The best Latino soccer players of all time

The FIFA World Cup awakens diverse and intense emotions in soccer fans, and one of these emotions is nostalgia, especially when their country’s national team doesn’t achieve the desired results. Immediately, they begin to reminisce about the glory days of times gone by, when a certain player scored the winning goal. And this, of course, leads to comparisons with today’s idols.

With no intention of putting together a ranking of who were the best players in history —and stirring up another emotion: the rage of many over who got each the chosen places—, We’ll let you determine the order according to your preferences. 

Even though most of the names in this list are inarguably the best soccer players of all time, you could still probably think of others who should also be included. Check out the one on our list:

DIEGO MARADONA

Diego Armando Maradona was an Argentine player and manager who recently passed away, in November 2020. In many rankings, he appears as number one on the list of best players of all time (but, again, it’s not our intention to determine this). On the playing field, he was an undisputed leader, and due to his short stature, he moved and carried the ball where he wanted, dexterously dodging the players of any opposing team.

From his trajectory with different teams, both as a player and as a coach, there are two well recognized “feats”.  The first was that he made Napoli champions twice. And, in the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, he scored two goals, one by an unpenalized handling foul which led to the victory over England and has ever since been called the “hand of God”. But he also had a problem with addictions, which caused him to be banned from the field on two different occasions. Some say he was the kind of person that you either love or hate, and maybe even both at the same time. 

PELÉ

This Brazilian player, known as “The King,” is another one of those players who is also widely considered to be the best. And there’s no shortage of reasons why. He won the FIFA World Cup on three occasions and is the highest scorer of leagues in the history of soccer. He also had his own signature moves on the field, going as far as even inventing one: the wall pass, which consists of rebounding the ball against an opponent’s leg.

Pelé was declared a national treasure of his country, not only for his accomplishments in soccer, but also for his support of policies that improve the social conditions of the poor. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games (including friendly matches) are recognized as a Guinness World Record. He retired in 1977.

LIONEL MESSI

The third player to also come in first place on many rankings,  some say Lionel Messi is the best in the world today, with some going as far to state that he’s the successor of Maradona. However, he has rightfully earned a place among the best on his own. Known as the “Flea” due to his short stature and his ability and versatility on the field, he has won a record seven Ballon d’Or awards and a record of six European Golden Shoes. He also holds the record for most goals in La Liga. 

The Argentine player has spent most of his professional career in Barcelona, and since last year he is playing for Paris Saint-Germain. He’s the captain of the Argentina national team in this Qatar World Cup, which might be his last one. 

RONALDO NAZARIO

This Brazilian player was named the 1996 FIFA World Player of the Year, making him the youngest recipient of the award. And the next year, when he was 21 years old, he received the Ballon d’Or (making him to this day the youngest recipient of the award). He played for Barcelona and was sold to Inter Milan for a world record fee, making him the first player since Diego Maradona to break the world transfer record twice. 

He’s recognized for his ability to beat any defender, and for his dribbling. Some say that he would be fighting for first place in the world ranking if it hadn’t been for a series of knee injuries that forced him to be inactive for almost three years, causing him to gain weight during his recuperation process. He retired in 2011. 

ALFREDO DI STÉFANO

Another player from the past, the fact that Di Stefano was nicknamed “saeta rubia” (“blond arrow” gives us an idea of what his talent was like in the field. He not only played well, but also made the entire team play well. Although he’s mostly known for his time playing for Real Madrid- he scored 267 goals in 348 matches for that team-, he’s not European, but instead Argentinian. 

He was awarded the Ballon d’Or for the European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959, and is still the sixth highest scorer in the history of Spain’s top division, and Real Madrid’s third highest league goalscorer of all time. He died in 2014 at the age of 88.

ELIAS FIGUEROA

Although he retired in 1982, this Chilean player is still considered the best of all time in his country and is mentioned in many lists of best Latin American soccer players in history. He’s famous for his capacity of reading and anticipating each play of the opposing team, and some highlight the elegance of his game. He was a defender who could launch counterattacks from the back with his passing, and off the field he was well known for being a gentleman. 

GARRINCHA

Manuel Francisco dos Santos, known as Garrincha, was a Brazilian star who played as right winger and is regarded as a great dribbler (some say the best of all times). His changes of strategy and his ability to get rid of marks have placed him among the most remembered by soccer fans. Unfortunately, his talent in sports didn’t extend to his personal life: he  had difficulties regulating his intake of alcohol and died of liver cirrhosis at the age of 49. Millions of people took part in his funeral procession, and a stadium in Brasilia is named after him.

JOSÉ LUIS CHILAVERT

This Paraguayan soccer player was a goalkeeper, and not only was he an agile shot-stopper, highly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world while he was still playing- he´s retired-, but was also a free kick specialist who would often take penalties. As a matter of fact, he scored 67 goals, and is the second highest goal-scoring goalkeeper of all time.

RONALDINHO

Born Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, he played as an attacking midfielder as well as a winger. He won two FIFA World Player of the Year awards and a Ballon d’Or. He played for Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Milan before finally returning to his native country. He’s considered an example of “Jogo bonito” (“beautiful game”) for his creativity, dribbling, accuracy, and the use of tricks. 

ROMARIO

And we end this list with another Brazilian superstar. If you look for him on the Internet, you might be surprised to find that Romario de Souza Faria is a member of the Senate of Brazil. But before that, he was a professional soccer player. During his first career, he scored over 750 goals, came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll in 1999 and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players in 2004.