Lionel Messi only 2nd as World Cup’s best ever players RANKED

Who are the best players in World Cup history? Pele, Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona all have solid claims…

It’s the competition everyone dreams of winning. It separates the great from the good and can turn players legendary.

We’ve picked out our top 10 World Cup players of all time, taking into account various factors such as the number of tournaments they played at and/or won, appearances and goals.

Sorry, Lionel Messi, but you’re still not number one…

10. Cafu

One of the best right-backs of all time, Cafu is the only man to have featured in three World Cup finals.

He won it with Brazil in 1994, was a runner-up in 1998 and got his hands back on the famous trophy – this time lifting it as captain – in 2002.

He also captained his country at the 2006 tournament, bowing out in the quarter-finals and calling time on his international career.

The former Roma and AC Milan defender made a total of 20 World Cup appearances, but never scored on that stage.

9. Franz Beckenbauer

Beckenbauer became just the second man to have won the World Cup as a player and a manager when he guided West Germany to glory in 1990.

In terms of his achievements as a player specifically, the sweeper scored a brace on his World Cup debut in 1966.

West Germany reached the final, where they of course lost to England. Four years later, they were knocked out in the semi-final.

But Bayern Munich legend Beckenbauer captained his side to success in the 1974 World Cup final, when they beat the Netherlands 2-1.

8. Garrincha

A World Cup winner with Brazil in 1958 and 1962, Garrincha provided a pair of assists in their 5-2 win over Sweden in the first of those finals.

One of the most talented dribblers of his era, and indeed all time, he then went on to be named as the best player of the 1962 World Cup after stepping up when Pele got injured and becoming the joint-top scorer at the tournament.

In 1966, Brazil didn’t make it out of the group stage. Their loss to Hungary in their second game turned out to be the 50th and final cap of Garrincha’s career – and remarkably the only time he was ever on the losing side while representing his country.

More than 40% of the goals he ever scored for Brazil were at World Cups.

7. Kylian Mbappe

When we first made this top 10 just before the 2026 World Cup, we were already close to putting Mbappe in after his triumph in 2018 and golden boot in 2022.

Another golden boot in 2026 and we just can’t leave him out now, even if France did only make it to the semi-finals this time around.

Mbappe claimed the all-time World Cup scoring record by the end of the tournament thanks to his efforts in France’s third-place play-off loss to England.

Winning the World Cup as a teenager in 2018 and scoring a hat trick in the subsequent final, Mbappe must have been dreaming of winning multiple World Cups.

He remains stuck on one, but he has turned up at all three of the tournaments he’s played at – and probably has another or two in the tank.

6. Lothar Matthaus

Until Messi overtook him in 2022, Matthaus reigned as the player with the most World Cup games played in history (25).

His appearances were spread across five different World Cups, something no outfield player had achieved before him.

After losing the 1986 final, Matthaus captained West Germany as they won it in 1990 and was awarded the Ballon d’Or for his efforts in the same year.

The midfielder played for a unified Germany in two more World Cups, reaching the quarter-finals both times.

5. Gerd Muller

Muller only played at two World Cups, but stood supreme as the competition’s all-time top scorer for 32 years thanks to his 14 goals from 13 appearances.

His efforts in his first World Cup with West Germany in 1970 were sensational. A goal in his first group game. Hat-tricks in each of the next two. A goal in the quarter-final and a brace in the semis, where his side were eliminated.

In 1974, Muller scored the winning goal in the final as West Germany beat the ‘Total Football’ Dutch side spearheaded by Johan Cruyff.

What is often overlooked when reflecting on Muller’s World Cup exploits is the fact he is known to have made five assists across his appearances at the competition too.

4. Ronaldo

The player to break Muller’s World Cup goalscoring record was Ronaldo, who starred for Brazil in 1998, 2002 and 2006 after being an unused member of their victorious 1994 squad when he was only 17.

Ronaldo lit up the 1998 World Cup, with his four goals firing Brazil to the final. Before that game, he famously suffered a fit and was a shadow of himself as Brazil lost to France, but he was still rightly named the tournament’s best player, having also topped the assists chart.

At the next edition, Ronaldo went one better. This time he scored six goals en route to the final – and then a match-winning brace in the final itself against Germany. Ballon d’Or recognition followed.

Ronaldo scored another three goals at his last World Cup in 2006, taking his total tally to 15, but Brazil only reached the quarter-finals.

A mercurial talent in his prime, who left several talented compatriots in the shade, he didn’t play again for his country after that World Cup until a farewell appearance in June 2011.

3. Diego Maradona

Has there ever been a more infamous World Cup appearance than Maradona’s for Argentina against England in the 1986 quarter-final?

First he produced the Hand of God. Then he scored that solo goal (just a few minutes later) to send Argentina on their way.

Another brace against Belgium followed in the semi-final before Argentina beat West Germany in the final to win their second World Cup, with Maradona lifting the trophy as captain.

1986 was the second World Cup he’d played at, after also featuring in 1982 (when Argentina reached the second group stage).

Maradona went on to appear in the 1990 final as well, but this time West Germany got their revenge.

Having left European football behind him to return to his native country at club level, Maradona featured at one last World Cup in 1994, at the age of 33, but only played in two games before being hit with a ban for doping. He never played international football again.

2. Lionel Messi

The GOAT for many, but still not quite the best World Cup player ever in our eyes.

Messi finally got his hands on the trophy at Qatar 2022, his fifth World Cup tournament (having originally appeared in 2006, scoring on his competition debut a matter of days before his 19th birthday).

A brace in the 2022 final against France and a penalty in the shootout – after two goals in the group stage and one each in the round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final – served as evidence of Messi’s influence for anyone doubting his record in the biggest tournament of them all.

That game also marked his 26th World Cup appearance, enough for him to overtake Matthaus as the competition’s most-featured player.

Defying the odds at 39, Messi went on to light up the 2026 World Cup, briefly becoming the all-time record scorer before Mbappe overtook him.

There was heartbreak in the final as Argentina lost to Spain, with Messi failing to inspire. Had that gone differently, we might have been putting him at number one. But that remains someone else’s…

1. Pele

The GOAT before GOAT debates were a thing, much of Pele’s legacy stems from his impact in the World Cup.

A three-time winner with Brazil, Pele was just 17 years old for the first of those triumphs in 1958. A brace in the final against Sweden – after a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and goal in the quarter-final against Wales – showed that age was just a number for an incredible talent.

Pele only scored once at the 1962 World Cup before suffering an injury, but his teammates went on to win the trophy to add another medal to his collection.

An exit in the group stage followed in 1966, before Pele – still just about in his twenties at the time – inspired Brazil back to glory in 1970.

The Santos legend scored three goals in the group stage and ultimately starred in the final, with a goal and two assists in a 4-1 win over Italy.

Pele’s international career ended in 1971, but he remains the only three-time World Cup winner to this day – and, in turn, the competition’s greatest ever player.

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