The most athletic 'great' footballer is Cristiano Ronaldo. There are many footballers more athletic than Cristiano Ronaldo, but in no way do they match or come near his football talent and ability.
I think Cristiano Ronaldo has a claim for being the most athletic footballer ever, but not necessarily the most physically gifted. His professionalism has definitely got him the athletic edge he currently has. Athletic freaks do not look like Cristiano Ronaldo when he was 17-18. I think even Ronaldo Luiz was more naturally athletic than Cristiano Ronaldo, although I'm reluctant to say that Ronaldo Luiz was more "physically gifted" given the injuries he suffered. Football has perhaps not had true athletic freaks like the NBA or NFL do yet.
https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/...mar-make-European-best-XI-as-Messi-misses-out The oldest someone has been at a truly world class level was ferenc puskas at 37 years old in 63/64 and johan cruyff in 83/84 Ryan giggs,francesco totti,lothar matthaes and ibrahimovic played for top teams past this age but were by then no longer regular world class performers and different sources confirm this( dbs calcio in particular) Its hard to gauge whether someone as a 35+ year old franz beckenbaur was indeed a world class player when he was playing in the farmers league known as NASL The longevity of CR7 is shaping up to be uniquely impressive though Never outside the top 5 outfield players in world football from 2007 -2020 Ronaldo has been an elite performer across 3 different decades. They will talk about this guy for at least the next 50 years
To be fair, it was pretty much impossible for anyone to do what Ronaldo did, 50 years ago. To last this long, one would have to take care of oneself everyday for a decade. Most older players relied on their natural fitness, but once age catches up with them, they all declined significantly, because they didn't put in the work for the past 15 years. We see this in other sports as well. Lebron James is shaping up to absolutely be the greatest longevity player of all time. No one at 35, after 17 years in the NBA (most players don't even last 17 seasons) can even come close, but that's because no one was even taught to take care of themselves the way Lebron James has done. The idea of "load management" didn't even exist in the Kobe days.
Uwe Seeler Alfredo di Stefano Ferenc Puskas Johan Cruyff Franz Beckenbauer And recently Lothar Matthaus & Paolo Maldini (UEFA Defender of the Year 2007) were world class well into their 30s. As for the thread title I nominate: Ruud Gullit - Fast, had an incredible jump, really strong and he had a top notch gas tank. Pele - Quick, fast, agile, remarkable leap, acrobatic, good stamina Ronaldo - Otherworldly acceleration, top speed, agility, stamina and strength Edgar Davids - Stamina (can't think of any footballer who covered more ground), strength, speed, agility and almost unbeatable in the air at 169cms! Ivan Cordoba - So fast, agile, strong and like Davids he had a terrific jump for someone of that height. As @La-Máquina said though, there are probably superior athletes out there who are just not equally talented and therefore not as well known. If they were competing in the Olympics decathlon I'd probably pick Davids.