Lionel Messi $5
8 Ballon d'Ors — record. World Cup winner 2022, Copa America 2021, 2024. Four Champions Leagues. Barcelona's all-time top scorer. Best dribb…
$4-$5 Premium Players
Half-budget picks
Cristiano Ronaldo $5
Five Ballon d'Ors. Five Champions Leagues. Top scorer in international football history. Euros winner 2016. Reinvention machine — three diff…
Pele $5
Three World Cups (1958, 62, 70) — only player to do that. 1,000+ career goals (debated). Brazil's eternal number 10. Brought football to Ame…
Diego Maradona $5
1986 World Cup winner — basically alone. Two Serie A titles for Napoli when they were tiny. Hand of God + Goal of the Century in one match v…
Ronaldo (R9) $5
The Phenomenon. 2002 World Cup winner and top scorer. Two Ballon d'Ors. Came back from career-threatening knee injuries to win Brazil the Wo…
Ferenc Puskas $5
Galloping Major. 84 goals in 85 games for Hungary. Three European Cups with Real Madrid. FIFA's Goal of the Year award is named after him.…
Franz Beckenbauer $4
Der Kaiser. Invented the modern libero role. World Cup winner as player (1974) and manager (1990). Two-time Ballon d'Or as a defender — unhe…
Paolo Maldini $4
AC Milan one-club legend, 25 years. Five Champions Leagues, seven Serie A titles. Played at five World Cups. Won everything except a World C…
Franco Baresi $4
AC Milan's other legend. 20 seasons at Milan, six Serie A titles, three Champions Leagues. The original defensive libero. 1994 World Cup fin…
George Weah $4
Only African to win the Ballon d'Or (1995). AC Milan icon. After retirement, became President of Liberia. From slum to ballon d'Or to presid…
Zinedine Zidane $4
1998 World Cup winner, 2000 Euros winner. Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. The volley in the 2002 Champions League final is the mos…
Michel Platini $4
Three consecutive Ballon d'Ors (1983-85). 1984 Euros winner and top scorer with 9 goals in 5 games. Free kick maestro and elegant playmaker.…
Johan Cruyff $4
Inventor of Total Football. Three Ballon d'Ors. 1974 World Cup finalist. As a coach, built the Barcelona Dream Team. The most influential fo…
Ronaldinho (MF) $4
2002 World Cup winner. Two FIFA World Players of the Year. Barcelona's joy in human form. Brought samba to Camp Nou and made even Real Madri…
Maradona (MF) $4
1986 World Cup winner. The Hand of God and the Goal of the Century in the same match. Carried Napoli to two Serie A titles single-handedly.…
Gheorghe Hagi $4
The Maradona of the Carpathians. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Galatasaray. Led Romania to the 1994 World Cup quarterfinals. Wand of a left foot, …
Ronaldinho $4
2002 World Cup winner. 2005 Ballon d'Or. Barcelona's joy in motion. Made even Real Madrid fans give him a standing ovation at the Bernabeu.…
Thierry Henry $4
Arsenal's all-time top scorer (228 goals). 1998 World Cup winner. Two-time Premier League Golden Boot champion as part of the Invincibles.…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic $4
League titles in five different countries — Holland, Italy, Spain, France, England + Sweden cup. The kung fu kick goal vs England in 2012 fr…
Romario $4
1994 World Cup winner and Golden Ball. 1,000+ career goals (his count). Pure poacher, lazy in everything except finishing.…
George Best $4
1968 Ballon d'Or. Manchester United legend, fifth Beatle of football. Tragic decline through alcoholism — but at his peak nobody dribbled li…
Marco van Basten $4
Three Ballon d'Ors. Euro 1988 winner — his volley in the final is in every list of greatest goals. Retired at 28 due to ankle injuries.…
Ruud Gullit $4
1987 Ballon d'Or. AC Milan and Netherlands legend. Euro 1988 winner. Dreadlocked, multi-positional, captain by aura alone.…
Eric Cantona $4
Manchester United's catalyst. Four Premier League titles. Famous for the kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan — and for never apologizing.…
Roberto Baggio $4
Il Divin Codino. 1993 Ballon d'Or. Missed the 1994 World Cup final penalty — still Italy's most-loved player. Free kick artist.…
Raul $4
Real Madrid's all-time top scorer until Ronaldo. Six La Liga titles, three Champions Leagues. Quiet, lethal, captain forever.…
Rivaldo (FW) $4
1999 Ballon d'Or. 2002 World Cup winner. Bicycle kicks from acute angles. Carried Brazil through qualifying with Romario aging.…
Kylian Mbappe $4
2018 World Cup winner at 19. Top scorer at the 2022 World Cup (8 goals, including hat-trick in the final). Real Madrid from 2024. Pure speed…
Erling Haaland $4
Manchester City's goal machine. Broke the Premier League single-season goal record (36) in his first year. Norway's force-of-nature striker.…
Andriy Shevchenko $4
2004 Ballon d'Or. AC Milan's all-time top scorer. Champions League winner 2003. Ukraine's eternal captain and national hero.…
Hristo Stoichkov $4
1994 Ballon d'Or. World Cup top scorer 1994 (6 goals — Bulgaria's incredible semifinal run). Barcelona Dream Team striker. Fiery, brilliant,…
Jay-Jay Okocha $4
So good they named him twice. PSG, Bolton, Fenerbahce. Nigeria's African Cup of Nations winner. Showboating elevated to an art form.…
Hugo Sanchez $4
Mexico's all-time best. Five consecutive La Liga top scorer awards with Real Madrid (1985-90). Famous overhead kicks and somersault celebrat…
David Beckham $4
Manchester United and Real Madrid icon. Six Premier League titles, La Liga 2007. Greatest crosser and free-kick taker of his era. Global bra…
Gabriel Batistuta $4
Fiorentina's iconic Argentine striker. Argentina's all-time top scorer until Messi. Pure power finishing.…
Lothar Matthäus $4
Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning captain. 150 international caps (record for years). Bayern Munich and Inter Milan icon.…
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge $4
Bayern Munich's 80s talisman. Two Ballon d'Ors (1980, 1981). Bayern executive chairman after retirement.…
Roger Milla $4
Cameroon's 1990 World Cup phenomenon. Oldest goalscorer in World Cup history at 42 (1994). Famous corner-flag dance celebration.…