Greatest European footballers In football history

Maybe you meant 'realistic' or that my appreciation of players was clouding my judgement etc.

Anyway, I don't want a debate about it, and would much rather at this time you'd not posted that I have to say. I'm not going to add further comment because thenn I will just be in exactly the type of argument I don't want to be in (as I stated only yesterday lol) and under fire from Cristiano Ronaldo fans (even though they have to be fair said I am a nice poster in the past - Carlito, Benficafan etc).

 

I did not mean to insult you in anyway so i take iT back if you feel insulted.
I just cannot comprehend why anyone would rate van Basten and Best above Puskas.
Can you please tell me but what standards you did iT.
I mean being by achievements or just the quality/ability of the player or by a mix of them then surely puskas ranks above best and van Basten imho

 

Just because you possibly didn't read the other thread and my mention of taking a bit of a break mate, I'm just quickly logging in now and confirming no problem.

Everyone can feel a bit volatile and sensitive now and then, so probably you and Carlito making similar posts (on different threads) triggered me to get annoyed. But no problem as I don't think you meant to suggest I was being dishonest as such, but it just ended up looking like that. Also no problem/apologies to Carlito and Benficafan re: the CR7 stuff in general and thanks Benficafan for the rep (only just noticing it now I'm replying to Tony).

To give a quick answer (that of course you might want to use for the basis of whatever reply you feel like making, perhaps including your own analysis of the comparisons, but I hope you'll understand I do think a break will be beneficial for me now for a bit at least so I'm not looking to make further posts about it myself): it would have been mainly based on perception of quality/ability of the players yes. The more 'greatness of career' and greatness in own era would be factored in the more Puskas would stack up well in those comparisons I think surely (as harsh as that might be on Van Basten particularly due to the injuries), but that's not to say I rule out anyone thinking he was just better anyway by any means.

 

Forgot about this;

Yes for the most part I agree with this. Rijkaard clearly the player who has more of a goal or final ball in his boots (at the highest stages and biggest games), but the flipside is him being more direct and risky (this video is an extreme example).

However, in his second Ajax spell he played a bit like Busquets I think (although he was on paper one of the two central defenders) and was more measured in what he did.

That was also necessary because his partner (Danny Blind) wasn't the purest defender or man marker and with the full-backs not purely defensive either. In effect he was a hybrid CB/DM in the system and formation, and retained the ball under pressure.

The 'risks' he took were possibly also worth it, since he was part of some low conceding defenses. Milan most famously, but also 1994-95 Ajax for example conceded only 4 goals in 12 Champions League games (that's as good or even better as vintage Milan). I think he was aware of what he was doing and whether the trade off between risk-reward had a proper balance.

 

As an update to this;

The biography of almost 700 pages is now finished and I'll probably read it (it might get an English translation I heard). Some discussion has started on two explosive revelations but more on that later.


One small pre-publication had a gem like this when he was a coach:

"That [his ideal image] was only possible if the players were constantly connected to each other and corrected each other. During training matches, Cruijff sometimes deliberately stood in an awkward place - and put the game to death if no one in his team pointed that out to him."
https://www.parool.nl/sport/zindere...ajaxjaren-van-trainer-johan-cruijff~b9a52253/


From an interview with the author:

"I have conducted 160 to 170 interviews, read piles of Cruijff books, and digged through hundreds of articles, records and documentaries - and as a definitive biographer you have to know them, organize them and put them into a legible story. People think it's fun, but it's especially nice to finish it.
[...]
He was also rather black and white in his judgments about people. He could be resentful and rancorous and close the door. At the end of his life, it became fateful to him, because he died relatively lonely.
[...]
Funny, because he actually had nothing to say at home. As Cruijff himself once said: sometimes I think I had two personalities: one for home and one for outdoors.
[...]
“His language is often very funny, which is of course the cliche of the day. By the way, I certainly did not want to take his statements as a starting point. That would be camp, first because he didn't do this on purpose; his language was a kind of defect. Moreover, like anyone else his wisdoms could be inconsistent and sometimes even contradictory, which is not useful. But the most important reason: I wanted to be in control. It is my book about him. My findings had to remain the starting point. Only when I had finished describing a certain phase did I go and see if he had anything to say about it. ”

Have you started to love Johan Cruijff?
“I did not allow myself."
[...]
Finally: on which writer's house would you like to have a precision bombing carried out?
“So a writer that I hate or something? That's a nice saying. Well ... no, I can't do that ...

