The debate over who deserves a place among football’s World Cup immortals has raged for decades, spanning 22 tournaments across nearly a century of the game.
Narrowing thousands of players down to just ten names is an enormous challenge, with several all-time greats inevitably missing out on the final list.
Miroslav Klose, the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, comes agonisingly close but misses the cut, finishing just outside the top ten in an honourable eleventh position.
Brazilian winger Garrincha, Italian icon Roberto Baggio, and France striker Just Fontaine — who scored 13 goals in the 1958 tournament alone — are among those who do not make the final selection.
Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, Portugal’s Eusebio, and Germany’s Gerd Muller also miss out, while Spain’s magnificent 2010 World Cup-winning generation produces no individual name worthy of sole inclusion.
Sir Geoff Hurst opens the list at number ten, his legendary status cemented by the hat-trick he scored against West Germany in the 1966 final at Wembley.
Hurst had only made his international debut a few months before that final, yet Sir Alf Ramsey chose him over the returning Jimmy Greaves, and the West Ham forward delivered one of football’s most iconic individual performances.
His feat of scoring a World Cup final hat-trick has only been matched by Kylian Mbappe, who achieved the same in the 2022 final against Argentina — though he finished on the losing side.
Cafu takes ninth place, the only player ever to appear in three successive World Cup finals, lifting the trophy as Brazil’s captain in Japan and South Korea in 2002 after scribbling “100% Jardim Irene” on his shirt in tribute to the Sao Paulo favela where he grew up.
Italy striker Paolo Rossi sits eighth on the list, his 1982 tournament performance representing one of the great individual World Cup stories, scoring six goals including a hat-trick against Brazil and winning the Golden Boot, Golden Ball, and World Player of the Year awards.
Zinedine Zidane claims seventh spot, his masterclass in the 1998 final against Brazil — scoring twice with headers from corners — making him the talisman of a multi-cultural France side that captured the nation’s heart, with France defender Lilian Thuram saying “We realised Zidane was the player who was going to make the difference.”
Kylian Mbappe occupies sixth place despite being just 27 years old, having already scored in two World Cup finals, becoming the first teenager since Pele to score in a final, and producing a stunning hat-trick against Argentina in the 2022 showpiece in Qatar.
Franz Beckenbauer is fifth, the only man in history to win the World Cup as both captain and head coach, lifting the trophy as West Germany’s skipper in 1974 before managing Germany to victory in 1990 as revenge over Argentina.
Lionel Messi sits fourth after finally claiming the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, scoring seven goals across the tournament including twice in a breathtaking final against France before converting in the shootout to seal Argentina’s first world title since 1986.
Brazil’s Ronaldo takes third place, redeeming the agony of the 1998 final with eight goals in 2002 including both in the final against Germany, having battled back from a serious knee injury that had left his tournament participation very much in doubt.
Diego Maradona is second, his 1986 tournament in Mexico producing arguably the greatest individual World Cup performance in history, with five goals and as many assists as Argentina were crowned world champions, including those two iconic strikes against England.
Pele stands alone at the summit as the greatest World Cup player of all time, the only man to win three World Cups, bursting onto the world stage as a 17-year-old in 1958 with a semi-final hat-trick against France before scoring twice in the final win over Sweden.
