Most elegant footballers

[Seaside Mafia]

I wasn't aware of that :eek:, thanks. Given that scenario, who am I to dispute the insight and eloquence of Stretford End? ;) Safe to say, you will NOT be seeing his name alongside the other illuminaries again. FFS, If Rivaldo gets kicked for his bad acting at the WC, such a stunt by RF seems to merit a lifetime ban (of course, if he were to give the money back...):D

Heh! Or at least give half to charity. But no. That's the problem with Rio. The guy's got no class.

[Seaside Mafia]

What about Peter Beardsley?

You're right. He was a classy player. But cannot be counted as "elegant", mainly because his mum still cuts his hair. Seriously, his hairstyle (or lack of) would do justice to an American child actor. there can be no excuse.

[silver bullet]

Giancarlo Antognoni

[spoonman]

Van Basten

[Bronaldo]

with current footballers i'd have to say pirlo, henry and kaka'.

[Lyrikhan]

with current footballers i'd have to say pirlo, henry and kaka'.

i was thinking today watching the Bayern - Milan game that Pirlo doesn't seem to get enough credit....he was so important in Italy's WC win and is pure class on the ball

[balla_basti]

I fail to c how anyones failed to mention Rui Costa and Michael Ballack.

Rui was just absolute magic on song. He seemed to glide past opponents and seemed to be walking on air.

And as for Ballack he is very very elegant. Even the Kaiser himself said that Ballack reminded him of himself. The way he didnt even look at the ball all that much.

[Spartak]

Wow, five pages and no one mentioned the first name that came to mind for me:

Alessandro Nesta. When you watch him play it looks like he isn't breaking a sweat. He makes defending look so easy.

[Joep]

True, unbelievable nobody mentioned him. That sliding against Bayern yesterday was a thing of beauty. Too bad that guy felt it was called for to bury his cleats into Nesta's leg.

[zenden]

Jari Litmanen

[vinniebello]

On www.rankopedia.com, it's Cruyff, Pele, and then Zico.

[Martininho]

On www.rankopedia.com, it's Cruyff, Pele, and then Zico.

While in this case the results are credible, the same web site also lists as all-time great keepers the following:

5. Lev Yashin
6. Fabien Barthez :eek:
7. Gordon Banks
8. Dino Zoff

oh, mercy.

[Sebo43]

In the 90`s
Demetrio Albertini
Roberto Baggio
Fabio Cannavaro
Javier Zanetti
Diego Simeone
Fernando Redondo
Gheorge Hagi
Zinedine Zidane
Lilian Thuram
Bülent Korkmaz
Hakan Sükür
Josep Guardiola
Luis Enrique
Alen Shearer
Jari Litmanen
Rui Costa
Claudio Taffarel
Oscar Cordoba
Jorge Campos
Jared Borgetti

[Olimpero]

Everybody seems to forget about Dennis Bergkamp!

[ruud van semz]

Glenn Hoddle is the most graceful ever IMO.

Riquelme looks graceful on the ball too.

[Ceres]

Quite funny that Brian Laudrup has been mentioned in this thread, but not Michael Laudrup (who is regarded to be levels better than Brian in Denmark) ... Infact, I'm a bit shocked that Michael has not been mentioned at all in a thread like this... I really cant remember any other footballer looking more graceful and elegant than Michael Laudrup.

Johan Cruyff once said that Michael Laudrup was quote : "The most naturally gifted footballer ever" , but that he didnt quite reach his full potential. Never the less Michael Laudrup became the only foreign player to win 5 Spainsh Championships in a row (for Barcelona and Real Madrid) and in 1999 Michael was named "Best foreign player of the past 25 years" in the Spanish league..
.

[Martininho]

Quite funny that Brian Laudrup has been mentioned in this thread, but not Michael Laudrup (who is regarded to be levels better than Brian in Denmark) ... Infact, I'm a bit shocked that Michael has not been mentioned at all in a thread like this... I really cant remember any other footballer looking more graceful and elegant than Michael Laudrup.

Johan Cruyff once said that Michael Laudrup was quote : "The most naturally gifted footballer ever" , but that he didnt quite reach his full potential. Never the less Michael Laudrup became the only foreign player to win 5 Spainsh Championships in a row (for Barcelona and Real Madrid) and in 1999 Michael was named "Best foreign player of the past 25 years" in the Spanish league..
.

Repped. I still recall with great pleasure the play of the Laudrup brothers at France '98, including Brian's talismanic post-goal celebration of the equalizer against Brazil (equalled only, IMHO, by Thuram's v. Croatia).

[United Pumps]

Djourkaeff, Okocha, Henry, Bergkamp, Best and of course KEVIN PRESSMAN. No, not rly.

[Joep]

Hey everyone, I wrote something today about the moment I first saw the most gracefull players I ever saw play live, and I hoped that maybe you would read it.

It's about Maldini (http://neuroticorange.blogspot.com/2007/04/time-is-hardly-ever-on-our-side.html), naturally

[saelevena]

recently, i'd choose zidane and kaka.