“It would also be silly to name no one now, would it? I appreciate Brian Glanville, a very old English football journalist. He once wrote a novel about football, of which I bought a translation called The Prof ... That book is so bad. Really repulsive. Great writers also make mistakes. So: a precision bombing of the house of Brian Glanville in which only all copies of The Pro that he still has in house are destroyed immediately. ” "
https://www.hpdetijd.nl/2019-11-11/auke-kok-cruijff-was-ook-regelmatig-een-pain-in-the-ass/


One excellent journalist tweeted yesterday, and as a response to the television interview with the biographer:

"The first 17 pages of L' Equipe are for Poulidor today. When Cruijff died, the first 23 pages were devoted to him. Just to indicate how large Cruijff is and will remain."
(Poulidor was a French cyclist and very popular despite being the 'eternal second'; voted among the 100 greatest Frenchmen all-time in 2005; voted 6th greatest French sportsman of the 20th century in 1999, in 2012 the public voted him number eight)


Two days ago there was an interview on television (19:30 in the evening, the 1st channel) with the biographer that focused mainly on negative aspects like his stubbornness. More on that later (what he said there) and the discussion it generated. In a nutshell: there is the revelation/rumor he had numerous extra-marital affairs and there is the claim he gave himself 1 million a year from his own charity as salary/expenses (the latter claim has been taken to court now but the libel laws are quite liberal in this country), and yet he didn't allow himself to be bribed by other people (the Rosell and Blatter types of this world) for their own cause.

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-ac...n-miljoen-van-zijn-eigen-foundation~b18955c4/
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/cruyff...cruijff-uit-de-handel-wordt-gehaald~a3695d99/

In a 2nd post I'll paraphrase/quote what the author says in the interview.

 

2nd post:

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

As the session in court proceeded with various things exchanged, the author said he is now doubting about the accuracy of the claim, and authenticity of the evidence he has seen.

https://www.nu.nl/cultuur-overig/60...eigen-bewering-over-betaling-aan-cruijff.html
https://nos.nl/artikel/2310577-rech...iet-uit-de-handel-wel-rectificatie-nodig.html
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/auteur...ceren-boek-hoeft-niet-uit-de-handel~a3695d99/


The court decided the book shouldn't be banned by any means but that the "accusation is evidently unlawful". The author said he has three close sources (since writing the brief paragraph a fourth source arrived) from here and abroad, but the judge reprimanded him (or the publisher) for not letting a lawyer read his book. The judge also said it is a "basic journalistic mistake" to not ask for clarification at the foundation before publishing his findings. The judge commented as well such accusation has serious implications for the charitable status of the foundation (with both the tax agency and charity agency looking independently at these matters), as well as for the accountancy firm approving all this. Nevertheless (as I had expected) the book is not temporarily banned nor is the brief paragraph totally wiped out - he has to change his wordings and to the already printed books a letter will be added.

The author repeated: "Cruijff has been deeply and genuinely concerned about the weak in society ever since he was 10 years old. That really suits him, and has given a great amount of effort and his own money away, but in addition he has always made sure that he also had a good life. For me this was no more than another proof that it works that way for him. It really was not my intention to nail the foundation to the pillory. It is all in line with how he acted all his life: he had an eye for the less fortunate, but did not forget himself if he made an effort."


What he said in the (in)famous television interview (paraphrasing and condensing it a bit).

-- The television host starts with saying this is not a hagiography.
** The author replies "I promised myself beforehand I don't want to love him. As a biographer you have to be sober and critical." That on balance he has become approachable. "My ambition was to show a human of flesh and bones", Calvinists as we are. "In the end you feel more for a human than a myth." "I also believe someone of his significance, like an Elvis Presley, Edith Piaf, Churchill or Michael Jordan merits a seriously researched work."

-- The host says he starts the book with when the author met the man himself. First when he was a kid and second when he was a journalist.
** "Yes I had already shaken many hands, CEOs, pop stars, also shook hands with Michels and what more" but he admits it felt as something special.

-- When did the job as journalist start to scrub with the admiration, the host wants to know.
** "Ah in that sense. First, the thing that struck me was how good he was in the things he did. He was better and more decisive than I thought and knew, what I felt as a kid. He was a better and more important footballer than I thought and felt."

