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[milanbaros]

Starting tomorrow on British TV is the first in an 8 part series trying to find out who truly is the greatest sporting legend. Each week one person is chosen from the shortlist via a phone vote and entered into the final.

The groups are:

Football
Boxing
Tennis - Golf
racing
Olympic
Cricket

The first part is obviously football being a British show. The short list is...

Paolo Maldini - The first defender to be named World Soccer player of the year (1994), Paolo helped AC Milan win the Italian championship six times and the european cup four.

Diego Maradona - The troubled genius who almost single-handedly won the World Cup for Agentina in 1986.

Ronaldo - Once the world’s most expensive player, Ronaldo scored eight in World Cup 2002, securing the golden boot for himself and the cup for Brazil.

Alfredo di Stefano - Winning five European cups in a row with Real Madrid, "The Blonde Arrow" was considered the world's greatest all round player.

Luis Figo - One of the world’s best players, Louis’ biggest headlines came when he transferred from Barcelona to sworn enemy Real Madrid for a record-breaking $56 million.

Marco Van Basten - "Marco Goalo" scored spectacular goals whatever the circumstances, winning the Netherland's only trophy after a legendary volley against the Soviet Union in the final of Euro 88. European footballer of the year in '88, '89, and '92.

Franz Beckenbauer - Leading West Germany to World Cup victory in 1974, "The Kaiser" won over 100 caps, 50 of them as captain in his role as one of the best defenders the game has ever seen.

David Beckham - One of the most famous people in the world scored from the halfway line in the first game of his first full season for Man Utd. The rest is history...

George Best - Two league championships, the European Cup and voted European Football of the Year in doesn't sum it up. That he was Pele's favourite player perhaps does.

Pele - Edson Arantes do Nascimento dominated in three world-cup winning Brazil teams (’58, ’62 and ’70) to write his name in the granite of footballing legend.

Kenny Dalglish - 102 Scottish caps, three European cups and a British transfer record of £440,000 when transferring from Celtic to Liverpool in 1977.

Johan Cruyff - Dutch master Croyff finished leading Dutch league scorer in his debit season for Ajax aged 19, and went on to be voted European footballer of the year three times, helping to create 'total football' along the way.

Bobby Charlton - Voted European footballer of the year in 1966, the same year he won the world cup with England.

Michel Platini - Three times in four seasons French midfield legend Platini was top scorer and player of the year in Italy's Serie A, steering Juventus to countless trophies.

Zenedine Zidane - A $68.6 million transfer from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 did nothing to dent the confidence of this French world-cup winning midfield general.

Should be a straight race between Pele and Maradona with Pele favourite in the odds but I think Diego will win out. Being a British show there is the chance of Diego backlash and also a chance of George Best coming out on top.

WTF is David beckham in this list? I can think of 100 better footballers, and if they wanted a British footballer there is always Bobby Moore. I hope the chave vote doesn't win out here.

And why 4 players from the current Real Madrid team? Zidane is probably the only player worthy of being on that list and perhaps ronaldo for his world cup heroics. The team underperforms consistently.

Discuss...

 

[CelticFC#1]

Beckham???

:lol :lol :lol

What a crock of shit. He truly is the most overrated player in the history of football. I see no Eusebio, does that mean Beckham was better than Eusebio? Again, a crock of shit.


Figo shouldn't be on it either, he's a shadow of the player he was at Barca and he's nowhere the "greatest ever" in my book.

Great to see Dalglish get some recogniton, but it's down to Pele or Maradona, the English better have some decency and not vote for an Englishman, not to say Charlton was poor but Pele and Maradona were truly unreal.

Great list mostly, though.

 

[DSN2K]

Beckham......... :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[Mama Smurf]

Beckham? Figo? Ronaldo? Jesus Christ.

Amusing that those are all Real players, I really didn't pick them out for that reason. I just find those 3 names ridiculous in this list.

I don't think Maradona will go unacknowledged, but we really hate Argentina and Maradona with his "hand of God" in particular.

Sadly I've had little chance to see most of that list play, apart from Maldini, Zidane and the 3 above, as they all (probably) retired before I was even born. Pele will win anyway.

EDIT: What am I on about, of course Maradona didn't retire before I was born. The others likely did.

