The thread title is auto-explicative. Right now I can only think of 3 players: Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Zidane.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? Even if it won't be for his skill, beckham will be remembered in the football world, years after Roberto Carlos is forgotten. It's ridiculous that 4 players have been mentioned as legends, they all play on the same team, and that team finished in fourth place this season.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? Well it depends on what you mean by legends and who you are comparing them with. Ronaldo, Zidane, Maldini, Desailly, Carlos, Thuram, Cafu, Giggs, Keane, Rivaldo, Nesta, Figo are all legendary figures in a top 100 of all time. There are plenty of others who will book their places soon.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? It is only one season in their careers. Furthermore, except for Roberto Carlos, that team bought them because they are soccer legends. Othervise, they would not be there. Anyway, Zidane and Ronaldo definitely has booked their place in history. I am sure that comme might think othervise.... Both led their countries to WC victory. Both scored two goals in the Final. What else do they need to do????? Roberto Carlos is not the first attacking backs, but he would probably be given credit in revolutionizing his position. Plus, he got that one freekick that people remembered him for. History is all about images.... those guys all outdo themselves.
It depends on what is the definition of legends. comme mentioned top 100, and by that yardstick there are a good number of active players who will qualify. But if by legend we mean the small elite group which makes the upper echelon, I am not sure if there are any. They would have to join this list: Pele, Maradona, Cryuff, Beckembauer, DiStefano, Yashin (if we want to include a goalie.) Maybe some could argue for adding Puskas, Eusebio, Garrincha and possibly a handful of others. Do any of todays veteran players qualify? Ronaldo: If he gets back in shape and has a few more productive years, keeps up his scoring and is a big factor in his teams winning some more significant titles, he might have the best shot to join the pantheon. Zidane: An argument could be made for him, but I'd rank him in the next level, among the next set of great ones but just below the top legends. Roberto Carlos: Will be remembered as a great attacking lateral, up with the best of his position, but I'd not put him in the top category. Maldini: A great defender, and perhaps will be remembered as the best at his position, but I don't see him cracking the top. (It is tough for a defender to make the A+ list.) Beckham: God, no! Will not come close to cracking the top 100. Of the younger players, I think the player who has the best shot is Ronaldinho, but he will have to kick it up another notch and win more at the club level, and also continue to be a factor at the World Cup for Brazil.
I haven't read thru the link, just thought I'd do a search because I recalled us having this debate some time ago. I'm sure the list hasn't changed since then. No one has done anything remarkable in the recent past for anyone to suddenly bump them up a level so I'll stick with what I originally said on the issue: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48658
Only Zidane is even close. And even he doesn't make the cut. These are once in a generation (or longer) players. Last one was Maradona. Who will be the next?
Maldini is up there with the greatest defenders ever - he will go down as a legend, unfortunately defensive legends are not what the public are looking for. He would tend to be remembered more by the dedicated fans than the average fan, who is much more likely to remember Zidane, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos. Personally of those three I think Zidane would probably fall just short and Roberto Carlos a fair bit further behind. For me they are all-time great players, but I would hesitate to call them legends (a term I would limit to around 20 or so players) if you see where I'm going. Ronaldo is a bit more difficult - I personally think for around 2 years (1996-98)he was playing at a different level to anyone else save Maradona in the mid-late 80's, and that if he were to have another 2 or 3 outstanding seasons (which he is more than capable of doing) then I would certainly put him on the list. Regardless of what else he does he will go down as an all-time great.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? Being in the US, I have a unique position of only really getting to know the greatest of players, as I try to keep up with the international game, but succumb to the failings of the US Media (and lack of satellite to watch games). I consider myself fairly knowledgable of the game, and yet I have never heard of Nesta or Thuram. How can they be considered as future legends when I would guess that some have never heard of them? I'm saying that my definition of a legend is someone that transcends all type of boundaries. With this definition, I would say only Ronaldo and Zidane fit into the description of "legends", possibly top 10 all time. Those are the players that kids in small african villages try to emulate, as well as well off kids in England.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? The operative words being "you consider yourself" but if you took a poll of BS members, I would imagine about 95 % have heard of Nesta and a similsr number would consider you rather unknowledgable for never having heard of one of the world's finest defenders.
