Diego Armando Maradona (October 30, 1960 – November 25, 2020) was an Argentine former football player and coach. Regarded as one of the greatest players in history, he was one of only two recipients of the FIFA World Player of the Century award. Maradona's tactical vision, passing, control and dribbling combined with his small stature, gave him a low center of gravity that allowed Maradona to be more maneuverable than most other players. His presence and leadership on the field greatly influenced the overall performance of the team, although he was often closely followed by opposing players.

In addition to his creativity, he also possesses a keen eye for goals and is known as an expert in free kicks. A gifted talent, Maradona was given the nickname "El Pibe de Oro" ("Golden Boy"), a name that stuck with him throughout his career.

A classic No 10 playmaker, Maradona was the first player to twice set the world transfer fee record: in 1982 when he moved to Barcelona for £ 5m and in 1984 when he moved to Napoli for a fee of £ 6.9 million. He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys throughout his club career, and most famously during his time at Napoli, where he won numerous titles.

Full name: Diego Armando Maradona
Date of birth: October 30, 1960
Height: 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)

Playing positions: Attacking midfielder, second striker

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (born October 23, 1940), best known as Pelé, is a famous Brazilian former soccer player. Nicknamed "The King of Football", he is considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time. In 1999, he was voted the Best Player of the 20th century by the IFFHS association. In the same year, he was named Athlete of the Century by the IOC and included in Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2013, he was awarded the Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur by FIFA.

Discovered at a very young age, Pelé started playing for Santos Futebol Clube at the age of 15, entered the national team at 16 and won his first World Cup at the age of 17. During his international career, he won three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Pelé is Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches. At club level, he was Santos' top goalscorer, and led the team to Copa Libertadores championships in 1962 and 1963. Since retiring in 1977, Pelé has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has numerous acting and commercial ventures. In 2010, he was appointed President Emeritus of the New York Cosmos.

Full name: Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Date of birth: October 23, 1940
Height: 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Playing positions: Forward, attacking midfielder

Johan Cruyff (born 25 April 1947 in Amsterdam – 24 March 2016 in Barcelona), was a Dutch football player and coach. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times (1971, 1973 and 1974). Cruyff is one of the most famous members of the football philosophy called Total Football created by Rinus Michels. During the 1970s, Dutch football grew from a little-known football background to become a force. Cruyff led the Dutch team to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and won the Golden Ball award for the best player of that tournament. Nicknamed "Saint Johan", he is considered as the best Dutch player of all time and one of the best players in the history of world football.

At the national level, Cruyff started his career at Ajax. He has won eight national championships with the club and three European Cups. In 1973 he moved to FC Barcelona and set a new Football Player Transfer Record. He won the La Liga title with the team in his first season and won the European Golden Ball that year. After retiring in 1984, Cruyff also enjoyed a successful coaching career with Ajax and FC Barcelona. He later remained an influential advisor at two clubs. His son Jordi is also a professional footballer.

Full name: Hendrik Johannes Cruijff
Life: April 25, 1947–March 24, 2016
Height: 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)

Playing positions: Forward, attacking midfielder

Arthur Antunes Coimbra (born 3 March 1953), better known as Zico, is a Brazilian former football player and coach. Nicknamed the "White Pele", he is considered one of the greatest dribblers and goalscorer in football and one of the best players of the 1980s. In 2004, Pelé named him one of 125 living legends of world football in FIFA 100.

Zico participated in 3 World Cups in 1978, 1982 and 1986. He scored 66 goals in 88 matches for the national team, although he has never won the World Cup. He is considered one of the best players in the history of football who has never touched the world cup. In 1983, he was named Player of the Year by the English Football Magazine.

Zico coached the Japan national football team from 2002-2006, participated in the 2006 World Cup and won the 2004 Asian Cup, from 4 July 2006 he was appointed head coach of Turkish club Fenerbahçe.

Full name: Arthur Antunes Coimbra
Date of birth: March 3, 1953
Height: 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)

Playing position: Attacking midfielder

Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955 in Jœuf, France) is a former Juventus player, former football coach and former President of the European Football Federation (UEFA) from 2007 to 2005. 2016. As a player, he won 3 consecutive Golden Balls in 1983, 1984 and 1985.

During his career as a player, Platini played for clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne and Juventus. Platini was a member of the French team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was both the best player and top scorer. He also competed in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, finishing third in 1986 and fourth in 1982. Platini, along with Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana made up the Magical Quartet, the midfield of the country during the 1980s. He was voted the best player in Europe three times.

Platini was the coach who led the French team at Euro 92. He was also the co-chair of the Organizing Committee of the 1998 FIFA World Cup (the other being Fernand Sastre) in his homeland, the tournament where the team France won the championship.

Full name: Michel François Platini
Date of birth: June 21, 1955
Height: 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)

Playing position: Attacking midfielder

Franz Anton Beckenbauer (born 11 September 1945) is a German former football player and coach. During his playing career, he was nicknamed Der Kaiser ("The Emperor") for his elegant style, prominence, on-field leadership, and also because of his name -"Franz" - reminiscent of Austrian emperors. Beckenbauer is considered one of the greatest players in football history. A versatile player who started in midfield, Beckenbauer has made his name at centre-back. He is credited with giving birth to the modern sweeping defender (libero) role.