-- But that's the player, the host says, but let's put the footballer out of consideration. Now the human.
** "Now then this didn't take long to stand out... I had been thinking for a while about a biography, but what withhold me were all the quarrels, all the conflicts. Just play football, what many people thought. Also in Amsterdam the attitude was at times ambivalent towards him. But I knew I had to wrestle myself through all these conflicts. Then also write it that it is readable and doesn't annoy the reader. At a certain moment I saw the under-the-skin processes." "Notes of commissions show him saying 'if I give in then I lose and everything will be lost'. That was quite often the case."

-- That makes him at times also unsympathetic in the book, but maybe that was necessary too.
** "Words as sympathetic and unsympathetic I don't use there because that is not what it is about, it is for me about what happened. You can think 'please stop', on the other hand do you know the football vision of Charlton, Beckenbauer, Maradona or Pelé? About him, across the whole world, many people have a vague or clear notion of what his ideas are and which outperforming successes it generated over many years. What is 'Cruyffian football', even the current Ajax with the sparkling combinations is unthinkable without Cruijff and the people he put in place. And that's also because of the eternal nagging by him, not wanting to concede a principal point. So that obsessive advocating by him, going against high placed people, that irritating at times... also makes it has been re-produced a couple of times"

-- Agreed. Different subject: him and the ladies.
** "Do we need to talk about it"

-- Well you write about. That is maybe a chapter where many people think 'hey, that is very surprising' He had a few extra-marital affairs.
** He replies he doesn't write this with joy but it came to his path and given the image of a family man he had to do something with it. On the one hand there is the idea of a family man, but on the other hand you hear a number of times from people close to him it was different on occasions and see public pictures. Of course it is difficult to verify but you have to write down the rumor and the reality of many superstars. That's what belonged to a footballers life and almost all 1974 footballers have been divorced. "I'm not a sensation journalist and it's a surprise" [if this is true, it makes me think of Mitterand or Einstein]

-- "Another thing, you say you make a human. There are good sides and minuses. The Cruijff Foundation, a fantastic idea with pitches all over the world. That is what I also read in your book. An incredible effort and enthusiasm. What hit me, and you too because you write this briefly in a paragraph, he was paid one million by the foundation because he thought 'it is my name'. I did not understand the circular reasoning here."
** "It is very well paid, but you can also say he generated he great amount. All year he was busy, everywhere he arrived wallets opened, and also gets this directed to other charitable organizations... but the knife had two sides with him." He didn't want to be excessively wealthy for a sports figure but enough for a nice life.

-- "It is strange to read that someone who is reasonably wealthy, who - again - merits a statue for the work, but that you then get paid 1 million in expenses, with then as added excuse 'image rights and taxis'.
** "I cannot ask him but I have three sources independent from each other, who all say this, were close to the fire and all have very warm feelings for him. But cannot reveal names."

-- "Did you say to the Foundation 'I'll publish this, do you have a response'"
** "No. I was sure those three know this stuff as well as they do".

-- "But you find something that is not so nice and don't ask for a reply."
** Then he replies he would have done so if this was theft but this is not theft. Then he claims it is legal for a charitable organization to do this...

This turns out to be false (a recognized charity cannot do this legally) which in turn made him starting to doubt whether this really happened.

-------------------

@AukeKok's epic, long-awaited, warts-and-all biography of Johan Cruyff out in Dutch tomorrow. Here he is on Cruyff's vision, affairs, greatest goal. Gasps from studio audience as Kok says Cruyff paid himself million euros a year from his Foundation. (Angry foundation denies this) https://t.co/B4NoveoQ6R

— David Winner (@dwinnera) November 14, 2019

(with a brief section of the interview)

At any rate, I'll probably read it and hope it will get an English edition (a non-sanitized edition, which sometimes happens with English versions). Even if some things are not true or half-true, I think it will give a good insight and most of the book is about the actual football.

 

Today he published his own moment. It is nice to show that one as well.






"Many journalists of my generation [and older ones such as John Motson] have their own unique experience with Johan Cruijff. The one perhaps in a night club, the other along the field or at a press conference. Now that Cruijff posthumously creates debate again for a moment, I will write down my best moment with him.

It was an interview in January 1987. Cruijff was Ajax's coach, but I was busy with a big story about FC Barcelona and especially why that club was "more than just a club". I wanted to have Cruijff in as a witness for the Catalan sentiment. He agreed because he thought it was a nice subject and was clearly looking forward to it, when I took a seat in the Ajax canteen opposite him.

