cristiano, he was twice or even three times as good. Not even close.
@@Kevin-fj3ff CR7 started as a winger. Till this day, when I think of C.Ronaldo, striker isn't the role that immediately comes to mind.
If maradona was eligible, he would have won in ‘85-87 and ‘89-‘90.
England-based players have always been under-represented. Kevin Keegan should have won at least one more ballon dor, had to leave England to win his award. Some of those ‘75-85 Liverpool greats should have been a lot higher in the voting too - rush, dalglish, etc.
If English teams were eligible for Europe, John Barnes would have certainly challenged for a ballon dor at least twice.
Agreed. Pelé would’ve won at least 5 too. Definitely dominated the 60’s.
And why was he not eligible?
@@knotwilg3596 not born in Europe.
i always found it weird that from the great liverpool team of the 70s and 80s only keegan the ballon d'or won and from the man United team in the 60s three players with charlton, law and best, although liverpool was much more succesfull. Liverpool in the 70s/80s is probably the most underrated team in the history of football
@@footballchannel8430 100%. Won 4 out of 6 champions leagues. (In an era by the way, when English teams slaughtered Europe - 7 out of 10 UCLs between Liverpool, Vila and Forest.)
Domestic dominance vs incredible competition. Treble in 1984. The fewest goals allowed ever in a 42 game season. Scoring records for rush. Those Liverpool teams - as much as they were hyped at the time - are under-appreciated today.
Putting CR7 third behind DiStefano makes this a completely emotional list. There is no question where Ronaldo stands in any list based on career facts.
Ranking Owen so high is a similarly emotional take.
Excellent video 🙌🏼
You forgot about the 2020 Ballon d'Or winner.
7 greatest peaks of any player in football history. Pls Alfie.
Of the top of my head
Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi(08-12), Maradonna, Maldini, Delima, Buffon, etc.
I think the Ballon d'or award is unfair because this award is only for players who play in the front or midfield. while the defense or goalkeeping department is rarely appreciated for this award, in my opinion the ballon d'or award should be divided per category. Football is a game that involves all the players. If only the forwards or the middle players win the most, I think it's not fair
ask urself at thier prime would rather have messi or the best defender?
@@krys8494 my question for u..if messi play with the worst defender and goalkeeper do you think he will win?
UEFA awards those based on positions.
@@soundscape26 re uefa award more important than ballon d'or? As far i know ballon d'or is the ultimate award for football
I understand your point but at the end it's pretty easily explained imo.
Firstly, dividing it would just take away the meaning even if it might be more fair.
At the end of the day attackers are the ones who can make the difference by themselves. Defenders as players are rarely as good because no defender can do alone what a great attacker can do alone, it's much more about the collective and tactical setup than the individual.
It's also why worse teams tend to focus on defending because you can compensate for a lack of quality in defense through tactics but you can rarely compensate for a lack of attacking quality
Ranking every Premier League clubs most underrated legend of all time.
Too subjective
Rooney and Wilfred Zaha
Hmmm,up the top of my head right now post 90's
United Carrick
Chelsea Williams
Arsenal Febregas
Liverpool Henderson
Man City Bernardo Silva
Spurs Eriksen
Everton Fellani
You should do one on best players to miss being world cup winners, when their team won like you mentioned Papin either for slightly being too old, young, injury, disagreements etc.
For me Nedved is one of the most underrated superstars of football, as this video again proves...
when i saw the thumbnail i thought its clickbait, no way zidane is at 15 😂😂😂
Di Stefano at 2 is such a good take. Top 5 player of all time he was unreal
Di Stefano over Cruijff is a joke
@@waso778 Di Stefano won the super ballon d'or above them all
@@victordurand3000 then you never seem both. Cruyff was the special one, he was years ahead.
It's hard to judge player from so long ago based on 8 min RUclips vids, but I'd say Puskas>Di Stefano. Looking at the highlights, Puskas looks a lot smoother and more like a modern player.
That is his worst take, the Ronaldo hate has gotten a life of its own at this point, it's unbelievable
No player has ever been as exciting to watch as Ronaldinho.
I agree.
Apart from all of them
@@joshchristieson339 - Not sure the right words but, for sure, no one 'played' with football as joyfully as he did, lol.
There are probably 5 Brizilian players alone throughput history more exciting to watch..
Neymar was exciting to watch, United's version of Ronaldo was exciting to watch...