 

[Fowler]

I can see Ronaldo joining the list eventually though, even if it's a bit much now. If Van Basten's on there...

(And yes, I'm totally ignoring the fact that Figo and Beckham are on there because it's so fricking wrong)

Very Euro-centric, though even then some greats are skipped out (Eusebio! Baresi! Muller!). And what, one Argentine and two Brazilians on the whole list? You fucking kidding me?

I've always felt that Maradona was the better player between him and Pelé... but Pelé being such a fine ambassador for the game tends to swing it his way. Admittedly I'm a little biased having lived during a time when we could see Maradona play and not Pelé, but still...

 

[Mama Smurf]

Ronaldo's a really good player, he is, but I'd have a hard time making a case for him being the best forward of the last ten years (I won't even touch best player in general), let alone of all time.

Of course, he has all the major trophies to his name, unlike the majority of the other players around today, but I think if you took him out of the Brazil or Real teams and put others in in his place, the outcome would be largely the same.

EDIT: I should make myself clearer. At one point I think he was well on his way to making it to the list of great names. Had he carried on the way he was, no problem. But when I can think of multiple names I'd rather have in my front line like that *clicks fingers* right now (and for the past few years), when he's only 28 so not "passed it"...well, I shouldn't be able to do that with a name on a list of the all time greats.

 

[RonaldoSan]

Beckham? Figo? Ronaldo? Jesus Christ.
Amusing that those are all Real players, I really didn't pick them out for that reason. I just find those 3 names ridiculous in this list.

Who would you rather see instead? Ronaldo will evidently become the most scoring striker in the world. He will top all Peles records and this is considering the two years he should have topped (age 24-26) he was severely injured. On top of that the whole game has advanced on so many levels since Peles time.

I think Pele and Maradona are overrated. The best players today don't stand out as much as the best players did back then. The player development is much better. The avg. team has better players. Do you really think Pele or Maradon had the accuracy that Beckham has, the ability to pass players like Figo or the speed of Ronaldo?

 

[Fowler]

Ronaldo's greatness is a little deceptive, because we almost forget how good he's been right from the PSV days to now. And he's on the verge of breaking Gerd Muller's record as the most prolific World Cup scorer ever (I believe he has 13, just behind Muller's 14). I would definitely call him the best forward of the last ten years. I honestly can't see anyone else who would take that title. He's scored consistently in Spain (in two seperate spells), Italy and on an international level, so... why not?

And uh, RonaldoSan, did you just say you don't think Maradona or Pelé could go past players like Figo can? Are you kidding me? For one, have you ever seen Maradona's goal against England in 1986 (NOT the Hand of God)?!? He goes past something like six players there alone...

 

[Mama Smurf]

Maybe I'm underrating Ronaldo, but I just think that, once you've taken off and shown yourself to be a complete star and one of the best in the world (it's different for every player, but that usually happens somewhere between 17 and 22 I'd say), you should be consistently at the top until age catches up with you (32? Depends on your position and how you play) or you retire if you're going to be considered for a list like this. And seeing as for the last 3 years (Ronaldo being 25-28, should be at the peak of his game) there are at least two forwards in the world I'd put in ahead of him each year in a dream team (and often more than that), that to me knocks him out of any world's greatest players of all time list. That's not to say he isn't a fantastic player, but we're talking about the very best here.

It may even have been more than 3 years, it's been a while, but I'm pretty sure I was surprised at Ronaldo's great form at World Cup 2002, at Brazil's form in general but him in particular, so the reason for that is surely being disappointed with him previously.

And don't get me wrong, I know everyone has bad spells. Maybe a few months, maybe even a whole season is ok. it's been too long though since he's been at his best, and even if you ignore that the main problem is players moving ahead of him rather than his drop in form.

As for comparing players of the past to the present, I don't think that's fair at all. Of course the best team from 30 years ago qould struggle to beat the best team today, but that's not their fault. They didn't have the diets we have today, they didn't even have the knowledge to implement them had they thought they should. They didn't have the machines or facilities to get their players into the peak physical shape of today's stars. Their fitness levels could never match today's players. Hell even the equipment was different, heavier balls, thicker shirts, longer grass. Skill levels are pretty much the only thing which isn't so dependant on the time, and even then half the things skilly players do now were invented by those guys, just like Ronaldhino's flick today. 20 years time, every player with any skill will be doing it.