For once not the issues of the day, but nice talk about life, to understand his life. He asked me if it was true that I was a certified historian and that I knew Catalan history a little. He wanted to know what that was about with Catalonia and listened carefully to what I had to say. "Everyone thinks I got all of this, but I never fully understood back then. Yes, Franco and all, but I really don't know what was going on before him," he said when I mentioned the Setmana Tragica of 1909.

Jordi

Of course we were talking about naming his son after the patron saint Jordi. "Danny and I thought Jordi was a beautiful name. So I give that name to the birth register in Barcelona, that official says: “No Jordi, that is not possible. Jorge can. ”What turned out now? Jordi is the name of the patron saint of Catalonia and that name was forbidden as a first name under Franco. But we didn't know that at all. Then I registered Jordi in Amsterdam. After all, he was born there and later we had him transferred to Barcelona. He was the first Jordi to be registered in Catalonia since Franco. The Catalans thought that was wonderful and since then I became even more popular, but that was really not my intention. Sometimes you are fortunate. "

It was an unforgettable afternoon. I had just returned from Barcelona enthusiastically and was sitting in front of a man who spoke with affection about the city. "Barcelona is a nice city to live in. I feel at home there and when I drive on the Diagonal, I really have the feeling that I am coming home again. Barcelona is my city, that's how I feel. I used to walk around the block sometimes, only at night at one o'clock to be fair, but it was possible. I think this is impossible now. You can go out in the city and you are immediately on the beach and within an hour inland you will imagine yourself in a Swiss mountain village."

Efteling

Another treatise on Gaudi followed, which I unfortunately did not note. But we did talk about "houses that you would expect in the Efteling rather than on a large boulevard" and about a cathedral that was never finished. Gaudi was not as well known as he is today. "Now that Barcelona is going to get the Olympic Games, the city is going to be shoveled and you always have to wait and see what the consequences will be, but I think it can mean a huge impulse for the city."

He also did not run out of words about his time as a footballer in the city. "It was tropical years, those five seasons at Barcelona, but very beautiful. For a football player, the years between his 26th and 31st are very beautiful years and I happened to have experienced them there. I always had a connection with Barça. I don't know exactly why but I used to look in the newspaper to find out the results of that club. I had that with more clubs, in Scotland it was Glasgow Rangers and in Switzerland it was Servette. But when I went to Barça in 1973, I didn't really know that club well enough. I had no idea what to expect. What appealed to me was that Barça was Real Madrid's counterpart, and I had always found it wrong that Di Stefano, who had chosen Barça, was ultimately claimed by Real on dubious grounds. I had also received an offer from Real in 1973, but for me it was definite that in Spain I wouldn't go there." He could go to Barça in 1971 with Michels, but the transfers did not take place until 1973.

"After long consideration, I made that decision to go. I was also really the first in that. I didn't know what would happen to me, but I felt that I was ready. You should not only be able to play football well during a transfer but also be mentally hardened. You arrive at a new club and you have to live up to it immediately. I started at Barcelona without doing things that I wasn't used to. The first match against Club Brugge I was there. 100,000 people for a practice match, especially for me. Then you have to live up to it. In the first year we became champions, but actually that wasn't my best season, I think. Later I played much better, but that doesn't say much to people because Barça was no longer a champion. In the second season (74/75) I was empty because I had hardly had any rest after the World Cup. I always have to have five weeks of vacation between the seasons, I found that out in this year. Another fact why we no longer became champions was that I always ran into a strange suspension for important matches. You can never prove anything. After five years I was really up. I could not hold on any longer. That's why I said goodbye and rested for a few years. But of course they were wonderful years for me. "

World citizen

Cruijff said that he became a world citizen in Barcelona. He moved a perspective that not many people in the Netherlands are really aware of. "A funny consequence of my stay at Barcelona was that I became world famous. I had won the European Cup three times with Ajax, but thanks to Barça I became well-known in the Spanish-speaking part of the world, especially in Central and South America. It seems that two billion people know me, but I don't know them, so I never think about that. I can't even imagine how many people that are. It is all automatically growing out of proportion with the years, but I have not been used to something else since 1968. It is incomprehensible that I am now even more popular and better known than when I was playing and that I am especially known in parts of the world where I have never played. "

We took a pause. He had to cycle a cigarette.