Alfie rewarding all of us loyal subscribers with an elite mammoth video 👍
Zico is the greatest goal scoring midfielder
It’s a crime to make Ronaldo 3rd in my opinion
I agree Penaldo Fraudnaldo should be 30th
@@Prasko131bro chill holy
Piuuuuuuu
@@Prasko131 Still better then Messi and Im fan of neither of them, Just for few things That CR7 u ridicule well came from Celtic god damn what club is thaat oh shitt when to demolish England then Spain against arguablly strongest Barcelona world has seen then slaped Itally, Messi cae from Barcelona slaped Spain then went to PSG did something then oh well who cares where he is now, I am not a fan of either I think Ronaldinho and Kaka even maybe to some extent Modric are on par if not better then those 2 considering it all Ronaldinho IMO untachouble. Kaka simple player but efficient. Modric arguablly best passing world has ever seen and still plays for top league and top club in the world, But oh well
Alfie, can you do a video on the rise of Vietnamese football and the influence of Park Hang-seo on the national team
maqwell is probably the only one you can reasonably get to make a video of that nature
I kinda think their kinda overrated
-sincerely an Indonesian
@@mikenogen Under Park, we won an AFF Cup, two back-to-back SEA Games, and a runner-up in the AFC U-23 Championship (first Southeast Asian team to do so). We reached a fourth place finish in the Asian Games and the quarterfinals of the AFC Asian Cup. We also became the first Southeast Asian team to win a match in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers. By no means are we "overrated" lol.
Hi Alfie. Please do a video on Egypt's world cup "curse." Most successful nation in Africa by a wide margin, can't ever qualify to the WC
Ballon d or has become the award only for attacking positioned player
Alfie, would you consider doing a video with seven bosman players who sold out their career's for money? Not old over the hill players who wind's down in the middle east for example. Rather someone like Max Meyer, who at the time was 22, an international for Germany and a future hot shot. Since his wage demands scared away bigger and better clubs than Crystal Palace. Four and a half years later now and I saw that he plays for Luzern in Switzerland, previously played in Denmark. Not the career many predicted for him.
Ah you really hate Ronaldo
Bobby Charlton better than Baggio and Rivaldo?!
English bias
@@Whocares0009 Or old school bias.
The Seven best managers of each decade/the best # managers of all time
Video idea - best goalkeeper at every year Ballon d'Or
I hope Messi get the Super Ballon d.OR, because he's completed football, that would attract every new generation footballer to follow Messi's foot step or even surpassed him.
He never fails to rank Zidane lower than anyone else would😂
No I agree with the position, just not enough goals for such a talented player which give you the ultimate high ranking position in history. Still a great player but he's not better than the 13 above him.
@@lenburnette9556 his job wasnt scoring goals tho, also when he needed to score most he did, world cup 2 goals cl final goal etc, goals isnt the only aspect of the game that matters
@@Coalitionz Yeah Shotz but we are comparing the all time greats here. What you said about what Zidane did above, Platini did exactly the same - goal in the Euro 1984 final breaking the deadlock, winning penalty in the Euro Cup (CL) 1985 final beating defending champions Liverpool, plus top league scorer 3 seasons straight in a brutally defensive Italian football back then. You are saying Zidane should be placed higher, but there is no evidence there to prove that.
@@Coalitionz ZZ won 1998 Ballon d'Or after WC success but he was sent off during the tournament, missed a match, needed Lilian Thuram to save the semi final against Croatia - his best match was the final but he didn't dominate the tournament before the final. But again, he has a great career, loved his dribbling, but the ones above him had even greater impacts in their Ballon d'Or years.
It's funny how all these useless inconsistency arguments against Zidane are spewed by the people that rate Ronaldinho and such... Zidane might be just a big games man, but he's the greatest of them all... Bomber and Zidane not being top 10 is sacrilegious
“And he recently signed for Al-Nasr in Saudi Arabia, not South Africa.”
Karmim benzema deserves more respect. That CL run was the best run in its history. Those comeback victories were unheard of. The quality of opponents on the way to the CL was the hardest I have ever seen. They played the 3 best teams and the previous years CL champions. He should be higher for what he did not even mentioning what he did in La Liga
Exactly
Banging video idea
Michael Owen being that high, after claiming to base it on the career he did have and not the career he could have, is an absolute joke.
Would be interesting to hear where you would rank the greatest player who hasn’t won it in your opinion on the list
Zico
Kenny Dalglish
Maldini tops the list easily.
People just putting Ronaldo low to be different nowadays, grow up
How on earth is Nedved lower than Paolo and Simonsen. Really unfair in my eyes, he was spectacular. I would even put Weah above simonsen
Pele is too mythical to rank amongst the other greats, none of us ever saw him with the exception of a World Cup
I absolutely adored Owen growing up, but putting him ahead of Rossi (a World Cup winner, Golden Boot winner, and European Cup winner) is absolutely criminal tbh.
