Worst ever best player in the world?

Chief123

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So who would you regard as the worst ever player who is regarded as the best player in the world at any given time?

There’s always the argument that the players of 20 years ago were better than the players of today. Ronaldinho, R9, Zidane, Henry etc would probably all be better than the best player in the world today.

I know Rodri won Ballon Dor, but most would regard Mbappe or Vinicius junior as the best player in the world in 2024. Are we currently seeing the worst “best player in the world” or has there been someone worse?
 
As it turns out, the Balón d’or, or European footballer of the year award, winners are usually pretty good.

You cited Rodri, which is maybe the best example. There was also the year Michael Owen won, although he was great that year, and also the year when Cannavaro and Buffon were the top two. Other than that, the list is a who’s who of legends. And even most people will agree that Cannavaro and Owen were worthy winners.
 
The late 1970's probably... around 1978, maybe? Zico, probably already the best footballer on the planet at the time, had a quiet-ish year by his insane standards (didn't get into South American Footballer of the Year shortlist). World Cup had a few bright stars, especially Kempes (who would've won the combined BPITW award if there was one at the time) and Rensenbrink, but on the all-time scale they were on a weaker side, I'd say. Keegan won Ballon d'Or (twice actually — and he's by far the worst multiple winner... even though he was a great player, all of them were) with Krankl getting second (very prolific striker but also not someone who I'd mention among the very best in history). 18 years old Maradona was already in the mix somehow...

By 1979 Zico got back to his goalscoring ways, Maradona won South American FOTY, Kalle was establishing himself as Europe's best player, so that slight dip had passed. 1977 was another weak-ish year in Europe but Zico was brilliant. To be fair he was always brilliant so maybe 1978 doesn't count too... but he had an underwhelming World Cup and this should count.

2001 was also a poor year. South Americans were already eligible so Ballon d'Or is a better barometer. Owen had a great year but there were dozens of strikers in history that were on another planet to him skill-wise, Kahn was amazing but not infallible, Raul had a great year but again, he wasn't your Pelé or even someone like Platini... Ronaldo was completely devastated by his injuries, Rivaldo felt like he was on a downhill trajectory, same for Figo & Zidane, Beckham had a great year but wasn't clearly the best player around.
 
It's probably now which it's Vinicious. 2006 was Kaka. 1995 was George Weah. They're probably the worst in my lifetime. Obviously brilliant players but not Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Messi, Cristiano etc

2001 is a good shout too
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
It's probably now which it's Vinicious. 2006 was Kaka. 1995 was George Weah. They're probably the worst in my lifetime. Obviously brilliant players but not Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Messi, Cristiano etc

2001 is a good shout too
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Kaka did not win 2006, he got it in 2007 and he was insanely good that year… Much more impressive than some recent winners. (Modric 2018, Rodri 2024)
 
simonhch said:
As it turns out, the Balón d’or, or European footballer of the year award, winners are usually pretty good.

You cited Rodri, which is maybe the best example. There was also the year Michael Owen won, although he was great that year, and also the year when Cannavaro and Buffon were the top two. Other than that, the list is a who’s who of legends. And even most people will agree that Cannavaro and Owen were worthy winners.
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If we go by Ballon d'Or winners, the worst ones are, in my opinion, Simonsen, Keegan (somehow twice), Rossi, Belanov, Papin, Weah, Owen and Cannavaro. For most of them aside from the last three there were more worthy non-European counterparts though. All of them were great players who had great campaigns though.

Speaking of Weah, he seems like a decent shout. A Ballon d'Or winning striker with 7 goals in 34 league games (somehow he scored more in 11 European games!). That mid-90's was a weird transitional era... the Dutch trio was gone, Ronaldo & Zidane hadn't established themselves yet and even those Barcelona stars (Laudrup, Stoichkov, Romario) were on a bit of a decline. A Ballon d'Or top three of Weah, Klinsmann & Litmanen (who probably deserved it the most) doesn't quite scream GOAT-fest to me...
 