You have to compare them to their day, and how they did around people on the same level.

 

[brooklyngooner]

I think Pele and Maradona are overrated. The best players today don't stand out as much as the best players did back then. The player development is much better. The avg. team has better players. Do you really think Pele or Maradon had the accuracy that Beckham has, the ability to pass players like Figo or the speed of Ronaldo?

In a word, easily: yes.

 

[milanbaros]

Do you really think Maradona had the ability to pass players like Figo?

Well considering Maradona is probably the most skilled player of all time and could pass the World's greatest players like they weren't even a consideration to him, then I would take a wild guess and plump for yes.

Ronaldo is a tricky one which we will only be able to fully answer after he has retired. The man has won everything (except the champions league which is a bit strange) inc. 2 world cups and 3 FIFA world player of the year awards. That is hard to argue against.

As for his his form post 2002 world cup its hasn't been that bad. 4th top scorer in La Liga this season.

 

[Talas]

I think Pele and Maradona are overrated. The best players today don't stand out as much as the best players did back then. The player development is much better. The avg. team has better players. Do you really think Pele or Maradon had the accuracy that Beckham has, the ability to pass players like Figo or the speed of Ronaldo?

Go here and watch the 1986 Argentina-England game and the 1970 Brazil-Italy game.

 

[Fowler]

Skill levels are pretty much the only thing which isn't so dependant on the time, and even then half the things skilly players do now were invented by those guys, just like Ronaldhino's flick today. 20 years time, every player with any skill will be doing it.

The Cruyff turn is a fantastic example of this.

 

[Afro Thunder]

All you need is a little history lesson. Pelé was the best football/soccer player ever.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pelé&btnG=Google+Search
There are doubts that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time? Pelé situation is the same...

 

[Talas]

There are doubts that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time? Pelé situation is the same...

I don't know man, Maradona in his prime was pretty much unstoppable. But if we include what they did outside the playfield then Pelé wins without doubt.

 

[Shinobi]

And uh, RonaldoSan, did you just say you don't think Maradona or Pelé could go past players like Figo can? Are you kidding me? For one, have you ever seen Maradona's goal against England in 1986 (NOT the Hand of God)?!? He goes past something like six players there alone...

And England's defense was considered the best in the world during those years...yet Maradona made 'em look like a girl's high school squad. :lol

As long as Diego gets credit for scoring the greatest goal in the history of sports and finishes no lower then #2, it's all good. Pele will probably win out, and it's hard to argue against that choice. But Maradona is without a doubt the best player I've ever seen...his peformances in the '86 World Cup were beyond stupid.

 

[WedgeX]

Pele - Edson Arantes do Nascimento dominated in three world-cup winning Brazil teams (’58, ’62 and ’70) to write his name in the granite of footballing legend.

He'd be my pick.

And a bit off topic, but my dad's friend played soccer with Pele on Brazil's team before moving to the US...cool guy. Sadly he got turned down by my high school to coach there, but now he's one of the coaches for U of M.

 

[MrPing1000]

i love how they cudn't think of much for beckham so let u try and do it yourself heh.


where the hell is guillet?


out of that list its between van basten, pele, maradonna and best

tough

 

[Borys]

Maradona is a legend.

Pele is the best football player ever.

That's the difference.

 

[Shinobi]

I think the difference is that Pele was the best player in the world for a far longer period. At the same time, one could argue that no one individual played a bigger role in winning a World Cup then Maradona did.

 

[olimario]

Legends are undisputed, usually.
Jordan is the best basketball player ever.
Jerry Rice is the best wide reciever ever.

 

[SickBoy]

Diego Maradona - The troubled genius who almost single-handedly won the World Cup for Agentina in 1986.

Heh, I don't know if these are BBC's words or yours, but something oddly fitting about them

At any rate, as a kid I was a huge Dalglish fan, but from my perspective, Pele is obviously where it's at.

 

[Nerevar]

Diego Maradona - The troubled genius who almost single-handedly won the World Cup for Agentina in 1986.

I am the greatest soccer player of all time.

:lol

 

[Talas]

I am the greatest soccer player of all time.

:lol

He's not that fat anymore. He went to Cuba and had a gastric bypass surgery like two or three months ago.

 

[Willco]