The 10 greatest players in World Cup history

Football is a democratic sport. Not everyone can afford to go to school with a rugby field or buy a horse. But from the slums of Rio de Janeiro and Nairobi to the playgrounds of Monaco and Beverly Hills, children still kick a ball.

Football stars often come from humble beginnings, but their talent has turned them into icons on and off the pitch, becoming national heroes. Here are the 10 greatest players in World Cup history, ahead of the 2026 tournament.

10. Zinedine Zidane

One of the greatest and most controversial players, Zidane won the 1998 World Cup for France on home soil, scoring two goals in the final. Injury kept him out of most of France’s short-lived 2002 World Cup campaign, but he was named the tournament’s best player in 2006 – despite his infamous headbutt that got him sent off in the final against Italy. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Paris chanting Zidane's name when the team returned home.

With 31 goals in 108 matches for France, his charismatic leadership shaped the national team into a collective greater than the sum of its parts. As a coach, he went on to win three Champions League titles and two La Liga titles with Real Madrid.

9. Jimmy Greaves

Even the great Bobby Moore, whose statue welcomes fans at Wembley, was not as beloved as Jimmy Greaves. Greaves gained international fame after rescuing a dog that invaded the pitch during the 1962 World Cup quarterfinal between England and Brazil. Brazil’s Garrincha took the dog home, and Greaves became known in Brazil as “Garrincha’s dog catcher.”

Greaves was a member of the 1966 World Cup-winning team, but a severe injury caused by France’s Joseph Bonnel, requiring 14 stitches, kept him out of the final. Greaves scored six hat-tricks for England, a record that still stands today. The 1966 campaign remains a focal point of English identity, and Greaves became a welcome commentator in living rooms for decades.

8. Ferenc Puskas

Puskas captained the “Mighty Magyars,” Hungary’s golden team, developed under the influence of Jimmy Hogan’s “Total Football.” He scored 84 goals in 85 matches for Hungary and made four appearances for Spain. Hungary dominated under Puskas so much that the 1954 World Cup final was their only loss of the decade.

He scored 702 goals in 705 professional matches. Puskas supported the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and defected to Spain after Soviet troops killed 2,500 of his countrymen. He returned to Hungary after the fall of communism and remains revered by Hungarians.

7. Lothar Matthaus

Germany’s most capped player of all time, Matthaus scored 23 goals in 150 international appearances. A box-to-box midfielder, he played in five World Cups, helping West Germany win in 1990. He is the only German to be named FIFA World Player of the Year and holds the record for most World Cup matches (25).

Diego Maradona once called Matthaus the toughest opponent he ever faced.

6. Miroslav Klose

Rarely do you get a reward just for being a good person, but Germany’s all-time leading scorer Miroslav Klose embodies that. Known for his fair play and good character – he refused a penalty in a club match because he knew the referee was wrong – Klose scored in four World Cups and finally lifted the trophy in 2014.

He scored 71 goals in 137 matches for Germany and 16 World Cup goals, the most in history. He was consistently effective and a genuinely good person.

5. Ronaldo (Brazil)

“The Phenomenon” Ronaldo redefined the striker role, playing 98 matches and scoring 62 goals for Brazil. He lifted the World Cup in 1994 at age 17. Four years later, he was named the tournament’s best player, leading Brazil to the final, but suffered convulsions hours before the match.

He scored twice in the 2002 World Cup final, adding to six earlier goals, and lifted the trophy again. In his fourth World Cup, Ronaldo scored his 15th goal – a record at the time. His playing style: speed, control, vision, total mastery of the ball, explosive sprints, weaving past defenders with step-overs and backheels.

4. Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer cannot be overlooked – one of three people (along with Didier Deschamps and Mario Zagallo) to lift the World Cup as both player and coach. Although a defender, he scored 14 goals in 103 matches for West Germany, captaining the 1974 winning side. After losing the 1966 final to England, he took revenge four years later, scoring to eliminate England and take West Germany to the semifinals.

As a coach, he led Germany to the 1990 World Cup title. Later, he successfully led the bid to host the 2006 World Cup, though the campaign was later investigated by FIFA over suspected corruption.

3. Johan Cruyff

The three-time Ballon d’Or winner, one of the most influential figures in “Total Football” philosophy, brought a new level of sophistication to the game. For Cruyff, football was not just sport but a fusion of mind, body, and art.

He scored 33 goals in 48 international matches, leading the Netherlands to the 1974 World Cup final, scoring twice against Argentina and eliminating defending champions Brazil. Only Franz Beckenbauer’s brilliant defense stopped Cruyff from lifting the trophy. He missed the 1978 World Cup after a kidnapping attempt. His legacy – “Total Football,” “tiki-taka,” the Cruyff turn – is a testament to his mastery of how to play football.

2. Diego Maradona

The drug-addicted “Golden Boy” is considered one of the greatest. His 60-meter dribble past five England players in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal led to the “Goal of the Century,” but before that came the most famous handball in history – the “Hand of God.”

Maradona won the 1986 World Cup, making his national team debut at age 16. He earned 91 caps and 34 goals, but his career was marred by a cocaine arrest in 1991 and a positive test for ephedrine in 1994. After retiring, he supported leftist movements, opposed the Iraq War, debated the pope on wealth distribution, and condemned Israel’s bombing of Gaza.

After his death at age 60, his body was wrapped in the national flag and lay in state at Argentina’s presidential palace, with tens of thousands of fans paying their respects.

1. Pelé

Is there any football icon more successful than Brazil’s Pelé? In 1958, he scored his first World Cup goal, ending Wales’s World Cup dream that had lasted seven decades. With both feet, Pelé created magic that inspired generations.

Pelé lifted the World Cup three times: 1958, 1962, and 1970. He remains Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches. In 1969, both sides in the Nigerian civil war agreed to a ceasefire to watch him play in Lagos. “There is the man Pelé and the player Pelé,” France’s Michel Platini once said. “And playing like Pelé is playing like God.”