Beckenbauer won the Ballon d'Or twice in 1972 and 1976 and made 103 caps for West Germany. Along with Mário Zagallo of Brazil and Didier Deschamps of France, he is one of only three people to have won the World Cup as a player and as a coach. He won the World Cup as captain in 1974 and repeated the same feat as a coach in 1990. Beckenbauer was the first captain to win the World Cup and EURO championships for his country and UEFA Champions League at the club. He was named in the "World Team of the 20th Century" in 1998, the "FIFA World Cup Dream Team" in 2002, the "Golden Ball Dream Team" in 2020, and in 2004 was named in the list. FIFA's list of the 100 greatest living players in the world.

Full name: Franz Anton Beckenbauer
Date of birth: September 11, 1945
Height: 1.81 m (5 ft 11.5 in)

Playing position: Sweeper

Ferenc Puskás Biró (2 April 1927 – 17 November 2006), real name Puskás Ferenc, was a Hungarian football player and coach. Nicknamed the "Fast Major" or "White Swan", he is the greatest player in Hungarian football history and one of the greatest players of all time, ranking 7th on the list of 100 players. He has scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for the Hungary national football team along with 4 appearances for Spain national football team (no goals) and 511 goals in 533 matches competed in the Hungarian and Spanish championships.

Although he does not have the necessary elements that a typical striker needs such as height, the ability to compete for the ball in the air, ... But in return, Puskas possesses an extremely skillful left foot, along with the speed of an aircraft. He scored a total of 83 goals in 84 appearances for the Hungarian national team. That record was held by Puskas throughout the last century and was only broken by Iranian striker Ali Daei in 2003 (this player scored 109 goals for the national team, but the former Bayern Munich player took 149 match).

When talking about personal success, Puskas was very modest when he said that it was his teammates who were the source of his honor in football history. Indeed, Hungary's golden generation has produced talented individuals such as Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik, Sandor Kocsis and Nándor Hidegkuti. Especially, when most of the teams at that time were still playing quite wild, with a tactical scheme consisting mostly of strikers, Hungary knew how to apply a scientific style to the game.

Full name: Ferenc Purczeld (his father changed the family name to Puskás when Ferenc was 10)
Life: April 1, 1927–November 17, 2006
Height: 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)

Playing position: Forward

Alfredo di Stéfano (July 4, 1926 – July 7, 2014) was a former football player and coach of Argentine origin. His name was attached to the Real Madrid club, and was a good partner in attack with Ferenc Puskás during the club's European dominance in the 1950s, which was the era when Real Madrid won 5 consecutive European championships since 1956. Di Stéfano also played for 3 national teams, Argentina, Colombia and Spain. He won the Ballon d'Or twice in 1957 and 1959. He is one of the most brilliant and greatest players in football history.

Di Stéfano has been inducted into the International Football Hall of Fame. He is a strong striker with great physical strength, tactical flexibility and a sharp vision. He is currently the 3rd best goalscorer of all time in the history of the Spanish football championship (now known as La Liga), with a record of 228 goals in 329 matches, behind only Hugo Sánchez (234 goals) and Telmo Zarra (251 goals). Di Stéfano is also the top goalscorer in the domestic cup in Real Madrid's history, with 216 goals in 285 domestic league games between 1953 and 1964.

Full name: Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé
Life: July 4, 1926–July 7, 2014
Height: 1.76 m (5 ft 9.5 in)

Playing position: Forward

Zinédine Zidane (born 23 June 1972 in Marseille, France), is a former French football coach and player of Algerian descent.

Zidane, with the French national football team, won the first FIFA World Cup in 1998 and the UEFA Euro Championship in 2000. At the club level, he shined in the colors of Juventus and Real Madrid. This club won many titles in Europe as well as country. With his flamboyant style, tactical vision and personal technical prowess, he is widely regarded by football fans and pundits as one of the greatest players of all time. Along with Ronaldo de Lima, Zidane used to be the player who set a record for the number of times awarded the FIFA World Ballon d'Or award three times in 1998, 2000 and 2003. He is also the owner of the Golden Ball title in 1998. In 2001, Zidane moved to Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee of 76 million Euros.

Zidane won many noble titles for the team (including World Cup, Euro, Champions League, National Championship) and individual (World Golden Ball, European Golden Ball, World Cup Golden Ball, Euro Player of the Year, Club European Player of the Year, National Player of the Year (in both France, Italy and Spain).

He was selected in the list of 100 greatest living legends of world football (FIFA 100) in 2004. In the same year, he was voted by fans in Europe as "The best player in Europe" for the past 50 years through an Internet vote. In 2011, when UEFA's official website, Uefa.com, held a poll to award the best UEFA Champions League player of the past 20 years, Zidane won this award. He received the most votes from journalists, players and fans.

Full name: Zinedine Yazid Zidane
Date of birth: June 23, 1972
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)

Playing position: Attacking midfielder

George Best (22 May 1946 - 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish footballer, best known for his time playing for Manchester United. He plays as a winger, is a player who possesses speed, technique, balance, the ability to create space, shoot well with two feet, the ability to score goals and deceive defenders. In 1968, he won the European Championship with Manchester United and also won the Ballon d'Or the same year. When healthy, he was always the choice of the Northern Ireland team, even though he had never led the team to a World Cup.

In 1999, he was voted 11th, behind Marco Van Basten, in the poll of the best European player of the century organized by IFFHS. Best was also voted 16th, behind Lothar Matthäus, in the vote for the best player of the century. Pelé named him as one of the 125 living football legends of the century in 2004. He is ranked 8th in World Soccer's List of 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century. In his hometown of Northern Ireland, the admiration of the people for him is expressed through a pun: "Maradona good; Pelé better; George Best".

Playing positions: Winger, attacking midfielder