Suddenly this one popped up in my mind. I saw it isn't mentioned on RSSSF or somewhere else on the internet so not everyone might know about this. As some are aware, I find it equally interesting to see the evolution in thinking rather than the list itself. From around this period (1983) Placar and International Football Book have been posted previously. If I overlook something, feel free to give a shout. The 2000th issue of France Football had also such list, created by the editors (the 1989 Super Ballon d'Or, 1999 century and 2005 'fiftieth anniversary of Ballon d'Or' shouts were casted by peers, not journalists). I will also post the comments, since that can be revealing too, including who they did not ask for a comment. (to be continued of course...)
(click pictures to enlarge and read) Goalkeepers: 1. Yashin (Soviet Union) 2. Maier (West Germany) 3. Grosics (Hungary) 4. Beara (Yugoslavia) 4. Gilmar (Brazil) 6. Mazurkiewicz (Uruguay) 7. Banks (England) 8. Zeman (Austria) 9. Schumacher (West Germany) 10. Zoff (Italy)
Full-backs: 1. Nilton Santos (Brazil) 2. Facchetti (Italy) 3. Breitner (West Germany) 4. Carlos Alberto (Brazil) 5. Bossis (France) 6. Djalma Santos (Brazil) 6. Jusufi (Yugoslavia) 8. Cabrini (Italy) 9. Marzolini (Argentina) 10. Heylens (Belgium) Central defenders: 1. Beckenbauer (West Germany) 2. Parola (Italy) 3. Happel (Austria) 4. Moore (England) 5. Gustavsson (Sweden) 6. Maldini (Italy) 7. Verbiest (Belgium) 8. Tresor (France) 8. Jonquet (France) 10. Germano (Portugal) Half-backs: 1. Boszik (Hungary) 2. Didi (Brazil) 3. Ocwirk (Austria) 4. Walter (West Germany) 5. Liedholm (Sweden) 6. Labruna (Argentina) 7. Hanappi (Austria) 8. Nestor Rossi (Argentina) 9. Cajkowski (Yugoslavia) 10. Coluna (Portugal) 10. Van Hanegem (Netherlands)
'Offensive midfielders': 1. Pelé (Brazil) 2. Puskas (Hungary) 3. Schiaffino (Uruguay) 4. Platini (France) 5. Charlton (England) 6. Kopa (France) 7. Sandro Mazzola (Italy) 8. Sekularac (Yugoslavia) 9. Sivori (Argentina) 10. Albert (Hungary) 10. Bobek (Yugoslavia) Wing players: 1. Garrincha (Brazil) 2. Matthews (England) 3. Best (Northern Ireland) 4. Hamrin (Sweden) 5. Gento (Spain) 6. Rummenigge (West Germany) 7. Czibor (Hungary) 8. Riva (Italy) 9. Finney (England) 10. Ghiggia (Uruguay) Center forwards: 1. Di Stefano (Argentina) 2. Cruijff (Netherlands) 3. Muller (West Germany) 4. Eusebio (Portugal) 5. Kocsis (Hungary) 6. Nordahl (Sweden) 7. Fontaine (France) 8. Hidegkuti (Hungary) 9. John Charles (Wales) 9. Pedernera (Argentina) 10. Mermans (Belgium)
Included countries: 7 - Brazil 7 - Italy 7 - West Germany 6.5 - Hungary 6 - Argentina 6 - France 5 - England 4.5 - Yugoslavia 4 - Austria 4 - Sweden 3 - Belgium 3 - Uruguay 2.5 - Portugal 1.5 - Netherlands 1 - Northern Ireland 1 - Soviet Union 1 - Spain 1 - Wales [a shared tenth place is counted as 0.5] To be continued...
