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Rank 131Up 1
#13 in Greatest World Cup Performances
of 15 ranked entries
Diego Forlán
Uruguay · 2010 World Cup
Won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player while leading Uruguay to their best World Cup finish since 1970, without ever lifting the trophy itself. Recorded specifics: country Uruguay, world cup 2010, tournament goals 5. Panel highlighted golden Ball winner despite Uruguay finishing fourth, not first, scored in five different matches across the tournament and led Uruguay to a semifinal, their best finish in forty years. The reservation on record is one of the few Golden Ball winners in history never to lift the trophy itself.
Golden BallUnderdog run
Score breakdown
How Diego Forlán earned 75.6
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Greatest World Cup Performances.
- Tournament-defining impactweight 30%
- 77.5
- Goals & outputweight 25%
- 76.1
- Degree of difficultyweight 25%
- 74.6
- Legacy of the performanceweight 20%
- 73.2
On the record
Recorded detail
| Country | Uruguay |
|---|---|
| World Cup | 2010 |
| Tournament goals | 5 |
| Rating | 8.1 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- Golden Ball winner despite Uruguay finishing fourth, not first
- Scored in five different matches across the tournament
- Led Uruguay to a semifinal, their best finish in forty years
Where it gives ground
- One of the few Golden Ball winners in history never to lift the trophy itself
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickDiego Maradona
Soccer · Argentina · 1976–1997
Carried an otherwise ordinary Argentina side to the 1986 World Cup virtually alone, scoring the “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century” in the same match. Peak for peak, no one has taken over a tournament quite so completely.
96.7/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 02Editor’s pickPelé
Soccer · Brazil · 1956–1977
The only man to win three World Cups, the last of them as a 29-year-old anchoring Brazil’s 1970 side, arguably the finest team ever assembled. Statistics from the amateur-adjacent fixtures of his early career are disputed; the World Cup record is not.
93.7/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Rank 03Editor’s pickJust Fontaine
France · 1958 World Cup
Thirteen goals in six matches, a single-tournament scoring record that has now stood for well over sixty years, scored by a player who was not even the first-choice striker before an injury opened the door.
92.9/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Rank 04Editor’s pickGeoff Hurst
England · 1966 World Cup
Scored the first hat-trick in a World Cup final, all three in the deciding 4-2 win over West Germany, including the disputed “Wembley goal” that goal-line technology did not yet exist to confirm.
90.8/100 Top 49 score3Down 3
Rank 05Garrincha
Brazil · 1962 World Cup
Took over as Brazil’s attacking focal point after Pelé was injured in the group stage and was named the tournament’s outstanding player as Brazil retained the trophy without him.
89.1/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Rank 06Lionel Messi
Soccer · Argentina · 2004–present
Eight Ballon d’Or awards, more than double anyone else’s total, and a 2022 World Cup final performance that closed the one gap left on his résumé. The Barcelona academy graduate who never needed to leave to prove anything, then left anyway and won it all again in Paris and Miami.
87.1/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Rank 07Kylian Mbappé
Forward · France · 2015–present
World Cup champion at 19 in 2018, then the second player ever to score a World Cup final hat-trick, in 2022 — and still finished on the losing side that night.
84.5/100 Top 49 score4Down 4
Rank 08Ronaldo Nazário
Forward · Brazil · 1993–2011
Won the Golden Boot and the 2002 World Cup itself, scoring both goals in the final, in a redemption arc from the mysterious pre-match collapse that derailed his 1998 final four years earlier.
84.4/100 Top 49 score4Down 4
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Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.