Roberto Carlos $3
Left back with a sledgehammer left foot. 2002 World Cup winner. His banana free kick vs France (1997) still defies physics. Real Madrid Gala…
📺 90s/2000s Stars
Football's most televised era — Premier League boom, Galácticos, Champions League rise · 80 players
Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Vieira, Gerrard, Lampard, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Drogba, Eto'o, Inzaghi, Owen, Shearer, Nedved, Henry. The era millennials remember as their football peak.
Cafu $3
Two-time World Cup winner (1994, 2002). Only player to play in three consecutive World Cup finals. Defined the modern attacking right back.…
Fabio Cannavaro $3
2006 World Cup winner and Ballon d'Or winner — one of only three defenders to ever win it. 5'9" against giants, never lost an aerial duel th…
Carles Puyol $3
Barcelona and Spain's warrior captain. World Cup winner (2010, scored the semifinal header vs Germany). Three Champions Leagues. Pure leader…
Alessandro Nesta $3
AC Milan's other half of the post-Maldini era. Two-time Champions League winner. 2006 World Cup winner. Effortless reading of the game, neve…
Rafael Marquez $3
Mexico's iconic captain. Five World Cups (1 of only 3 players ever). Barcelona La Liga + Champions League winner under Rijkaard. The Captain…
Xavi Hernandez $3
Architect of tiki-taka. World Cup 2010, two Euros, four Champions Leagues. Made the impossible pass look casual. The brain of the greatest S…
Andres Iniesta $3
Scored the 2010 World Cup winning goal. Four Champions Leagues with Barcelona. Slipped past defenders like water. Quiet, devastating, peerle…
Andrea Pirlo $3
2006 World Cup winner. Deep-lying playmaker template. Free kicks and Panenka penalties. AC Milan and Juventus icon. Reborn at Juve after Mil…
Patrick Vieira $3
Arsenal's Invincible captain. 1998 World Cup winner. Box-to-box giant who never lost a midfield battle that mattered. The original modern co…
Steven Gerrard $3
Liverpool's captain heart. 2005 Champions League comeback hero from 3-0 down at half-time. Long-range thunderbolts and lung-bursting runs.…
Frank Lampard $3
Chelsea's all-time top scorer (211 goals — as a midfielder). Three Premier Leagues, Champions League 2012. The most clinical late-arriving m…
Paul Scholes $3
Manchester United midfield magician. 11 Premier Leagues. Long-range strikes and pinpoint passing. Zidane called him the best midfielder of h…
Xabi Alonso $3
Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich — won league titles at three of Europe's biggest clubs. World Cup 2010, two Euros. Long-range scoring …
Michael Ballack $3
Germany's captain and goal-scoring number 13. Eternal runner-up — multiple Champions League finals, 2002 World Cup final. Towering box-to-bo…
Yaya Toure $3
Three Premier Leagues with Manchester City. Four-time African Footballer of the Year. Powerful, technical, scored from everywhere. Carried I…
Ivan Zamorano $3
Bam Bam. Real Madrid's Chilean striker (also a midfielder at times). La Liga's top scorer 1995. Famously wore '1+8' when Ronaldo R9 took his…
Landon Donovan $3
USA's all-time top scorer. LA Galaxy legend. Scored the iconic 91st-minute winner vs Algeria at the 2010 World Cup. America's greatest ever.…
Hernan Crespo $3
Parma, Lazio, Inter, Chelsea, Milan — all the big Italian clubs. 2005 Champions League final scorer (lost to Liverpool's comeback).…
Filippo Inzaghi $3
Two Champions Leagues with AC Milan. 2006 World Cup winner. Offside king — Ferguson said he was born offside. Pure penalty box predator.…
Ruud van Nistelrooy $3
Manchester United Premier League top scorer. Real Madrid La Liga top scorer. Pure penalty box striker — never scored from outside the box (u…
Fernando Torres $3
World Cup 2010, two Euros, Champions League 2012 with Chelsea. Liverpool's perfect striker before injuries dimmed him. Pure pace + finish.…
Didier Drogba $3
Chelsea's all-time icon. Champions League 2012 — scored the equalizer in the final and the winning penalty. Helped end civil war in Ivory Co…
Samuel Eto'o $3
Africa's all-time top scorer (Cameroon level). Treble winner with Barcelona (2009) AND Inter (2010) — only player ever in two consecutive tr…
Adriano $3