Owen won in a rather blasé season for football; 2001 was a year where there wasn't any World Cup or Euros and Bayern and Valencia contested the CL final. Bayern won on penalties and Oli Kahn was the MOTM. Kahn would've deserved the BdO if he had won it that year, but the voters decided Owen was more exciting even if he didn't score in the EL final and wasn't the top scorer of his domestic league.

Chief123 said:
There’s always the argument that the players of 20 years ago were better than the players of today. Ronaldinho, R9, Zidane, Henry etc would probably all be better than the best player in the world today.
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They are not, elite attacking players 20 years ago were way more unfit and didn't have to wear GPS trackers or be in prime fitness to press defenders building from the back and win the ball high up the pitch. Football was "easier" and more aesthetic in that a #6 like Scholes/Pirlo or ball-playing CB could ping a long pass down the flanks with no pressure but these days even that is getting harder since the likes of Mbappe and Vini are also insturcted to press and badger defenders so they can't pass under zero pressure. Lisandro's pass to Diallo is what happens when elite forwards like Haaland & Bernardo don't press and let skilled passers have all the time and space in the world to play a nice pass out of defence. Haaland deserved a lot of flak for that, if he can't score he should at least defend from the front. If heavier languid superstars like Riquelme, Rooney, or R9 played today they would be lambasted for being undisciplined lazy fatties who don't press instead of being simply lauded for their tekkers; the fact Rooney and R9 often looked overweight even in their primes shows how elite attackers didn't use to need a high workrate. If Vini or Neymar played in the 2000s they'd have more energy and freedom to showboat like Ronaldinho too. These days elite attackers are all rail-thin with no excess fat because they run and press so much more, wish I could unsee that photo of skinny Haaland next to Noel Gallagher.
 
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Since I following the game I’d say that this is the weakest period.
 
Pintu said:
Kaka did not win 2006, he got it in 2007 and he was insanely good that year… Much more impressive than some recent winners. (Modric 2018, Rodri 2024)
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Yeah, that’s a strange mention. Kaka was wonderful to watch while at Milan, and was tearing teams up the season he won it.
 
Figo Ballon d’Or 2000. Not that he wasn’t a class player but that was a year where I don’t really think anyone in particular stood out. Weird because there were a handful of football greats during that period with Ronaldo, Zidane, Rivaldo, Shevchenko.
 
lexisonfire said:
Owen won in a rather blasé season for football; 2001 was a year where there wasn't any World Cup or Euros and Bayern and Valencia contested the CL final. Bayern won on penalties and Oli Kahn was the MOTM. Kahn would've deserved the BdO if he had won it that year, but the voters decided Owen was more exciting even if he didn't score in the EL final and wasn't the top scorer of his domestic league.


They are not, elite attacking players 20 years ago were way more unfit and didn't have to wear GPS trackers or be in prime fitness to press defenders building from the back and win the ball high up the pitch. Football was "easier" and more aesthetic in that a #6 like Scholes/Pirlo or ball-playing CB could ping a long pass down the flanks with no pressure but these days even that is getting harder since the likes of Mbappe and Vini are also insturcted to press and badger defenders so they can't pass under zero pressure. Lisandro's pass to Diallo is what happens when elite forwards like Haaland & Bernardo don't press and let skilled passers have all the time and space in the world to play a nice pass out of defence. Haaland deserved a lot of flak for that, if he can't score he should at least defend from the front. If heavier languid superstars like Riquelme, Rooney, or R9 played today they would be lambasted for being undisciplined lazy fatties who don't press instead of being simply lauded for their tekkers; the fact Rooney and R9 often looked overweight even in their primes shows how elite attackers didn't use to need a high workrate. If Vini or Neymar played in the 2000s they'd have more energy and freedom to showboat like Ronaldinho too. These days elite attackers are all rail-thin with no excess fat because they run and press so much more, wish I could unsee that photo of skinny Haaland next to Noel Gallagher.
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Wow. Imagine claiming Wayne Rooney was languid and lazy :lol: and in comparison to Mbappe too.
 
Natener said:
Figo Ballon d’Or 2000. Not that he wasn’t a class player but that was a year where I don’t really think anyone in particular stood out. Weird because there were a handful of football greats during that period with Ronaldo, Zidane, Rivaldo, Shevchenko.
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Yeah, it seems for a few years around that time the ballon d'or was given to quite eclectic choices. Was that the period when it was voted for exlcusively by France football journalists or something similar?

