Top 10 South American Footballers in History (Ranked)

Highlights

• South America has produced some of the greatest footballers of all time, with players from a number of different decades
• The likes of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are among the names who could be considered in the greatest of all time conversation,
• GIVEMESPORT looks at the 10 greatest South American players in the history of football.

Who hasn’t marvelled at the exploits of Lionel Messi? Who hasn’t heard the legends about Pele, Diego Armando Maradona or Socrates? Who hasn’t tried to imitate Ronaldo’s powerful shots?

So many names and references paying tribute to some of the best players ever to set foot on a football pitch. And whatever generation you belong to, you’ll no doubt have heard of them.

While it is impossible to rank the best South American players in history with absolute certainty, GIVEMESPORT has nevertheless tried to offer you a rational ranking of the 10 most memorable players.

Ranking factors

However, as is often the case with this type of list, several players who could legitimately have been included are missing. To give you a better idea of our choices, here is a list of the criteria used to draw up the rankings. These are:

• Personal achievements and records
• Leadership role
• Aura
• Historical significance

Without further ado, check out our top 10 South American players of all time.

Some statistics may be incomplete because it was difficult to document them accurately in the years in which they were recorded.

10 Carlos Alberto

Brazil

Although attacking full-backs are now widespread, this was not always the case. Even before the explosion of players such as Cafu, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Carlos, Carlos Alberto was a forerunner in the development of this role. Captain of Brazil and World Champion in 1970, the Auriverde full-back is considered one of the best defenders in history.

Having played for rival clubs Fluminense and Flamengo, it was at Santos, alongside Pele, that Alberto played the most matches – 445 in total. Named in the World Team of the 20th Century, he is also a member of the Brazilian and American Halls of Fame, having finished his career in Major League Soccer.

9 Socrates

Brazil

A key figure in the legendary ‘Democracia Corinthiana’ of the early 1980s, ‘Doctor’ Socrates was a well-known and recognised figure in the fight against the military dictatorship in Brazil. “We wanted to go beyond being just hard-working players and play a full part in the club’s overall strategy. This led us to review the relationship between players and management. Points of collective interest were put to the vote,” he explained.

But political considerations aside, Socrates was nonetheless a formidable footballer, a member of one of the most brilliant generations that Brazilian football has ever produced. His work and his football are now honoured by the Socrates Award, reserved for footballers involved in social and charitable projects, which is presented during the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

8 Ronaldinho

Brazil

He is arguably the greatest figure of joyful football in history. With his instantly recognisable face and broad smile, Ronaldinho was an artist. A true street footballer, loved by all, the kind of player who brings people together and does not divide them. From his early days with Gremio to his final adventure with Fluminense, ‘Ronnie’ always made football fun.

A vision of the beautiful game shared by his opponents, but only once they had left the pitch and got rid of the fabulous Brazilian No10. World Cup winner in 2002, winner of the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2006, Ronaldinho was even voted player of the decade by World Soccer magazine in 2009.

7 Zico

Brazil

Recognised by Pele as the player who came closest to reaching his peak, Zico is an emblematic figure of Brazilian football in the 70s and 80s. The greatest player in Flamengo’s history, the “Galinho de Quintino” (Quintinho’s chicken, a nickname given to him because of his slight build) played for the club a staggering 810 times and scored a remarkable 652 goals – unsurprisingly, he is the club’s all-time top scorer. He also won four Brazilian league titles, a Copa Libertadores and a Club World Cup. Having become a coach at the end of his career, Zico had only one fear: having to face Flamengo, his lifelong love.

6 Garrincha

Brazil

The hero of the Brazilian national team following Pele’s injury against Czechoslovakia in the group stage of the 1962 World Cup, Manoel Francisco dos Santos became the tournament’s joint top scorer (four goals) and was voted best player. Nicknamed Garrincha by his little sister, a reference to the name of a small local bird that prefers to die rather than be caught, the right-winger did not seem predestined for a career in professional football.

With a deformed spine, bowed and unequal-length legs (his right is six centimeters longer than his left), the diminutive 5 ft 7 star was nonetheless a dribbling virtuoso with impressive pace. World champion in 1958, he was also named the 8th best player of the 20th century by the IFFHS.

5 Alfredo Di Stefano

Argentina

Alfredo Di Stefano not only helped Real Madrid win the inaugural Champions League in 1955 (formerly known as the European Cup), he also won the next four editions with Los Merengues. It could have been a very different story had the Argentinian – who also represented La Roja – joined Barcelona, who fought a long battle with their rivals to secure the services of the Buenos Aires native. But it was in the colours of the white entity that Di Stefano wrote his legend, scoring 218 goals in 282 games and winning eight Spanish league titles between 1954 and 1964.

4 Ronaldo

Brazil

It is certainly no coincidence that all the best centre-forwards of the last decade have been compared to Ronaldo. However, none has yet been able to match the man nicknamed R9. Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year (1996, 1997, 2002), two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or (1997, 2002) and two-time world champion (1994, 2002), Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima has won almost everything in his illustrious career.

As fast as he is powerful, as elegant as he is effective, the Brazilian remains a benchmark for any striker. A phenomenon, as his nickname – Il Fenomeno – reminds us, the best striker in the world for some of the greatest names in football history.

3 Diego Maradona

Argentina

Diego Armando Maradona may be in third place in our ranking, but he could well have been in one of the top two. Elevated to the status of a divinity, El Pibe de Oro is a global phenomenon. From Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors to Barcelona and, above all, Napoli, Maradona left an indelible mark on the history of football and on the memories of its observers.

His historic double against Peter Shilton’s England in the 1986 World Cup semi-final, his brawl with Andoni Goikoetxea in his final match for Barca, his presentation in front of some 70,000 Neapolitan fans packed into the stands of the San Paolo stadium… Maradona is an icon, as divisive as he is unifying. But after all, what myth isn’t?

2 Pele

Brazil

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pele, was just 17 years and 249 days old when, on 29 June 1958, he became the youngest player in history to win a World Cup – a record he still holds today. The first in a series of three world titles (1958, 1962, 1970), it was a unique and unrivalled achievement.

Over the course of his 21-year career – and its hundreds, if not thousands, of goals -, Pele inspired the imagination of the world and added his name to the pantheon of the greatest legends in the history of football. For many, the Brazilian was, is and always will be “O Rei” (the King, his nickname), the greatest player of all time. And how can you prove them wrong?

1 Lionel Messi

Argentina

According to the definition given by the famous French dictionary “Le Robert”, genius is defined as “a superior aptitude of the mind that makes someone capable of creations and inventions that seem extraordinary”. A description that suits Lionel Messi perfectly.

For beyond all the trophies and records held by the man nicknamed ‘La Pulga’ (the flea), it is above all the Argentinian’s ability to create beauty, and more importantly to repeat it again and again, that makes him unique. But as Pep Guardiola once said: “Don’t write about him, don’t try to describe him. Just watch him.”

A winner of absolutely every trophy available, Messi had his crowing moment when he lifted the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, thus cementing his legacy even further. His exploits with Barcelona will never be forgotten and arguably ever be matched either, and it’s rather unsurprising that he tops GIVEMESPORT’s ranking of the 10 greatest South American footballers of all time.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and Footballdatabase