L'Imperatore. Inter's force of nature in the mid-2000s. Career derailed by personal tragedy. At his peak, the most physically gifted striker…
Pavel Nedved $3
2003 Ballon d'Or. Juventus and Czech Republic legend. Tireless engine, long-range shooter, suspended for the Champions League final he carri…
Alan Shearer $3
Premier League all-time top scorer (260 goals). 1996 Euros Golden Boot. Newcastle United icon. The complete English number 9.…
Mohamed Aboutrika $3
Egypt's Maestro. Three-time African Cup of Nations winner (2006, 2008, 2010). Al Ahly's iconic playmaker. Refused FIFA Best XI for political…
Michael Essien $3
Chelsea's Ghanaian midfielder. Two Premier League titles, Champions League 2012. Mourinho's son. Box-to-box destroyer.…
Frédéric Kanouté $3
Sevilla's two-time UEFA Cup hero (2006, 2007). 2007 African Footballer of the Year. Mali's most famous player.…
Ruud van Nistelrooy 2 $3
Manchester United Premier League top scorer. Real Madrid La Liga top scorer. Pure penalty box predator.…
Tim Howard $2
Everton and USA's iconic goalkeeper. Set the World Cup record with 16 saves vs Belgium in 2014. Tourette's syndrome warrior. America's numbe…
Mark Schwarzer $2
Australia's all-time most-capped player (109). Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea — Premier League veteran. The Socceroos' last line for nearly …
John Terry $2
Chelsea captain leader legend. Five Premier League titles, Champions League 2012. Premier League Player of the Year as a defender. Mr. Chels…
Rio Ferdinand $2
Manchester United's ball-playing center back. Six Premier League titles, 2008 Champions League. Brought elegance to English defending.…
Nemanja Vidic $2
Ferdinand's enforcer partner at Manchester United. Five Premier League titles. Headed and threw himself into anything — broken noses, disloc…
Ashley Cole $2
Premier League's greatest left back. Arsenal Invincible, then Chelsea Champions League winner. 107 England caps. Always one step ahead of th…
Lilian Thuram $2
France's most-capped player (142). 1998 World Cup winner, 2000 Euros winner. Scored both goals in the 1998 World Cup semifinal vs Croatia. V…
Marcel Desailly $2
France's defensive rock. World Cup winner (1998), Euros winner (2000), two Champions Leagues (Marseille, AC Milan). Could play CB or DM at w…
Laurent Blanc $2
Le President. 1998 World Cup winner. Kissed bald keeper Barthez before every game. Calm, technical center back who could also score.…
Jaap Stam $2
Manchester United's treble-winning center back (1999). Built like a tank, ran like a winger. Sold by Ferguson too soon — one of his rare reg…
Lucas Radebe $2
Leeds United captain. Nelson Mandela called him 'my hero.' South Africa's iconic defender of the post-apartheid era. PFA Premier League Team…
Lucas Neill $2
Australia's longtime captain. Blackburn, West Ham, Galatasaray. Led Australia at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. Hard, fair, fearless.…
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk $2
Ukraine's most decorated player. Bayern Munich treble winner (2013) and Champions League winner. Multiple Russian Premier League titles with…
Trifon Ivanov $2
Bulgaria's iconic 1994 World Cup semifinalist. Beard like a Viking, tackles like a tank. Captained Bulgaria's golden generation alongside St…
Bulent Korkmaz $2
Galatasaray and Turkey legend. UEFA Cup winner 2000. Turkey's 2002 World Cup third-place captain. Most-capped Galatasaray player ever.…
Claude Makelele $2
Gave his name to the position — the Makelele role. Two La Liga titles with Real Madrid, two Premier Leagues with Chelsea. Pure positional di…
Roy Keane $2
Manchester United captain. Seven Premier League titles. Fierce, demanding, unbeatable in midfield duels. The conscience of the dressing room…
Edgar Davids $2
The Pitbull. Juventus and Ajax dynamo. Dreadlocks and goggles, both legendary. Won every tackle, never tired, drove teams forward by example…
Clarence Seedorf $2
Only player to win the Champions League with three different clubs (Ajax, Real Madrid, AC Milan). Smart, technical, leader. 25-year career a…
Gennaro Gattuso $2
Pirlo's bodyguard. 2006 World Cup winner. Two Champions Leagues with AC Milan. Pure aggression and discipline, never glamorous, always decis…
