Football’s been around longer than you might think, the first set of official rules was drawn up back in 1863. Sadly, we don’t have a lot of footage from those days, so here’s the best footballer from every decade in the last 100 years.
1. 1920s Dixie Dean
Matches in the 1920s were the highest-scoring than they are today. But dixie dean was still a Goal-Machine dean who started his career with the local team Tranmere rovers before moving to Everton in 1925, that was his big break. Dean had supported the toffees as a boy and he wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity. Dean became Everton’s first ever number nine and they haven’t had a striker as prolific as him ever since. In the 1927-28 season, dean scored 60 league goals in just 39 appearances. His exploits are almost 100 years old, but they’re still talked about today. Not many players from his era can say the same thing:
2. 1930s Josef Bican
Josef Bican died in 2001, but he made the news again this year when Cristiano Ronaldo broke his record to become football’s top scorer of all time. It just goes to show how good Bican was that his record stood for so long born in what was then Austria-Hungary in 1913. Bican was one of the world’s best players in the 1930s. It’s hard to work out just how many goals he scored. Many sources say it was 759, but FIFA claims it was 805. Whatever the exact number Bican was a phenomenon, he was strong, quick and a natural finisher who could score every type of goal. Giuseppe Miyazaki and Matthias Sindelar deserve a mention when it comes to the 1930s, but Bican’s goal. Tally speaks for itself,
3. 1940s Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews is one of England’s greatest footballers. The wing wizard was a magician with the ball at his feet. Football was disrupted in the 1940s by the second world war, Matthews served in the RAF and the conflict cost him his career from the age of 24 to 30. football returned in 1946 and Matthews vowed to make up for the lost time. He was the inspiration behind stokes. Surprise title challenge: in the first season: back at the international level, he dazzled opponents with his trickery, balance, and dribbling skills, Matthews used to hug the touchline and loved to take on defenders one-on-one. Incredibly, he played professional football until the age of 50. Stanley Matthews is a true legend of the game.
4. 1950s Alfredo de Stefano.
Now, don’t let the black and white images fool you alfredo de Stefano was one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen. Distefano joined real Madrid in 1953. Without him, Los Blancos wouldn’t be the global giants they are today. Distefano was the star player, as Madrid won. Five European Cups in a row between 1956 and 1960, he’s usually described as a forward, but positions don’t do injustice. Testafino was such a complete footballer that he used to pop up in defense, midfield, and attack all in the same game born in Argentina. He played most of his international football for Spain, but when you picture DiStefano, it’s in the all-white kit of real Madrid, Madrid wasn’t a one-man team in the 1950s, but they wouldn’t have achieved what they did without alfredo de Stefano
5. 1960s Pele
Pele won his first World cup in 1958 and his third one in 1970, he also won the tournament in 1962 but got injured in the second game. In 1966, brazil crashed out on the group stage, despite all that, there’s no doubt that Pele was at the peak of his powers. In the 1960s, the king of Brazilian football sometimes gets mocked these days, there’s a debate to be had about how many goals he scored. A genius like Pele can’t be reduced to numbers, though, do you ask anyone who played with or against him in the 1960s and they’ll tell you just how brilliant he was. Some of his goals in the 1960s indeed came in friendlies, but Pele Santos was playing against Europe’s top teams, and thanks to him they usually beat them. Ferenc Puskas was another world-class forward in the 1960s and lev Yashin became the first and only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or. Those two were great, but not quite as great as Pele
6. 1970s Johan Cruyff
Has there ever been a cooler footballer than Johan Cruyff? The Dutch legend wasn’t just stylish off the pitch. He was a world-class footballer who remains an iconic figure in the game. Today, Cruyff was such an intelligent player that he helped invent the total football style used by Ajax and holland in the 1970s. His goals, creativity, and all-around brilliance helped Ajax win three European cups that decade and he also shot as the dutch reached their world cup final in 1974. Cruyff won three Ballon d'Or in the 1970s, which was more than any other player. Even the legendary german duo of Franz Beckenbauer and gert muller weren’t, quite in Cruyff’s class, the
7. 1980s Diego Maradona
Now you only have to look at the reaction to Diego Maradona’s death to realize just how much he meant to football fans all over the world. El Diego played in the 1970s and 1990s, but we saw the best of him in the 80s. His greatest moment was at the 86th world cup when he carried Argentina to glory and scored the goal of the century against England. Maradona left Barcelona for Napoli in 1984. It was a bit of a risky move because Napoli had never won the series a title by the time Diego left they’d won it twice. There’s no other word to describe him. Maradona was a genius when he dribbled with the ball. It seemed to be glued to his left foot. He scored goals and created them and made the players around him better. With all due respect to Zico Michelle Platini and lotta Matthias. No one came close to Maradona in the 1980s
8. 1990s Ronaldo
Ronaldo won the world cup and scored all of his 104 real Madrid goals in the 2000s. But there was nothing quite like the r9 of the 1990s. That’s when he earned the nickname. Oh, phenomenal. Ronaldo was arguably the greatest teenager football has ever seen. He announced himself to the world when he scored 54 goals in 57 games for PSV.
He was even better at Barcelona, combining speed, strength, and skill. The Brazilian tore things up in his one season at the club. He carried on terrorizing defenses at inter and then led brazil to the world cup final in 1998. The decade ended badly for Ronaldo, with a serious knee injury affecting him for the rest of his career. He could have been even more legendary if he’d stayed fit, but the 1990s were r9 at his breathtaking best.
9. 2000S Zinedine Zidane
It’s a bit surprising that Zinedine Zidane only won one Ballon d’Or that came in 1998 after he starred in France’s world cup. Victory. Zidane was like a fine wine. He just got better with age. He began the decade with some stunning performances at euro 2000 and added another medal to his collection. Zidane joined Real Madrid the following year and ended his first season by scoring an incredible volley with his weaker foot in the champions league final, not a bad start To live at the Bernabeu, Madrid probably should have won more during the Galacticus era, but Zidane wasn’t to blame for that. He was world-class even at the age of 34. Just look at how he dominated the 2006 world cup, with a strong nod to Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho. The 2000s belonged to Zinedine Zidane.
10. In the 2010s, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
How on earth could we split these two? The rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo defines the 2010s and it’s impossible to choose between them from 2009 to 10 and 19 to 20 Messi and Ronaldo scored more than 1 000 club goals between them. They also won nine la Liga titles, six champions, leagues, and nine Ballon d'Or Ronaldo won euro 2016 with Portugal, while Messi failed to lift the trophy with his country, but the argentine did scoop one more ballon d'Or than CR7. Messi and Ronaldo might be coming to the End of their careers, but no one will be able to erase the memories of their brilliance in the 2010s. Messi and Ronaldo are two of the greatest players of all time, and we might never see anything like them again.