Sports Illustrated list of The 50 Greatest Soccer players of all time

[Math1990]

I saw this list (https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/05/21/50-greatest-footballers-all-time) in sports Illustrated site, One of the largest sports magazines in the United States, Reading posts from our fellow forum members, I saw that the American media has a certain bias anti-white,

The list elects the 50 Greatest players in the history of Football( The author says that he chose by the peak of each) The list was made in 2019, Of the 50 players on the list 37 were white, I don't agree with the list, for example the black George weah It's on the list is a Shame, has several other players who were better than him(For example the Danish Michael Laudrup, Del Piero, Totti, Vieri, Alan Shearer and others, or even more recent Fernando Torres that in his peak is better than George weah peak), the worst thing is he's ahead of a multi-champion like the German Paul Breitner

The list:

50: luka modric

49: John Charles

48: Hugo Sanchez (Mestizo)

47: Jairzinho (Black)

46: Omar sivori

45: Paolo Rossi

44: Paul Breitner

43: George Weah (Black)

42: Kaká

41: Lev Yashin

40: Gunnar Nordhal

39: Kevin Keegan

38: Hristo Stoichkov

37: Gianluigi Buffon

36: Johan Neeskens

35: Xavi

34: Luis Suarez ( It's not the uruguyan, Is a spanish that played for inter of Milan and Barcelona)

33: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

32: Andrés iniesta

31: Rivelino

30: Bobby Moore

29: Sócrates ( Brazilian mixed)

28: Sandor Kocsis

27: Lothar Matthaus

26: Ronaldinho (Black)

25: Ruud Gullit ( Black)

24: Bobby Charlton

23: Giuseppe Meazza

22: Raymond Koppa

21: Romário (Mulatto)

20: Eusébio (Mulatto, White portuguese father)

19: Marco Van Basten

18: George Best

17: Arthur Antunes Coimbra AKA Zico

16: Franco Baresi

15: Cristiano Ronaldo

14: Ferenc Puskás ( Born Ferenc Purczeld)

13: Paolo Maldini

12: Gerd Muller

11: Mané Garrincha (Mixed)

10: Alfred Di Stefano

9: Roberto Baggio

8: Michel Platini

7: Ronaldo (Mulatto)

6: Zinedine Zidane (Berber)

5: Johan Cruyff

4: Franz Beckenbauer

3: Lionel Messi

2: Pelé (Black)

1: Maradona (Mestizo)

The fellows of the Soccer forum Have any opinion?

 

[Phall]

All these lists are weird. My favorite "non-white" athlete of any sport is Zidane. I didn't recognize his ethnic distinction when I was playing elevated soccer and admiring him at a teen in the 90's. I just saw his anger, competitive disdain, and his extreme temperament as fascinating qualities.

I've been out of soccer shape for a long time, but one thing I remember about the aftermath of thrusting myself back into a scrimmage game was how sore my neck was the next couple of days. I used to whip my head around like an ostrich all the time, and you just don't use those muscles so aggressively otherwise.

Anyway, my tops are:

1. Zidane
2. Messi
3. Maldini
4. Ronaldo
5. Cruyff (he invented the "Cruyff," which is the drag-back thing you do to deny a defender. Revolutionary!

I don't know how to rank old time players like George Best, Van Basten (who signed an autograph for me as a child in 1991), Baresi, Charlton, or even Matthaus. I think Buffon is closer to Top Ten and Modric is closer to Top 20. It's a fun consideration to think about.

 

[jacknyc]

I would have liked to see Michael Laudrup's name here.

 

[Math1990]

I would have liked to see Michael Laudrup's name here.

I always thought Michael Laudrup was very underrated, I think because he's a quiet guy and away from the spotlight of media, It hindered him a little in those aspects of the best of all time lists (That fame often counts), but he was certainly one of the best, Surely he would have more fame today with the internet and ETC

Great player, midfielder of class

 

[Phall]

Does anyone recall this story, maybe an urban legend, of the Spanish midfielder who held himself to a personal standard of '100% completed passes' during each and every practice session? He would get so super-frustrated with himself simply for mis-hitting one ball during a drill, but was generally accurate enough not to let his insanity bleed out onto team morale. I think it's gotta be either Xavi or Iniesta, but I can't remember which.

 

[Phall]

Michael Laudrup was a goal-scoring machine for me in FIFA '94, the first sports computer game i latched onto as a kid's pesky habit. Those were 2D models, meaning that the players were paper-figure cut-outs and had different shapes depending on which angle your ball was approached from. It was still fascinating 25 years ago!

 

[jacknyc]

Here are some quotes by other players about Laudrup.

Pep Guardiola
“The best player in the world, I can’t believe he hasn’t won the title as best player.”

Johan Cruyff
“When Michael plays like a dream, a magic illusion, determined to show his new team his extreme abilities, no one in the world comes anywhere near his level.”

Ivan Zamorano
“I always say that Laudrup had three eyes, not two like everyone else. As a forward, I had to be aware all the time, because he could make you a chance out of nothing and you had to be prepared for that moment. Michael was a magician and one of the greatest players ever.”

