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Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Rank 174Down 4
#17 in Footballers of All Time
of 20 ranked entries
Ronaldinho
Forward · Brazil · 1998–2015
2002 World Cup winner whose Barcelona years turned showmanship into genuine tactical unpredictability, before a decline in professionalism ended his elite window earlier than his talent warranted. Recorded specifics: position Forward, country Brazil, debut 1998. Panel highlighted 2002 World Cup champion with Brazil, 2005 Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in consecutive seasons and redefined how much flair a top-tier team could build an offense around. The reservation on record is fitness and discipline issues sharply shortened his true elite window.
World Cup winnerBallon d’Or winner
Score breakdown
How Ronaldinho earned 74.3
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Footballers of All Time.
- Individual brilliance & skillweight 30%
- 74.9
- Trophy & tournament successweight 25%
- 76.4
- Influence on how the game is playedweight 25%
- 72.1
- Peak dominance vs the era’s bestweight 20%
- 73.5
On the record
Recorded detail
| Position | Forward |
|---|---|
| Country | Brazil |
| Debut | 1998 |
| World Cups + Ballons d’Or | 2 |
| Rating | 8.2 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- 2002 World Cup champion with Brazil
- 2005 Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in consecutive seasons
- Redefined how much flair a top-tier team could build an offense around
Where it gives ground
- Fitness and discipline issues sharply shortened his true elite window
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickLionel 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.
94.7/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 02Editor’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.
93.4/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 03Editor’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.
92.5/100 Top 49 score2Up 2
Rank 04Cristiano Ronaldo
Soccer · Portugal · 2002–present
Five Ballon d’Or awards and the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football, built on a training obsessiveness that has kept him a starting-calibre forward into his forties. The World Cup remains the one line on the résumé he could never fill in.
90.9/100 Top 49 score4Up 4
Rank 05Johan Cruyff
Forward · Netherlands · 1964–1984
The face and brain of Total Football, a system that treated every outfield position as interchangeable and still shapes how Ajax, Barcelona and most of modern coaching think about space.
90.3/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 06Franz Beckenbauer
Defender · West Germany · 1964–1983
Invented the modern attacking sweeper role and remains the only person to captain a World Cup-winning team, in 1974, and later coach one, in 1990.
89.3/100 Top 49 score2Up 2
Rank 07Zinedine Zidane
Midfielder · France · 1988–2006
Two headers won the 1998 World Cup final outright; a red card in his final match, the 2006 final, still nearly cost France the trophy on penalties instead.
87.2/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
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.
86.5/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
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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.