Name, please, top 10 fastest players ever with and without the ball. Who was fastest? Some names: Cristiano, Ronaldo 9, Pele, Walcott, Owen, Mbappe, Henry, Bale, Blochin, Roberto Carlos, Giggs... Maybe I forgot somebody
Pelé was fast, but not among the fastest ever. Gento was an obvious name, I'll add two more: - Eto'o - Bican (his sprint matched those of real sprinters of his era, some said 10.8 seconds in 100m, close to former World Record)
Some more names, for without the ball (potentially also with the ball in some or all of the cases but initially I think of them primarily for running speed): Andrei Kanchelskis Marc Overmars Dennis Rommedahl Eusebio (also has a sub 11 seconds 100m time apparently) Gary Lineker George Weah Franz Carr Kaka For with the ball I would add these (obviously should be somewhere close without it too, especially Caniggia I think): Brian Laudrup Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Claudio Caniggia Paulo Futre
#33Oct 24, 2019 Post from 2019. ↑elegos7 said: Did Gilbert Smith play in the FA Cup at all? I cannot find results of the qualifying round of the FA Cup after the 1891-92 season. It is possible Old Carthusians, having lost already twice in the qualifying round, only entered the FA Amateur Cup in the 1890s and 1900s. peterhrt said: Corinthians never entered the FA Cup. Old Carthusians do not seem to have done so either in GO Smith's day. Most of the Carthusians, including Smith, also turned out for the Casuals. The two teams met in the first Amateur Cup Final in 1894 but Smith was absent. Casuals also seemed to have concentrated on amateur competitions at this time. On 21 January 1893 Old Carthusians beat Millwall 10-1 in the London Charity Cup. Smith scored twice. The report in a Scottish paper claimed that three Carthusian forwards, Hewitt, Salt and Smith, could all run 100 yards in ten and a quarter seconds, and that each was as clever as he was fast. It does not look as though Smith ever appeared in an FA Cup match.
Tinsley Lindley was meant to be another famous player from those times that was a fast sprinter. He also played in brogues rather than boots so as not to diminish that speed on the pitch! I don't find any times for 100 yards or 100 metres but some references to him winning some 100 yards competitions, as a boy primarily though I think. If my conversions are correct, those Carthusian forwards times convert to slightly under 9 metres per second, while if Bican and Eusebio truly ran 100m in somewhere around 10.75 seconds, that is slightly above 9 metres per second. I remember reading that Budai and Czibor of Hungary had sub 11 seconds times I seem to recall too (the reference I saw was in a piece on Hidegkuti maybe, and it was said that he ran it in 11 seconds or so himself but they were quicker I think). There is a reference to another Hungarian Sandor Matrai running it in 10.9 seconds though too.
Two other players of the fastest of the 60s were the lateral defensive Giacinto Facchetti, who is said to have run the 100 meters in 10.7 seconds and who even stayed just one tenth of the Italian national record of the 80 meters and the very fast Scottish winger Jimmy Johnstone.
Gento, Bican, Facchetti, Ronaldo, Cristiano, Walcott or Roberto Carlos have undoubtedly been very fast players but probably the best sprinter of all of them was (although surely not the fastest because more than 100 years have passed since his best years as a player) was surely Isabelino Gradín. He was an outstanding soccer player who won the Uruguayan Championship twice with Peñarol and twice the American Cup with National Team of Uruguay (in the 1916 edition, he was elected the best player of the tournament and was also the top scorer). But Gradín was not only a footballer, he also was an athlete and on two occasions he was a South American Champion of the 200 meters and in another two champion of the 400 meters, reaching up to 5 South American speed records.
Gradín's record in 200m when winning SAC of athletism - 1919 (23.2s), 1920 (22.4s) http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/sac.htm So, considering that somebody ran 100m in a bit less than half the time at 200m, Gradin could be around (10.8 - 11s in 100m)
Bican is a good choice. Yeah i also read he ran the 100m in 10.8 seconds in the 1930’s, and could have chosen to be a professional sprinter if he’d wanted.