Cruijff spoke about contemporary Barcelona: "Camp Nou is a wonderful stadium. It exudes football. It has no running track and everything is in the service of football. The stands are close to the field. It is wonderful to be able to play football in that stadium. Not many clubs have that. I might want to return to Barcelona but for the time being that is not possible. Because I would only go if I could implement my own ideas. So I want unrestricted technical powers and don't let the board influence me. Barça's problem is the pressure. It is a huge club. You can see that from the board, which nowadays consists of 25 people. Then you also play for 100,000 people a week and you have to take the penyas [fan clubs] into account. There is never any rest. The presidents are the only ones who can change that, but they are often concerned with other things or with themselves. The organization is still too amateurish.
In my time some things were different. The then chairman Montal was a gentleman, you looked up to him. He made a few decisions without you criticizing him. The political function of the club also plays a role. That was certainly the case in my time as a player. I was a real pillar in the fight against Franco without even realizing this. But I didn't realize that until later, at that moment I didn't know because I was cold at Barça and I especially wanted to play well. When we became champions nobody said "congratulations" but only "thank you". When I asked why they did that, they explained to me that they wanted to thank me for the victory over Madrid because they had been waiting for fourteen years for that. That this championship was so important, I was really not fully aware of that. "

Nuñez

And then the conversation took a different turn: "The name of the club has deteriorated under Nuñez. Anyone who has been working at Barcelona since he is president leaves with problems. Every coach fails within three years. That is not possible, so something is wrong. Nuñez has no level, no style. It would not surprise me if Barça goes bankrupt soon. But that does not matter anyway because then all the socios put in a 100 dollars and there is enough in cash to build a new team. Barça can never break, but this way it will never win the European Cup because something always happens that makes it go wrong every time. That is of course a pity. "

Suddenly Cruijff looked at his watch, we had been busy for more than three hours. From the window I saw that it was already getting dark. "I have completely forgotten the time. I was supposed to pick up Jordi from school, so this interview is now over because I have to hurry to be on time. This is enough for a nice piece. It was pleasant and educative." He got up and left, waving at me from the car. I had interviewed the big Cruijff and knew that my brothers would be very jealous.

Rel

Cruijff's comments about Nuñez against me would cause uproar in the Catalan media a year later. I received a request from his "spokespersons" to make it clear that I had written it sharper than Cruijff had said. He did not speak to me for a few months because I refused to weaken his words. He found me a difficult man. Only during the EC II final in Bern of Barça against Sampdoria did he come to me spontaneously, after I had seen the match and everything had been massaged away. "Sorry, I think the best has won tonight, but your sympathetic club deserves a compliment." I laughed shyly, "The best has won today."

(with massive help by google translate)

---------------------------------------------

Notable is of course that in January 1987 he doesn't see himself coaching Barcelona anytime soon (assuming he's honest, maybe too honest in case of Nunez). Then less than two years later he was there on the bench. The 'Hesperia mutiny' and significant financial problems made it possible I think (with him getting the mandates he wanted, but ofc it was not like he only placed 'yes men' around him as staff).

 

The mystery is now solved:

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-ac...eigen-foundation-maar-van-loterijen~b507b4b0/

He received the money not from his foundation but from the lottery.

Between 1999 and 2003 he received a variable payment between 100000 euros and 1 million (depending on 'performance' - how much money is drawn in). After 2003 it was 300000 euros because the involved parties agreed it was excessive and didn't feel too well about it (for perspective).

This lottery is at the same time the 3rd largest charity donor in the world, and the single largest fundraiser in the world.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

As for the biography itself, going by my own impressions here and by some reviews, the first 532 pages are superb. It runs until his definite retirement as a footballer at the age of 37. This part merits an integral translation to English, which hopefully is equally well written.

The last ~30 years of his life (as reviewers have noted) gets only 100 pages, although by then of course certain aspects don't have to be repeated twice. Still, it leaves out some 'important' specific episodes. There are no words reserved for Barcelona rejecting Mourinho in 2008, and the role (which role) he had in this.

Guillem Balague (I'm not a fan of him) claims in his work Cruijff already in november 2007 wrote a message to the president that Guardiola is "ready, he sees our football with absolute clarity" if the need arises in the future, after personally observing Guardiola at work in the Mini Estadi for a few days.

Diego Torres (of 'El Pais') wrote it down slightly different in his famous book on Mourinho:



While Jonathan Wilson sees it more like there could be only one outcome, quoting his own talk with Van Gaal here.