Now, some additional comments and cadres. As I said in the starting post, it is always interesting to take note - too - of who weren't asked for a comment. (click to enlarge) For example; commenting Ballon d'Or winners: Di Stefano (Argentina) Pelé (Brazil) [received a honorific Ballon d'Or] Rivera (Italy) Muller (West Germany) Beckenbauer (West Germany) Rummenigge (West Germany) Rossi (Italy) There's also a ranking of French players elsewhere in the paper. That will be next (maybe tomorrow).
I did a count on all listed players too (re-assigning several to the nations we'd associate them with more now though): 29 - Brazil 28 - England 22 - West Germany 21 - Italy 18 - Netherlands 17 - Yugoslavia 14 - Argentina 13 - Belgium 13 - Sweden 10 - Hungary 9 - Austria 9 - Portugal 8 - France 8 - Scotland 8 - Spain 8 - USSR 7 - Czechoslovakia 7 - Uruguay 6 - Poland 5 - Switzerland 4 - Bulgaria 4 - Northern Ireland 3 - Wales 2 - Denmark 2 - East Germany 1 - Algeria 1 - Chile 1 - Eire 1 - Mali 1 - Mexico 1 - Peru Maybe on both counts more Belgians and possibly Yugoslavs than might be expected (despite the likes of Ceulemans and Susic, or of course youngsters like Scifo and Gudelj, not making it among 'current' players)? Looks like Zizinho got listed as a midfielder and attacker. I did see Neeskens discussed as an AM as well as being listed in the main midfield category though too. I might have expected Praest and Lenstra to be switched category wise? I think the formations for the A and B XI's are more 4-2-2-2 with one winger shown alongside a centre-forward (who could be a false 9 type himself, but those were put in as centre-forwards mainly while some attacking inside forwards are placed as AMs, or in the case of Labruna a CM), so not sure why Bozsik and Ocwirk seem to be shown as right winger (obviously not intended to be their positions as they'd be the deepest or joing deepest mids in such a line-up).
I think there might be no players listed who played prominently solely before the 1950's though? That would cost the likes of Italy and Hungary, and probably Argentina and Brazil, a number of other names including some very notable ones I suppose. It's interesting/notable that some players, especially from France (eg Piantoni, Vincent, Tigana - especially after Euro 84 although maybe in actuality this had started before it did?) were asked for comment but were not among mentioned names themselves.
Yes, it is since they started publishing. 8 January 1946. See introduction (meilleur joueur mondial de l'après-guerre). There is some tendency to 1950s players, as well as some other tendencies I think.
Now I think about it again, of course it would have actually been more realistic for me to type Uruguay rather than Brazil I think too (especially with 1950 WC stars listed anyway - Zizinho, Ademir for example). Maybe to be fair the number of included English players can start to seem on the high side, since it is from 1946 onwards only? As you showed though there is less English representation in the top 10's.
I don't see any reason for Parola being rated at second place for central defenders, i did not even hear of him in any other positional or all-time ranking. Can anybody explain why he is rated that good? (Je ne parle francais)
I remembered he was named in this poll in a couple of All-Time XI's too (by 2 Italians): http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/placar-greatest-footballers-1981-1999.1987390/ Interesting Wikipedia page he has - I read the English version. I think it's interesting to see this kind of double-referencing anyway, a bit like for the similarly lesser known Romanian comme had mentioned as a tricky player from Euro 84 - multiple French sources noting him I notice, and he appears among the top rated players for that tournament by France Football.
I do find these lists absolutely fascinating, so well done here. This one is particularly interesting given the number of more modern names we often see. Verbiest was killed in a car accident so I wonder if his star was slightly higher than otherwise. Happel had just won the European Cup as a manager for a second time. He isn't often put ahead of his teammates Ocwirk or Hanappi but did rank highly in Voetbal's poll. Gustavsson was extremely highly rated by John Charles in particular. Interesting to note the absence of some South Americans like Roberto Perfume, Matosas, Sanamaria and Luis Pereira.
Are you maybe aware of other such lists or maybe just 'brainstorm' sessions by journalists? I mean 1980s or earlier.