The first clip of the video very well demonstrates it . Its from the 1962 European Cup final vs Benfica if i am not wrong
Going back to this, I'm thinking Eusebio could be the one (like Caniggia, and a bit moreso than Weah for example I guess) verging on being eligible for both categories. He could definitely travel very fast with the ball within his stride, although for close control dribbling at speed, and with comfortable ball manipulations, changes in direction etc I guess Brian Laudrup and Futre too could be better choices. If I lined up these players for pure speed (although a guesstimation) in 60m sprint theoretical semi-finals where as per the Olympics etc the 'favourites' take the middle lanes 3-6 and the less likely winners take 1-2 and 7-8, and if I add in Tony Daley plus one each from the other mentions representing old, mid and modern eras (Bican, Gento, Ronaldo R9) then maybe I'd have this....(without adjustments for era to favour Bican and going by his time given for 100m as a guide - I feel like 60m represents useful football speed better although maybe so would a 'rolling/jogging start' rather than crouching down lol!) Semi-final A Lane 1 - Paulo Futre Lane 2 - Eusebio Lane 3 - Claudio Caniggia Lane 4 - Marc Overmars Lane 5 - Francisco Gento Lane 6 - Tony Daley Lane 7 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Lane 8 - Brian Laudrup Semi-final B Lane 1 - George Weah Lane 2 - Gary Lineker Lane 3 - Andrei Kanchelskis Lane 4 - Dennis Rommedahl Lane 5 - Franz Carr Lane 6 - Ronaldo R9 Lane 7 - Josef Bican Lane 8 - Kaka
Not intentional, but I seem to have put Brian Laudrup in as the (relatively) 'tall guy', potentially coming last unless they did have a successfully dribble a ball all the way in semi-final A, and Franz Carr as the token 'short guy' who can maybe win the semi-final B (Brian Clough once joked that he could win the Greyhound Derby if he entered him in it lol!). I'm not saying that I included the top 16 choices btw, but just did the exercise including all players I'd mentioned, to give an idea which of them could be the fastest. Whether I picked out the fastest old era, mid era, and modern era players as the 3 additions from those already mentioned by others in my line-ups, I wouldn't be quite sure either, but it seems feasible, if all in their best shape for running anyway (as per their slimmest and most 'match fit' football player versions I guess!).
Yes, it is the final of the 1962 European Cup against Benfica. The speed shown by Gento in that game is impressive.
Just to remark that older players, could not be the fastest in absolute terms, but comparing to his (not well trained) rivals, the differences in speed might look astonishing.
In the book Historia de Nacional from Andrés Reyes, it said that for Olympics 1928, uruguayan players were tested physically and the fastest players were Nasazzi, Mazali, Juan Piriz and Petrone, running 100m at 12.2 seconds. It also said that Petrone before his injury, a couple of years ago, could run it in 11 s.
Jimmy Settle. Bolton, Bury, Everton, Stockport 1894-1909. Could have been a sprinter. See 1903-1904 thread.
In 1904, WR at 100m was 10.8s and 1904 OG Medals were won with (11 - 11.2 s) So, a professional sprinter could be around 11.5 - 12 seconds at 100m?
Yeah, I think my theoretical 'sprint line-ups' I posted earlier (although I already said they were mainly for names I mentioned to give a guide and not an attempt at the fastest 16 players ever) could have been made a bit obsolete by some of the recently emerging players such as Traore and Mbappe now I think about it! Not that some of the older players like Johnstone or Facchetti (the latter was slightly surprising to see for me maybe, as I'd not clocked him as being quite that quick, but the details about his sprint times do make a compelling case) for example that Buyo mentioned are necessarily out of the equation either.
Facchetti was really fast, even though he might not seem it. Virgil Van Dijk and Raphael Varane in modern times also might not appear as fast but they would probably win in a 100 metre sprint against some of the mentioned names. Mbappe and Traore and also Biabiany some years ago are lightning fast and the modern scouting is possibly a bit more centred towards finding these athlete types then trying to develop their technical attributes (just a hunch). And the counter attack 'fad' of the Klopp era helps to showcase these types of players more than an Overmars or a Cannigia from previous years
You put C. Ronaldo but not Overmars, who easily beat him in a foot race at Euro 2004 when Overmars was 31, ruined by injuries and about to retire and Ronaldo was 19 and at his quickest? Anyway, the fastest ever is Adama Traore, with Daniel James, Claudio Caniggia and Douglas Costa among those who deserve a mention in here as well.
Voted for Ronaldo although Rommedahl and Caniggia were the first name I thought of. Findi George always seem very quick likewise Obafami Martins.