Park Ji-sung $2
Manchester United's first Asian star. Four Premier Leagues, 2008 Champions League winner. Three-lung Park. Captained Korea at the 2010 World…
Hidetoshi Nakata $2
Japan's Serie A pioneer. Won the 2001 Scudetto with Roma. Two-time AFC Player of the Year. Retired at his peak (29) — still iconic.…
Andrey Arshavin $2
Zenit's Russian magician. Arsenal Premier League legend — scored 4 goals at Liverpool's Anfield (2009). Carried Russia to the 2008 Euro semi…
Tomas Rosicky $2
Little Mozart. Arsenal and Dortmund midfielder. Carried Czech Republic at multiple Euros. Injury-plagued but unplayable when fit.…
Michael Owen $2
2001 Ballon d'Or. Scored THAT goal vs Argentina at the 1998 World Cup as a teenager. Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United. Pace personi…
Patrick Kluivert $2
Ajax's 1995 Champions League winner — scored the winner at 18. AC Milan, Barcelona, Newcastle. Netherlands' all-time top scorer until van Pe…
Asamoah Gyan $2
Ghana's all-time top scorer. Penalty miss vs Uruguay in 2010 World Cup quarterfinal still haunts Africa. Six AFCONs, three World Cups.…
Marco Etcheverry $2
El Diablo. Bolivia's greatest player. Carried Bolivia to the 1994 World Cup. DC United legend in MLS.…
Eidur Gudjohnsen $2
Iceland's Premier League legend. Chelsea, Barcelona. Once subbed on for his father in an Iceland international — the only father-son simulta…
Clint Dempsey $2
Deuce. Fulham's American goal machine — first American to score a Premier League hat-trick. Texas-tough mentality.…
Roque Santa Cruz $2
Bayern Munich, Blackburn, Manchester City. Paraguay's iconic striker. Bundesliga champion 2001. Carried Paraguay's golden generation.…
El Hadji Diouf $2
Two-time African Footballer of the Year (2001, 2002). Carried Senegal to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals on debut. Brilliant, controversial…
Benni McCarthy $2
South Africa's all-time top scorer. Porto Champions League winner 2004 under Mourinho. Blackburn Rovers Premier League striker.…
Tim Cahill $2
Australia's all-time top scorer. Everton legend. Iconic header machine and corner-flag puncher celebrating goals. Four World Cups.…
Sulley Muntari $2
Ghana's midfield destroyer. Inter Milan treble winner 2010, AC Milan Serie A winner.…
Ali Karimi $2
Iran's Maradona of Asia. Asian Footballer of the Year 2004. Bayern Munich Bundesliga winner 2006. Carried Iran in the 2000s.…
Mehdi Mahdavikia $2
Iran's iconic right winger. Hamburg's Bundesliga regular. Scored the famous USA-defeat goal at 1998 World Cup.…
Andoni Iraola $2
Athletic Bilbao's iconic right back, now Bournemouth manager. Basque pride personified.…
Ali Al-Habsi $1
Oman's Premier League pioneer. Bolton and Wigan reserve-keeper turned starter. Gulf football's most famous export of his era.…
Mart Poom $1
Estonia's most famous footballer. Derby County and Sunderland goalkeeper. Scored a 90th-minute header for Sunderland against his former club…
Mohammed Al-Deayea $1
Saudi Arabia's all-time most-capped player (178). Four World Cups. Asia's greatest goalkeeper of the 1990s and 2000s.…
Sun Jihai $1
First Chinese player in the Premier League (Manchester City, 2002-08). Captain of China's 2002 World Cup squad. Inducted into the English Fo…
Shinji Kagawa $1
Bundesliga champion with Dortmund, Premier League champion with Manchester United (2013). Smart, technical, pure attacking midfielder.…
Younis Mahmoud $1
Iraq's captain. Scored the only goal in the 2007 Asian Cup final to give war-torn Iraq an against-all-odds title. National hero.…
Chan Siu Ki $1
Hong Kong's all-time top scorer. South China FC icon. Hong Kong's most beloved footballer of the post-handover era.…
Chicharito (Hernandez) $1
Mexico's all-time top scorer. Manchester United's super-sub. Two Premier League titles. Pure penalty box striker — anywhere in the world.…
Lee Chung-yong $1
Bolton Wanderers' Korean winger. Helped Korea reach 2010 World Cup last 16. South Korea's Premier League pioneer of the 2010s.…
Lee Young-pyo $1
Tottenham's Korean left back. World Cup 2002 semifinalist. Cherished captain of Korean defense for a decade.…
Sokratis Papastathopoulos $1
Dortmund, Arsenal Greek defender. Greece's defensive rock for a decade.…