Figo, Owen, Nedved, Weah, Sammer... obviously all great players, but not exactly tearing up their leagues. Even Zidane in 1998 won it pretty much solely on the strength of the World Cup final. Ronaldo was clearly the real world super star that season.
 
I guess you mean who is the worst player to win the worlds best player award. George Weah and Michael Owen stand out in my era.
 
A thread about the 'Worst Best Player in the World' has turned into a thread about the worst Ballon D'Or winner. The two things are not actually the same.
 
Kwabs said:
A thread about the 'Worst Best Player in the World' has turned into a thread about the worst Ballon D'Or winner. The two things are not actually the same.
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The whole thread is about trying to find a negative in a positive and does that not sum up a lot of the way some think on here?
It does not surprise me at all.
 
I don't know why Vinicius is seen as not as good as those who came before him. I guess people have gotten too used to Messi. Kaka, Figo, Rivaldo, Nedved, etc. weren't better than Vini, IMO.
 
Eriku said:
Yeah, that’s a strange mention. Kaka was wonderful to watch while at Milan, and was tearing teams up the season he won it.
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Including United in the Champions League Semi Finals if I'm not mistaken.
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
It's probably now which it's Vinicious. 2006 was Kaka. 1995 was George Weah. They're probably the worst in my lifetime. Obviously brilliant players but not Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Messi, Cristiano etc

2001 is a good shout too
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The UK English spelling of his name, as opposed to the more commonly seen American version.
 
Zehner said:
I don't know why Vinicius is seen as not as good as those who came before him. I guess people have gotten too used to Messi. Kaka, Figo, Rivaldo, Nedved, etc. weren't better than Vini, IMO.
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All of them are better international players than Vini and league wise, there's not much in it.

Rivaldo gets underrated a lot. The guy was the perfect foil for Ronaldo and was a vital part of Brazil's success.
 
simonhch said:
As it turns out, the Balón d’or, or European footballer of the year award, winners are usually pretty good.

You cited Rodri, which is maybe the best example. There was also the year Michael Owen won, although he was great that year, and also the year when Cannavaro and Buffon were the top two. Other than that, the list is a who’s who of legends. And even most people will agree that Cannavaro and Owen were worthy winners.
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:lol:
 
Cmon caf. If isak is 100mill what would prime Weah be today. There's rose tinted nostalgia glasses and there's shit stained ones. Yeah was a force of nature.
 
It should be said that historically the Ballon d'Or doesn't award the best player in the world. It awards the player with the most remarkable year.

As for the OP, my pick would be one of Rodri, Mbappé or Haaland in the past couple of years.
 
Messi the year that Lewandowski should have won it as a pure award.

The worst player to win it was probably owen or shevchenko but shevchenko was one of my favorite players at Milan.
 
I think there have been a few transitional periods inbetween the primes of all-time greats.

Going back to the late 1970s as @harms suggests in that window following the peaks of Cruyff and Beckenbauer but before Zico and Platini reached their zenith. I really liked Kempes and Keegan as players but they were not in the same ballpark. And then in the mid-90s after the prime of the Serie A stars of the previous decade, but before Ronaldo received global acclaim (i.e. when Weah won the award). Probably again in the early 2000s after Ronaldo, Zidane, Rivaldo and Figo had started to decline, but before Ronaldinho and Henry shifted into gear. And then over the last 5 years or so we are in another transitional period post Messi/Cristiano, appreciating that there have been worthy winners of the award such as Modric, Benzema and Rodri.
 
Zehner said:
I don't know why Vinicius is seen as not as good as those who came before him. I guess people have gotten too used to Messi. Kaka, Figo, Rivaldo, Nedved, etc. weren't better than Vini, IMO.
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I would assume it’s down to his underwhelming (to put it mildly) appearances for Brazil. And it doesn’t help that he is unlikeable.
 