Andres Iniesta
“Who is the best player in history? Laudrup.”

Roberto Galia
“I have played against Maradona, Platini and Baggio. But the player I saw do the most indescribable things was Michael Laudrup.”

Luis Figo
“I think maybe Laudrup was the best player I ever played against.”

Raul
“The best I have ever played with.”

Michel Platini
“Michael had everything except for one thing: he wasn’t selfish enough.”

Ronald Koeman
“Michael was possibly the most skillful and elegant player I ever played with. Few could dribble like he could. He could sense when a game was ready to be seized and transformed by a moment of individual brilliance.”

Hristo Stoichkov
“From more than hundred goals that I scored I’m sure that over 50 were assisted by Michael. To play with him was extremely easy. We found each other by intuition on the field and found common football language.”

Brian Laudrup
“My brother started as an attacker but became an elegant attacking midfielder, perhaps the most complete there has ever been. His vision, speed of thought and passing were on a different level; he always knew what was going to happen before anybody else did. If anyone had a ‘football brain’, it was him.”

 

[jacknyc]

Dennis Bergkamp is also missing from this list.

 

[Math1990]

Here are some quotes by other players about Laudrup.

Pep Guardiola
“The best player in the world, I can’t believe he hasn’t won the title as best player.”

Johan Cruyff
“When Michael plays like a dream, a magic illusion, determined to show his new team his extreme abilities, no one in the world comes anywhere near his level.”

Ivan Zamorano
“I always say that Laudrup had three eyes, not two like everyone else. As a forward, I had to be aware all the time, because he could make you a chance out of nothing and you had to be prepared for that moment. Michael was a magician and one of the greatest players ever.”

Andres Iniesta
“Who is the best player in history? Laudrup.”

Roberto Galia
“I have played against Maradona, Platini and Baggio. But the player I saw do the most indescribable things was Michael Laudrup.”

Luis Figo
“I think maybe Laudrup was the best player I ever played against.”

Raul
“The best I have ever played with.”

Michel Platini
“Michael had everything except for one thing: he wasn’t selfish enough.”

Ronald Koeman
“Michael was possibly the most skillful and elegant player I ever played with. Few could dribble like he could. He could sense when a game was ready to be seized and transformed by a moment of individual brilliance.”

Hristo Stoichkov
“From more than hundred goals that I scored I’m sure that over 50 were assisted by Michael. To play with him was extremely easy. We found each other by intuition on the field and found common football language.”

Brian Laudrup
“My brother started as an attacker but became an elegant attacking midfielder, perhaps the most complete there has ever been. His vision, speed of thought and passing were on a different level; he always knew what was going to happen before anybody else did. If anyone had a ‘football brain’, it was him.”

Romario also said that Laudrup was one of the best he played together, Laudrup in 1999 He was elected the best foreigner in the Spanish league in 25 years,

Unfortunately he never had much media or hype, I believe it is due to the fact that he is a quiet, reserved guy, and also because he was born in Denmark, if he had been born in Germany, Italy or England he would be talked about a lot to this day.

 

[jacknyc]

I think Laudrup enjoyed passing more than scoring.
The media isn't as interested in that. They want to talk about goals!
As Platini said, he wasn't selfish enough.

 

[Sean89]

Pele number two, hilarious. Master of self promotion!

 

[grandmaster]

Gullit is Mulatto, not black.

 

[SneakyQuick]

Gullit is Mulatto, not black.

Which is true of most of the greatest “black” players. Even in the current nba. - steph curry etc

 

[grandmaster]

Which is true of most of the greatest “black” players. Even in the current nba. - steph curry etc

Pat Mahomes and Aaron Judge also.

 

[SneakyQuick]

Yeah I mean reportedly black Americans have something like 20 percent European heritage on average so they are probably better considered coloured as they would be in South Africa. Of course here that would be considered a grievous slander and there it’s perfectly accepted even with a largely black government. What a country we have become

 

[LucasBryant]

All these lists are weird. My favorite "non-white" athlete of any sport is Zidane. I didn't recognize his ethnic distinction when I was playing elevated soccer and admiring him at a teen in the 90's. I just saw his anger, competitive disdain, and his extreme temperament as fascinating qualities.

I've been out of soccer shape for a long time, but one thing I remember about the aftermath of thrusting myself back into a scrimmage game was how sore my neck was the next couple of days. I used to whip my head around like an ostrich all the time, and you just don't use those muscles so aggressively otherwise.

Anyway, my tops are:

1. Zidane
2. Messi
3. Maldini
4. Ronaldo
5. Cruyff (he invented the "Cruyff," which is the drag-back thing you do to deny a defender. Revolutionary!

I don't know how to rank old time players like George Best, Van Basten (who signed an autograph for me as a child in 1991), Baresi, Charlton, or even Matthaus. I think Buffon is closer to Top Ten and Modric is closer to Top 20. It's a fun consideration to think about.

Zidane is white. Regardless of his Arab heritage, he is a white man. This list is comical, Lothar at 27 and Cristiano anywhere outside the top 7 is insane.