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? While I can ALMOST understand your lack of knowledge about Nesta, despite the fact that he's been one the top three CBs in the world over past 5 years, by consensus, no Thuram??? Nesta didn't really play a lot in Japorea due to injury, and he missed Italy's 1998 campaign due to injury as well. Perhaps you didn't see too much of Euro2K, and don't watch the SerieA OR the Champions League. (Although that makes me wonder what you do watch.) But Thuram? His most famous moment was scoring two goals against Croatia in the semi-finals of the 1998 world cup! How much more prominent than that do you need him to be? He plays for Juve, and has been a fixture of the French national team for a decade.
alan shearer probably wouldnt be considered glamorous enough,to make most peoples list,but he should be remembered in years to come for his outstanding goal scoreing records alone.
Romario and Batistuta are still technically active, and I would put both of them up there, as well as Maldini. The recently-retired Baggio goes without saying.
As a Real fan, I am biased, but I think both Zidane and Ronaldo are 2 of the top 10 players of all time. Zidane's skill, vision, and talent are clearly above anyone else of this generation, and most other generations. Ronaldo has scored at a rate that any striker in history would be proud of, and has done it everywhere he's played so far: Brazil NatTeam, PSV, Barca, Inter, and Real have all seen the amazing talent that is Ronaldo. Had he not been injured, I think he would be seriously considered one of the top players of all time -- Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo. He stil has a couple more years, and I would not be surprised if he elevated his game to a point where people did consider him all-time great...
Problem with him is, that apart from his EPL title with Blackburn, he hasn't won all that much. I think to be remembered as a true great of the game you have to have won several honors, like Zidane, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos. I'm not saying that those three will be remembered as being in the same class as Pele, Maradonna and Cruijff. Just that they have won enough to maybe be considered.
The problem I have with Ronaldo is that he never made the people around him play better, the way Pele and Cruijff did. I think that too is a factor which should be taken into consideration when you decide who has deserved the label "soccer legend".
Re: Whick of the active players will be remembered as "soccer legends"? For reasons other than football for sure. However, the sport needed a 'Becks'. He was a blessing for football in more ways than one.
there are more legends than just the top 5 players of all time - anybody who thinks maldini isnt already a legend is kidding themselves and let's not forget...
No mention of Rivaldo from anyone? He was great for Barca and Brazil. He has won the WC and The CL and was an undisputed leader for Brazil for years. Beckham will almost certainly be remembered as a legend in England and some other parts of the world (if he doesn't end up like Clinton). However, in general, amongst the players playing at present, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Henry, Thuram, Desailly, Maldini, Baggio, Nesta, Kahn, Raul, Giggs, Okocha, Bergkamp and Figo are all capable of being considered amongst the best players of all time. Amongst these players, Zidane followed by Romario, Baggio, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Maldini and Figo will certainly be remembered for years to come. The only person that can possibly claim adjacency to Pele, Maradona and Di Stefano is Ronaldo. With three more goals in a World Cup he will pass into the history books for ever. Personally, I believe that the pre-1998 WC Ronaldo is the closest anyone has ever come to Pele. However, for the present Ronaldo to be considered in the same vein as Pele and Maradona, another WC win (surpassing Fontaine in the all time highest WC goal scorer list) and/or a Compostela type goal in the WC are required. Rooney, C Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are others who are capable but have yet to emulate the greats before them.
i was expecting someone to say something like that,which is why i picked him.i'm not a great fan of shearer however i dont believe you can just say a player was great by going on his medal cabinet's collection alone.at the end of the day those medals were earned as a team effort and every team that win's a championship or cup will no doubt have players of a lesser standard than the stars in the team.so if we look at a lesser player and compare careers,do we say we'll he was a great player who broke league record after league record for so many clubs in his career,but the other guy was better because even though he never broke a club let alone a league record,he was apart of the great team that won the cl or whatever. again i'm not saying he's greater than zidane or whoever,but player's even if they they havent won as much as someone else,who were clearly better and gave something back to the game shouldnt be overlooked either,and i think shearer fit's into that category and many people will remember him in years to come for what he gave to the game rather than what he took away.