Zidane named Europe's best

[NeilMcD]

Zidane named Europe's best
France's Zinedine Zidane has been voted the greatest European footballer of all time by listeners of BBC Five Live.
The midfielder, set to star at Euro 2004 this summer, gained 12% of the overall vote to finish ahead of the legendary Dutchman Johan Cruyff.

George Best came in third, but England captain David Beckham failed to make the top 40.

Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Manchester United's Roy Keane were the only current Premiership stars on the list.

Bobby Moore was the highest-placed Englishman, and top defender, in 8th position.

Kenny Dalglish was top Scot in 16th with the Republic of Ireland's only representative Keane, in 18th.

Wales also only had one player featured and that was the late John Charles who finished in 17th.

Peter Schmeichel was named top goalkeeper in 15th place.

Listeners were asked to vote for their Top 5 from the 40 players nominated by a Five Live football panel.


Results in full (share of votes in brackets):

1 Zidane (France) 12%
2 Cruyff (Netherlands) 10%
3 Best (Northern Ireland) 8%
4 Van Basten (Netherlands) 6%
5 Henry (France) 5%
6 Platini (France)
7 Beckenbauer (Germany)
8 Moore (England)
9 Eusebio (Portugal)
10 Puskas (Hungary)
11 Maldini (Italy)
12 Baggio (Italy)
13 Di Stefano (Spain and Argentina)
14 Charlton, Bobby (England)
15 Schmeichel (Denmark)
16 Dalglish (Scotland)
17 Charles (Wales)
18 Keane (Republic of Ireland)
19 Gullit (Netherlands)
20 Baresi (Italy)
21 Banks (England)
22 Law (Scotland)
23 Matthews (England)
24 Yashin (USSR)
25 Raul (Spain)
26 Matthaus (Germany)
27 Figo (Portugal)
28 Zoff (Italy)
29 Hagi (Romania)
30 Edwards (England)
31 Muller (Germany)
32 Nedved (Czech Republic)
33 Rummenigge (Germany)
34 Finney (England)
35 Kocsis (Hungary)
36 Fontaine (France)
37 Boniek (Poland)
38 Gento (Spain)
39 Seeler (Germany)
40 Kopa (France)

[eoinh]

There doesnt seem to be much consensus on the best player. Zidane only got 12% - not a huge amount.

I wonder is it right to judge players from different eras.

I mean how can one judge if Puskas was better than Zidane.


If it was based on the best world player i bet you Maradonna and Pele would get about 40% each.

Good to see Nedved in there - class!

[adamcarr]

but England captain David Beckham failed to make the top 40
Thats more like it! ;)

[Pat O' Banton]

There doesnt seem to be much consensus on the best player. Zidane only got 12% - not a huge amount.

I wonder is it right to judge players from different eras.

I mean how can one judge if Puskas was better than Zidane.


If it was based on the best world player i bet you Maradonna and Pele would get about 40% each.

Good to see Nedved in there - class!

Theres not just the difficulty of comparing players from different eras but also many of the players in here would never have been seen by voters save for a few clips so they are being votes for on the basis of reputation rather then any real personal knowledge of what they did, these poles are just gimmicks for Radio 5 rather then a serious look at football.

There is no way that real comparisons can be done by people and the only thing that I would ever comment on is who is the best players of my generation. (Maradona or in Europe Platini or Gullit)