⚽ Top 10 World Cup Players

10. Miroslav Klose 

🌍: Germany

No player in World Cup history has scored more goals in the tournament than Miroslav Klose, who found the back of the net 16 times for Germany. 

A player who was always more readily associated with the national team than any of his clubs, Klose made his World Cup debut in 2002 and notched five goals in Japan and South Korea (only Ronaldo scored more) as the Mannschaft reached the final. 

Germany were the hosts four years later, when Klose continued to demonstrate his prowess as a fox in the box. He again notched five goals, which was enough on that occasion to see him win the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer.

Four more goals followed in South Africa in 2010, before the crowning glory that was the 2014 World Cup. No longer a guaranteed starter by then, the ageing Klose nonetheless bagged two goals to become the tournament’s all-time leading scorer as Germany lifted the trophy in Brazil.

9. Didi 

🌍: Brazil

There have been only two back-to-back winners of the World Cup: Italy in 1934 and 1938, and Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Those triumphs were the Selecao’s first in the competition following their heartbreaking defeat by Uruguay in the final game of the 1950 edition on home soil.

Eight years later, Brazil showed themselves to be the strongest side on the planet. Among their most important players, albeit one who was often overshadowed by his attacking team-mates, was the central midfielder Didi. 

He was the man who set the tempo for Brazil, building play from the centre of the park and creating chances for those ahead of him. Didi, not Pele, Vava or Garrincha, was voted as the best player at that tournament in Sweden.

Didi was 34 years old by the time the 1962 edition came around, yet he remained an integral part of the Brazil side. His intelligence and experience, allied with his technical ability, meant he was highly valued by the manager Aymore Moreira, who started him in each of Brazil’s six matches.

8. Zinedine Zidane 

🌍: France

Zinedine Zidane’s first World Cup could not have ended much better. As hosts, France were under pressure to win the tournament for the first time in their history, and their No.10 actually got his summer off to a disappointing start by being sent off against Saudi Arabia in the group phase.

Yet that lapse ensured Zidane was fresh and firing for the majority of the knockout rounds. He returned to the team as France beat Italy on penalties in the quarter-finals, with Zizou converting his spot-kick. Les Bleus then beat Croatia 2-1 in the semis, before a Zidane brace saw them win 3-0 against Brazil in the final.

The less said about 2002, the better: a talented but complacent France were eliminated in the group stage after failing to win any of their three games, with their star man missing two of those matches through injury.

Zidane, then 34, was back to his best in 2006, inspiring France’s run to the final. However, his last act on a football pitch was to headbutt Italy defender Marco Materazzi, a misdemeanour for which he was sent off prior to the Azzurri winning on penalties. 

5. Gerd Muller 

🌍: West Germany

With 14 goals to his name, Gerd Muller sits third in the list of all-time World Cup top scorers. And when you take goals-per-game into account, the legendary poacher has a far superior record to the two men above him in that ranking.

Muller, a player who famously offered little outside the penalty area but was deadly inside it, only ever featured at two World Cups. His first was in 1970, when he scored two hat-tricks in the group phase (plus the winner against Morocco), before notching the decisive goal against England in the quarter-finals. Muller then bagged a brace against Italy in the semis, taking his tally at the tournament to 10, but was unable to prevent a 4-3 defeat.

Muller was not quite as prolific four years later, but he was far happier given his four goals, including the winner in the final against the Netherlands, contributed to a West German triumph. 

4. Franz Beckenbauer 

🌍: West Germany

One of only three men to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager (alongside Mario Zagallo of Brazil and Didier Deschamps of France), Franz Beckenbauer remains one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game.

His World Cup journey began at the 1966 World Cup, when West Germany reached the final and only lost to host nation England in extra time. Beckenbauer played in every game and finished as the third highest scorer, despite playing in central midfield.

In 1970 West Germany reached the semis, where they were beaten 4-3 by Italy in an encounter dubbed the ‘match of the century’. 

Four years later Beckenbauer finally got his hands on the trophy, as West Germany upset the Netherlands in the final. He was the captain at that tournament and was deployed as a sweeper, a role in which he contributed to both the defensive and attacking phases of play.

2. Diego Maradona 

🌍: Argentina

As far as individual performances at a World Cup are concerned, nothing can match Diego Maradona’s exploits in 1986. It is unfair to dismiss that Argentina side, astutely managed by Carlos Bilardo, as a one-man team, but there is no question that they would not have triumphed in Mexico without Maradona in the XI.

The diminutive forward had made his World Cup debut four years earlier, but his tournament ended disappointingly after he was sent off for fouling Brazil’s Batista, having been kicked by opponents throughout the summer. Maradona was more mature in 1986, though, and he managed to keep a lid on his temper despite ample provocation.

His first goal against England in the quarter-final came with his hand, but Maradona’s second is the greatest goal in World Cup history. He notched another brilliant one in the semis against Belgium, before Argentina beat West Germany in the final.

Those two sides met again in the 1990 showpiece, with Maradona once again influential throughout the competition in Italy. Even at the 1994 World Cup, from which he was thrown out in disgrace after failing a drugs test, Maradona showed flashes of brilliance in the group phase. “The best of the lot… a genius,” said Brazilian great Zico.

1. Pele 

🌍: Brazil

Pele won the World Cup three times during his career, a feat that no other player can match. His first triumph came when he was still a teenager, as Brazil lifted the trophy for the first time in 1958. Pele, like the aforementioned Garrincha, was not a starter at the beginning of that tournament, but he was introduced to the line-up in Brazil’s third game and quickly made himself undroppable.

At the age of just 17, Pele notched a hat-trick against France in the semis, then stuck two past Sweden in a 5-2 victory in the final. It was an astonishing achievement for someone so young.

Pele obtained another winner’s medal in 1962, but he had little impact on that tournament after suffering an injury early on. The 1966 edition was also frustrating for Pele, who received little protection from referees as the holders suffered a shock group stage exit.

But that was not the last we saw of Pele at the World Cup. At Mexico ’70, the 29-year-old was the figurehead of a team that not only won the tournament, but did so by playing beautiful, spellbinding football. Pele scored four times in total, including the opening goal in the 4-1 thrashing of Italy in the final.