criteria of choosing the best players of Your lifetime

Hello

I have a guestion.
In what age You think, we can tell, that we regualry watch football and we can judge a players based on own opinions ?

I was born in 1981 and the first tournament I watched was euro 88. but from 88 - 94 period I don't watched many games, mainly wc 90 and some european cup games.

It's hard to say, which players I can include to the best players in my lifetime.
Can I include for example, V.Basten, Gullit, Matthaeus, Baggio or Romario ?
I remember them but I didn't watch their prime regulary. For example I watch Baggio regulary, when he was in Inter/Milan/Brescia.
And should I include Maradona, who was almost finished after 1991 ?

So my question is, since what age You start watch football regulary ( be able to judge players based on own opinion ) and how to compare plaeyer who You remembered from several matches with players witch You follow by all their career, from beginign to the end ?
Is it possible to judge players when you are 10-12 years old ?

and who are let's say top 20 players in Yours lifetime ?

If I include players from 88 - 94 my top 20 are Maradona V.Basten, Rijjkard, Gullit, Baresi, Baggio, Romario, Stoitchkov, Matthaeus, Maldini, Bergkamp, Zidane, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Figo, Buffon, Ronaldinho, Henry, C.Ronaldo, Messi but first 9 names I didn't watch regulary and the last 11 I saw/see from almost their begining ( except Maldini maybe )

I'm asking because I wan't to make my liftime best footballers list but I don't know which criteria take ?

 

thanks James

but my question is:

can we judge players on our own opinion, when we didn't see them regualry in thier prime ?
when you are a 10 - 12 years old kid and see let's say 5 - 10 matches of van basten's or laudrup's best years, how is it comparable to be a victim of full Zidane's or Ronaldo's career, when you see their 30 - 40 matcehs each season...

so, the best players in our lifetime shoud be:

every players which played in your life

or

only players which prime you were / are watching regulary ?


cheers

 

James you don't understand me or my english is bad

what is more FAIR, if we talk about "best players in someone's lifetime" :

talking ONLY about players which prime we saw regulary or talking about EVERY players which played during our life. even if we were childs, when they played ?

so "lifetime" refer to:

your life, since you were watched football first time or since you start watch football regulary with understanding, game reading etc

for example I was born in 1981 so when v.basten finished his best years ( 1992 ) i was only a 11 years old kid; when you are 11 you don't know to much about football.
so I can tell that he was my "childhood hero" but nothing more, because I saw his best years to short, while let's say Zidane was REALLY one of the best players in my lifetime, because I saw him enough to make a statement like this.

is not about Zidane vs Van Basten in history is about Zidane vs Van Basten in my lifetime.
another example. Maradona was better then Ronaldo in history but in my lifetime Ronaldo was better, because in this period ( time when I watch football regulary ) he played longer, better, etc.

I hope that You know what I mean

 

in Your life James, watching a player A in 3 -4 years when you was a kid ( and then he finisched carrer or past his prime ) is egual to watch full career of player B ?

what do You think about TOP 10 -15 players in 1990 - to now ? are Baggio, Romario or Matthaeus are included ?
what about Gullit or Rijkaard ?

put Your Top 10 - 15 players since 1990

 

I think that Cristiano and Messi are in Top 10 - 15 since 1990.

I have a problem with Matthaeus, cause he played until 2000....
And what about Koeman ?

If we take a period from 1995, players like Romario or Baggio should be excluded, right ?

I'm asking and asking, because I want to make my list of best players of my lifetime and I can't decide if I should include every players which I saw ( players which I saw only as a kid - shortly, don't rememebr their prime )
or only players which I saw longer, especially their prime....