It would have been nice to have that sorted out, or at least a dissection of this. Not that those 100 pages are bad and it clarifies certain things (the "probably I am immortal" quote was meant as a joke, "with which he expressed in 1997 his amazement for the, as far as he was concerned, the idiotic amount of international attention for his 50th birthday"). It clarifies Begiristain as technical director, rather than the role and career track of a coach or trainer, was his judgement.

Luckily, those last 30 years are in one form or another also covered by Wilson, Fieldsend, Hunter, Balague etc. to a certain extent while this is much less the case for his time as an active footballer. That looks quite complete.

So that's it for now.

 

Must be the best and most thorough Figo at Sporting compilation made yet (or possible to make?).

It probably helps a bit, to give a minimum estimate, for anyone looking to find out how many career assists he had too (I know there is a different thread somewhere where people were looking into that for various players).

 

Everyone who knows anything about football knows that Luis figo was a top top player.

 

His French wikipedia has him at 244 assists, which is only behind Beckham (262) and Messi (
285). From the players I've checked.

 

Question : boniek and robben Made you’rs list yet Rensenbrink and kubala not.

I am very curious what you think why boniek and robben did to deserve being places above kubala and Rensenbrink.

I mean personally i rank Rensenbrink and kubala above robben and boniek

So by what measures or standards did you make that up ?

 

Which source and assist rules are you using for those figures?
I have
Lionel Messi - 288 assists in 849 caps
David Beckham - 260 assists in 838 caps*
Luis Figo - 244 assists in 931 caps
Mesut Ozil - 231 assists in 636 caps
Cristiano Ronaldo - 229 assists in 997 caps
Ryan Giggs - 221 assists in 1027 caps
Francesco Totti - 219 assists in 841 caps

* - I didn't include Beckham's assist for Preston.

This is the 200+ club that I'm aware of (my research was not anywhere near extensive enough though lol). A lot of players have around 150-200.

The most I've ever seen attributed to Giggs is 247 in all competitions for Manchester United (transfermarkt).
He'd have to have 53 assists for Wales to be at 300. I think that's very unlikely even using wide rules (rebounds, penalties won etc). Wikipedia and Whoscored don't use those, and personally I don't either.
Cristiano has 251 using wide rules (transfermarkt) and Lio Messi 304. I prefer the more stricter definitions for assists.

 

Neymar has 41 Assists for his NT + 150 for the clubs (tranfermarkt) but it didn't include the matches of Copa do Brasil and Campeonato Paulista (36 according to the French Wikipedia).

 

@carlito86

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/rankings/players/assists/

https://www.premierleague.com/players/335/Ryan-Giggs/stats

He has 193 in the UEFA CL and PL officially. He'd need 107+ in domestic cups, club world cup and international matches to reach exactly 300. Basically 107 assists in less than 200 appearances compared to 193 in his other 800 or so matches. I highly doubt he reached that figure, or that anyone has done so far to be honest. 221 assists, spending his whole career in a top 5 league and playing for a very modest Wales side is incredible as it is.

Thierry Henry - 236 assists in 917 caps
Xavi Hernandez - 206 assists in 1008 caps
Neymar Jr. - 203 assists in 588 caps

Are also both in the 200+ club.

You have a link to Puck's findings for Cruyff?
Cruyff, Maradona, Laudrup, Pele and perhaps Zico and Platini seem like they would have recorded 200+ and given enough matches for Cruyff and Laudrup perhaps even 300. They only had over 700 appearances each.

Gianni Rivera appears to be another chance creating machine in the footage that's available.

 

@Edhardy A lot of unknown players had 200+ assists, in South America I'm aware of Alex de Souza he played around 1000 matches as professional with around 400 assists. Marcelinho Carioca is other, since he was very envolved in Corinthians Goals I remember in a lot of leagues he had more assists than goals. Riquelme seems to be other case. Basically a lot of attacking-mids and forwards who played in a high scoring teams (Puskas, Di Stefano, Pelé, Eusébio, Cruyff among others) or/and had a carrer with great longevity reached that mark imo.

 

Good shout on Alex. His wikipedia page credits him with 363!

I didn't check most of the players who predominantly played in S.A. as the topic is Greatest European footballers. I had a quick look at the European players and players who played a substantial part of their career in Europe. It's a shame that there's no reliable statistics for the 50s-80s.

 

If I remember, when Real Madrid played against Santos, 5-3. Di Stefano had 3 or 4 assists.