The disrespect on modrics name
Exactly 😢
Good video. Can't really agree with Owen above Nedved though
He's british, that's why
British pride
Im a horrible person. I laughed so hard when you hesitantly introduced the #45
Video idea: Good clubs with relatively few supporters
I‘m sorry but Gerd Müller should definitely be in the Top 10. He had an unbelievable career being the main reason why Bayern became a giant in European football and the German national team winning the World Cup and the euros with his insane goal rate.
One could also argue for Zidane being higher on the list. He also won everything with him being the main man.
exactly, two english players above zidane? english bias
Müller wasn't even the best German in the world cup winning team
@@epicmarschmallow5049 Müller's best WC was obviously in 1970, when he scored a ridiculous 10 goals. Who do you say was West Germany's best player in 74? Breitner?
According to results he is the best ever and would add by miles. According to entertainment well, there are maybe 100 better than him. It is a dilemma.
Best player every decade from the 1870s to the 2010s
1960s Pele
1970s Cruyff
1980s Maradona
1990s Ronaldo
2000s Ronaldinho
2010s Messi
2020s (so far Messi but will be Mbappe)
1870s - Norris Chuck
1880s - Norris Chuck
1890s - Chuck Norris
@@foa0695 100% agree, but I'd say 95-05 Zidane, so he should be in one of those decades for sure.
I think it would be prudent to add that the current Ballon D'or is a very different award from the Pre 2007 Ballon D'or. In the days of Shevchecnko and Owen the Ballon D'or wasn't the award that signified the recognised "best player in the world". That was the Fifa world player of the year. The awards were merged in 2007. Pre 2007 there were years where Uefa gave the Ballon D'or to the next best player in a sort of consolation award. In 2004 Ronaldinho was clearly the best player on earth and duly won the Fifa world player of the year award. but the Ballon D'or was given to Shevchenko who although great wasn't at the level of a few other players that year. Like wise the year Micheal Owen won he was no where near the top player in the world that year. Fifa world player of the year award that year going to Luis Figo. now that both awards have been merged there its much less confusion. If they had been merged prior. r( Ronaldo probably would have won 3 or 4 Ballon D'ors
!!!!!
Complete bollocks. FIFA was always a clown award that relied on stardom than substance. For example Zidane and Ronaldo being nominated in 03 and Zidane winning it despite doing nothing worthy of it. If anything, merging with FIFA brought the integrity of Ballon picks of those years into question.
I agree Owen shouldn't have won that year though. Raul had performances on a higher level of competition
@@4zafinc I think “complete bollox” is a bit harsh. I wasn’t saying the fifa award had any integrity. I was just saying that that was the award the signified the recognised player of the season where as Ballon D’or would go to player like shevchenko and Owen as a secondary award. Also you said merging brought integrity. That’s pretty much what I said. I was just stating historical facts and circumstance. To come in and call what I wrote “complete bollox” is a bit extreme
@@tiekumark okay bollocks was harsh, I concede. Immediate reaction, sorry about that. As for the merger, I said it brought Ballon's integrity down a bit. Not uplift it. As for Owen and Shevchenko, I thought Raul and Deco were more worthy candidates. However they were still better picks over FIFA winners of those years- Zidane and Ronaldo. Like I said both of them won on virtue of being superstars than actual performance that year (Calender year of both those awards might've been different though. I don't remember exactly).
So Ballon was more accurate representation of the performance whereas FIFA award was PR event. A lot of the participating coaches and captains of membership countries that voted dint even follow club football on a regular basis back then. Ballon actually had a dedicated panel that took yearly performance into consideration. Not all years might seem to have been adjudged correctly, but at least the intention was there
Fair play. I read the integrity but wrong. I mean the whole integrity verses actual performance argument can easily be levelled at both awards. I’m 42 years old. I clearly Remeber who the best player in the world in 1996 season was. It was R9 Ronaldo and it wasn’t even close. He won Fifa World player of the year that year. Ballon D’or went to Mathias Sammer who granted had a wonderful champions league campaign that year but was not the best player that season
be an interesting top list maybe to do top 7 footballers affected by the media (i can think of a fair few, rashford and maguire being two of them)
Ranking worst to Best EPL Player of the Season based on the year they won it.
It's been 27 years but I've still never seen anyone convincingly explain why George Weah was selected in 1995 instead of Jari Litmanen. Would love to see a specific video about that.
Marco van Basten at 16th is outragous, I am sorry. He is a top 10 player oat.
Best 9 ever.
Ronaldo Nazario is underrated.
He got 5th on the list.. probably needed a bigger career longevity to be ranked higher.
Nah he is overrated. I know he has best prime but his only achievement are in international
If u took the longevity factor out of the equation, this list would change significantly. One can only imagine what Ronaldo's or Ronnie's careers would look like had they been more focused in their training (and free of injuries)
Ronaldo at third is bollocks, he’s second, this guys a clown
Zidane 15th!?!?!? Man is top 7 best players ever