This would be the Ideal XI according to France Football, French magazine in charge of delivering the Golden Ball for the best footballer of the world each year:
The Black Spider is the only goalkeeper in history to have ever won the award. He did so in 1963, three years after winning the first European Championship in history with the USSR. He was named best goalkeeper in Europe consecutively from 1958 to 1966 and the Best Goalkeeper of the Year Award, which has been awarded since 2019, bears his name.
The Brazilian is undoubtedly the best right-back in history. He is one of the great forerunners of offensive lanes. With Brazil he won the World Cup in 1994 and in 2002, where he raised him as captain. Almost 20 active years in which he also won Serie A with Roma and Milan and two Champions League with the Rossoneri.
Beckenbauer is the only defender to have won the Ballon d’Or on more than one occasion. He did it in 1972 and 1976. He is considered the inventor of the libero position, to generate defensive advantages and to get the ball played from behind. He was at Bayern Munich for thirteen years, of which he was honorary president years later. He won the 1972 Eurocup and the 1974 World Cup with the German team
One of the footballers who has played the most games in the history of this sport is Maldini. More than 1000, of which 912 were with Milan, the only club in which he played during his … 25 !! seasons as a professional. Together with Cristiano Ronaldo, he is the only footballer in history to have won 5 Champions, only behind Gento. The only thing left for him was to win a great title with the national team.
It is a pity that Xavi is the only Spanish player in this XI. Casillas, Di Stéfano or Iniesta could have had a place. Of course, what could not be is that there was no one from the best team in the history of this sport. Xavi was the brain of the Red that linked the Euro-World-Eurocup between 2008 and 2012, and of Barcelona that won absolutely everything between 2009 and 2015. More than 30 titles to his credit as a professional and second player with the most games in history From Barcelona. Almost nothing.
To date, there is no footballer who has played in more world championships than Lothar Matthaus. Five in total, from Spain 1982 to France 1998. He was crowned with the German team in 1990, against Maradona’s Argentina (3-2). That year he also won the Ballon d’Or and of course he is a legend at Bayern Munich.
The level of this Xi is so high that we have to delay Maradona to the middle. Anyway, he had intelligence and quality to play there. For many, he is the best player in history. He only won a World Cup for Argentina in 1986 and changed the history of Naples forever, a city in which he is a God. Just today marks one year of his death.
Another of the great geniuses of this sport was Pelé. He is one of the very few players who claims that he has scored more than 1000 goals, although it is difficult to make his records official. He won 3 World Cups with Brazil, the first of them with 17 years. No one else has done it in history. As with Maradona, there are many people who consider him the best ever.
One of the great mysteries of always in football is, what would have happened to Ronaldo if he had not smashed his knees twice? There is quite a consensus that as a pure ‘9’ there has never been another like him. Two Ballon d’Or, double World Champion, league champion in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, winner of 1 Champions with Milan, … And an eternal scorer, with a power unbecoming of a player like him. A real ‘Phenomenon’
Two days ago with United, Cristiano Ronaldo reached 800 official goals as a professional. The era that has been marking for three decades and still at 36 years is a football legend. At Real Madrid there is a before and after the best player in its history, where he scored 450 goals in 450 games. He has won the league in Spain, England and Italy, the Eurocup and the Nations League with Portugal and above all, 5 Champions League, a competition of which he is by far the top scorer in its history (140 goals). He has the same record at the national team level (115) and with the whites. Let’s add your 5 Ballon d’Or.
The jewel in the crown is Lionel Messi. An unrepeatable player, who forever changed the history of Barcelona. He is the player with the most goals, games and titles for the Barça club, which he has left after 18 seasons. To his credit he has 10 leagues and 4 Champions League, 7 Golden Boots, 1 America’s Cup and no less than 6 Ballons d’Or, a historical record. I could add the seventh in a few weeks. The best in history.
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