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70. Jose Andrade
Although skinny and slight, the defensive midfielder dominated with his athleticism as Uruguay impressed in the late 1920s at the Olympics and at the 1930 World Cup.
As football wasn't yet professional in his native country, Andrade also worked as a street musician and shoe-shiner while turning out for Nacional and Penarol. The ‘Black Pearl’ gained notoriety at the 1924 Olympics for daring to throw rocks back at hostile Argentina fans, who'd pelted the visitors with them before the match. Uruguay's victory in the 1930 World Cup Final over their South American rivals gave him a huge sense of pleasure.
Career highlight: In the process of winning the 1924 Olympic football gold medal, Andrade also became the first black footballer to play at the Games.
69. Frank Rijkaard
Few players are good enough or lucky enough to play for a single great club side in the course of their career. Rijkaard played for three. The Ajax team of the early '80s, where he cut his teeth under the stewardship of Johan Cruyff and alongside Marco van Basten, Jan Molby and Ronald Koeman. Then Arrigo Sacchi’s seminal Milan team, where he won successive European Cups in 1989 and 1990. After that he finally returned to join Ajax's now-legendary European Cup-winning side of 1995, by then an old head among a team of fresh-faced stars-in-waiting.
Aggressive, quick-witted and with a marathon runner’s endurance levels, Rijkaard was a precursor to the great box-to-box midfielders that emerged in the '90s – Keane, Vieira and Gerrard – but with abundant added silk.
Career highlight: Sauntering through the Benfica defence to slot home the only goal of the 1990 European Cup Final.
68. Paco Gento
Despite the Threepeat of the 2010s, Cristiano Ronaldo's insatiable hunger for trophies and a Real Madrid side seemingly built for success under Carlo Ancelotti, Paco Gento's record of six European Cup titles stood until Dani Carvajal equalled it at Wembley, in 2024.
Lightning quick, the outside left joined Real Madrid in 1953 - by the time Gento retired in 1971, he’d amassed 12 La Liga titles. He held that long-standing European Cup record even into the 2020s. Now that's legacy…
Career highlight: As a veteran, captaining Madrid to victory against Partizan Belgrade in the 1966 European Cup Final, six years after his previous triumph.
67. Jose Manuel Moreno
A striker of incredible talent, Moreno was the lynchpin of the so-called La Maquina (The Machine), the great River Plate team of the 1940s that was hugely important to the tactical development of South American and world football. The team were the first to frequently exchange positions in attack.
Moreno seemingly had no weaknesses as a player, showing sublime technical skills, physical strength and vision to lead his team to six championship titles. Later on, he won league titles in Mexico, Chile and Colombia as well – becoming the first ever footballer to do so in four countries.
Career highlight: Moreno represented Argentina at four Copa America tournaments, leading them to two titles in 1941 and 1947.
66. Giuseppe Meazza
When young Giuseppe was seven years old, he was sent to the 'open-air school’ in Milan – complete with football pitches, swimming pools and a zoo – in order to strengthen his weak lungs. The treatment worked spectacularly well. His mazy dribbling and clinical finishing were evident at youth level, so much so that La Gazetta were confident enough to write after his debut for Inter in 1910: "A star is born."
By the time he retired in 1947, he'd won two World Cups and a pair of league titles, while a popular song claimed that the graceful Meazza "scored to the rhythm of the foxtrot". Yet as with many Italian legends, he was a magnet for controversy.
Short, stocky and good-looking, Meazza was often compared in Italy with screen heart-throb Rudolf Valentino, and his hectic social life was an endless source of fascination for the Italian media. Meazza, who advertised both toothpaste and brilliantine, became stupendously rich both from the game and off-field endorsements. His name will forever be linked with the 1930s, when the Italian national team dominated world football. In 1980 the San Siro was post-humously named in his honour.
Career highlight: Starring in the Italy team that won back-to-back World Cups in 1934 and 1938.
65. Hugo Sanchez
Comfortably the finest Mexican player of all time and one of the leading scorers in Real Madrid and La Liga history. He played for both Madrid clubs, but it was at Real (after moving in 1985) where Sanchez and his somersaulting goal celebration became legend.
Sanchez won five consecutive league titles between 1985 and 1990, was the competition’s top scorer in four of those seasons, and decorated Spanish grounds all over the country with his spectacular range of finishes. Predatory inside the penalty box, certainly, but also extravagantly gifted outside of it, too.
Career highlight: 1989: a Liga winner’s medal, victory in the Copa del Rey final against Real Valladolid and, after a staggering 45 goals in 42 games across all competitions, the European Golden Boot.
64. Johan Neeskens
A tireless midfielder, equally able to score goals, provide assists and close gaps in defence, Neeskens was perfect for the Total Football ideas of Ajax and the national team. Nicknamed the Second Johan, he was the best possible partner for Johan Cruyff, covering ground for the maestro and feeding him with countless balls.
Unsurprisingly, Neeskens moved to Barcelona in 1974, a year after his friend and having won three European Cups in a row at Ajax. He also followed Cruyff to the NASL, starring for New York Cosmos.
Career highlight: Neeskens is best remembered for scoring a second-minute penalty in the 1974 World Cup final against West Germany, which sadly for the Dutch wasn't enough in the end.
63. Gunnar Nordahl
With 210 Serie A goals, Nordahl is the greatest Milan scorer of all time, and nobody – not even Andriy Shevchenko – could ever come close to his achievement. The powerfully built Swede was the top scorer in Italy five times during the six-year period between 1950 and 1955 – also an unprecedented feat.
Such was his initial success that Milan signed two of his compatriots, Nils Liedholm and Gunnar Gren. Together they formed the famous Gre-No-Li partnership, one of the best footballing trios ever. Nordahl won the championship title twice with Milan and remains the top-scoring foreign player in the history of Italian football.
Career highlight: Nordahl was brilliant for his national team as well, with 43 goals in 33 games. His contribution was crucial when Sweden won gold at the 1948 Olympics.
62. Robert Lewandowski
But for a pesky ash cloud stopping the Pole from flying to England, Sam Allardyce hoped to lure Lewandowski to Blackburn in 2010: instead he signed for Borussia Dortmund, spearheaded them to two Bundesliga titles, then scored 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern Munich.
After conquering Europe with Bayern in 2020 – the year in which the Ballon d’Or was his, if France Football hadn’t cancelled it – Lewandowski opted for a new challenge with Barcelona. He continued to smash goals in at a rate of knots. Still pines for Ewood Park, though.
Career highlight: Though he scored five goals in just nine minutes in 2015, Lewandowski will always look back at the 2020/21 season fondly. Overtaking Gerd Muller's 50-year Bundesliga goalscoring record, the Pole struck 41 times in a single campaign - and he made just 29 appearances, too.
61. Rivaldo
Possessing one of the deadliest left feet in football history, the Brazilian won the Ballon d’Or after guiding Barcelona to a second successive title, then helped his country to glory in 2002. “Ronaldo was our most talented player, but Rivaldo was even better at that World Cup,” Edmilson said.
Impressively agile considering his height, Rivaldo saw defenders bounce off him thanks to his strength, while also fall over when failing to come to grips with his quick feet and close control.
Career highlight: The overhead kick against Valencia that completed a hat-trick and rescued Barcelona’s Champions League qualification in 2001.