I can try to put those players in 'eras'... Carlo Parola seems to among the few who fit in the 1945 - 1955 era (although they started publishing 8 January 1946). It's somewhat understandably an underrepresented epoch. Of course there are also borderline cases as Yashin who can fit easily both in 1955 - 1965 and 1960 - 1970 (he received votes in the very first Ballon d'Or poll). Also Stanley Matthews will be an interesting choice; do we go for his best years or for the years that made him a celebrity? It is partially overlapping but not entirely. Cruijff can go to 1965 - 1975 or 1970 - 1980 easily as well of course (considering the 1977 - 1980 league MVPs against some very good names and players playing in Spain and USA). On first glance many 1950 - 1960 and 1955 - 1965 players but I'll see.
I have one similar thing from November 1959. Originally published in a Hungarian mag picked up here by Mundo Deportivo. It has been composed though by a single man. A Hungarian jounalist by name Ferenc Lantos who made World XI of the last years: Gyula Grosics Djalma Santos, Jose Santamaria, Nilton Santos Jozsef Bozsik, Nestor Rossi Stanley Matthews, Didi, Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Paco Gento Then he added an extended selection: Yachine, Zeman Hanappi, Andrade, Posipal / Wright / Martinez (Uruguay), Lantos Netto, Liedholm Garrincha, Julinho, Kopa / Kubala, Kocsis, Schiaffino / Hidegkuti, Milutinovic / Fritz Walter, Pelé / Czibor http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD02/HEM/1959/11/05/MD19591105-002.pdf
None that I don't think you are aware of. The ones I can think of are the Placar one you posted (also linked above by PDG), the one from El Grafico that I think Vegan posted before, and the one from Eric Batty that I posted before where he picked his personal XI. Obviously as well you posted the list from Norman Barrett's book (which I have since acquired) and also the one from the IFB which are useful.
Others not mentioned include the goalkeepers Carrizo and Khomich; Netto, Vasovic, John Hansen and Walter Gomez. There is nobody from Chile (eg Figueroa), Ecuador (Spencer) or Peru (Chumpitaz, Cubillas, Sotil).
Tim Vigon produced a book in 1999 called The One Hundred Greatest Footballers, with a foreword by Jimmy Hill. Not sure how useful it is as 34 of the 100 are British, but I can post his list if anyone is interested.
PDG counted one from Peru and Chile. Figueroa feels like the greatest omission. What's known about Khomich and Walter Gomez their status? Vasovic could've been in. His successor Blankenburg is included in the longlist while Vasovic is/was widely perceived as the vastly superior player, and he played at the same position. Of the 1968-1973 (1966-1973) Ajax team only one player made one of the top 10 lists.
100 Greatest Footballers by Tim Vigon (Book published by Generation Publications, London, 1999) Pele Cruyff Maradona Best Di Stefano Beckenbauer Platini Puskas Matthews Eusebio Gullit Van Basten Charlton Yashin Moore Dalglish Garrincha Zidane Charles Edwards Matthaus Baresi Cantona Neeskens Finney Zico Banks Jairzinho Stoichkov Muller Baggio Ronaldo Weah Bergkamp Law Romario Maldini Hoddle Klinsmann Lineker Kempes Rummenigge Hagi Gascoigne Schmeichel Keegan Michael Laudrup Giggs Souness Ardiles Valderrama Blanchflower Zoff Boniek Papin Ginola Dean Marsh Shilton Rivera Passarella Beckham Riijkaard Hurst Seeler Hugo Sanchez Rush Billy Wright Bowles Rossi Voller Batistuta Bryan Robson Sammer Del Piero Roberto Carlos Fontaine Haller Cubillas Kohler Ronald Koeman Rivelino Owen Shearer Waddle Maier Rivaldo Francescoli Worthington Greaves Petit Caniggia Asprilla Yorke Paul McGrath Alan Hansen Zola Brady Beardsley Milla