JPRouve said:
Was Owen considered the best player?
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Oh I see we're not talking about balon dor winners. Bit of a stupid thread then really and it just seems an opportunity to bash current players. Obviously we're in a moment now when the Ronaldo/Messi era is over and we're in a transitional period waiting to see who emerges as the dominant force. Could be Mbappe, could be Vini Jnr, could be Anthony. We just don't have enough data yet.

Also if you're going to start a thread arguing who is the worst best player in the world not starting from a point of any metric (such as the trophy) then you need to establish what players have always been clear above all others in their era and for me that list would look something like Pele, Best, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and even then the latter 4 clash with Zidane/Ronaldo and Messi/Cristiano being from the same time and we've seen enough threads on Messi/Cristiano already.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Oh I see we're not talking about balon dor winners. Bit of a stupid thread then really and it just seems an opportunity to bash current players. Obviously we're in a moment now when the Ronaldo/Messi era is over and we're in a transitional period waiting to see who emerges as the dominant force. Could be Mbappe, could be Vini Jnr, could be Anthony. We just don't have enough data yet.

Also if you're going to start a thread arguing who is the worst best player in the world not starting from a point of any metric (such as the trophy) then you need to establish what players have always been clear above all others in their era and for me that list would look something like Pele, Best, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and even then the latter 4 clash with Zidane/Ronaldo and Messi/Cristiano being from the same time and we've seen enough threads on Messi/Cristiano already.
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You are right, it's very subjective. For example 2001 when Owen won the Ballon d'Or the "actual" best player in the World was probably Figo but people could easily argue that it was Zidane, Nedved, Rivaldo, Raul or Beckham. That year alone can create huge disagreements and that's before even trying to compare the eventual best player to others.
 
If we're talking about Balon D'Or winners, then clearly Owen, Cannavaro and Modric. Owen was never Balon D'Or level, Cannavaro I know a lot of people rate but I never thought he was an amazing defender, Modric was Balon D'Or level but not the year he won it.
 
youngrell said:
Imagine claiming Wayne Rooney was languid and lazy :lol: and in comparison to Mbappe too.
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Rooney's late night kebabs and 4am casino jaunts aside, tactics in the 2000s allowed top strikers as a whole to get away with strolling and waiting for the pass instead of defending from the front. Mbappe is called lazy if he doesn't press (i.e. if he played in Rooney's era he won't be criticised for not defending, but Rooney will be criticised harshly if he played in Mbappe's era.... Even back then Rooney was chided for being overweight at the start of every season) but that's because he plays in the 2020s, tactics have evolved a lot such that when I watch clips of Hummels' passes out from defence from the early 2010s it's notable that he's dangerous because even midtable strikers don't bother to press. Contemporary tactics mandate that top CMs and ballplaying CBs like Lisandro can be nullifed if a #9 or #10 is industrious at badgering them. It's also why purely creative CAMs are slowly disappearing from football, and why these days a #10 is required to defend from the front.

Football has unfortunately become a lot less aesthetic and elegant overall because all players are now tactically required to have an off-the-ball workrate that's aimed at taking time and space away from elite creatives like Vini so they can't execute flair moves as much. If Ronaldinho played today he'd get less time on the ball to do his joga bonito AND be told to press the opposing fullback. So it isn't that players today are less creative, it's that tactics have evolved to emphasize defending from the front and pressing to win the ball high so football has gotten "uglier" since the Pirlos and Ronaldinhos of today have less freedom, time, space on the ball and must work like a dog out of possession.
 
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simonhch said:
As it turns out, the Balón d’or, or European footballer of the year award, winners are usually pretty good.

You cited Rodri, which is maybe the best example. There was also the year Michael Owen won, although he was great that year, and also the year when Cannavaro and Buffon were the top two. Other than that, the list is a who’s who of legends. And even most people will agree that Cannavaro and Owen were worthy winners.
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2006 is a good example of world’s worst best player. Zidane retired, Ronaldo way past it, Henry and Ronaldinho slightly past it, Cannavaro and Buffon were not really the best players, Shevchenko past it, Cristiano and Messi still not at their peak.

No idea who really was the best in the world. Probably one of Kaka’, Ronaldinho or Henry with the last two not at their absolute best.
 
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