Ranking top 8 by decade - legend

Born 80s

Two genuises leading the ranking make the “Born 80s” very competitive.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are well ahead of the competition without surprise. They've got the same final results. ¿Then why Messi is topping the list? When two players have similar final results (no more than 1-1.2 diference), it means they are at the same level and have to be compared using other rules. Titles won at club level and with national team are the measures to ultimately separate players between one another. And Messi is clearly ahead of CR7 when we talk about trophies and achievement (FC Barcelona and Argentina). Then follow Suarez, Ibrahimovic and Villa with a steady difference between them (2.6). And then, Aguero beats Gomez and Huntelaar with more trophies won. Bad luck for Gomez who got injured just before World Cup 2014, and is not World Champion. Huntelaar failed in big teams (Real Madrid, AC Milan), and with Holland was only the “shadow” of Van Nistelrooy or Van Persie. Aguero on the other side is the clear number two of Argentina behind Messi. As anyone in the world would be second to Messi, it tells a lot about Aguero level. Not having the same bad luck Batistuta had missing Maradona, Aguero should be for Messi what Bebeto was for Romario and Ronaldo. The only difference is that till now, Argentina lost all their major finals, quite the opposite of winning side Brazil (1994-2002). Hopefully they still have time to change history, but they already lost quite many oportunities.

Born 70s

Many, many good strikers, but only one exceptional make the “Born 70s” finally not too competitive

Here Ronaldo (the real one) is a clear number one. But he doesn't have as big an advantage than Messi-C. Ronaldo have over the rest of the contenders (Born 80s). Then follow Vieri, Van Nistelrooy and Crespo with a steady difference between them (1.7). Actually Crespo was in competition with Shearer. But Shearer has against him his hatred of the Big 4 in Premier League. As a consequence, he never played for the best Premier League teams, and was not very successful with England either. Then Shevchenko is close behind (1.3) with Henry following him (1.3). Henry has the edge over countryman Trezeguet, he started a bit earlier with AS Monaco, France... and retired later with France. He had the good idea to join the Barcelona of Guardiola to finally win the Champions League, and did not have the bad inspiration to miss a penalty that meant for France losing the World Cup Final in 2006. Football is also about luck, and Trezeguet had really bad luck in 2006 with the calciopoli who stripped of two scudetto for Juventus, and this penalty miss on the bar in a World Cup Final Shootout, not mentioning losing a Champions League Final with Juventus in 2003 at penalty shootout... again.

Born 60s

A dual for every spot make the “Born 60s” very disputed and very dense

Romario and Batistuta competed for first spot, and Romario has the edge as a World Cup Champion in 1994. Batistuta had the bad luck to start with Argentina the year Maradona was suspended for doping. He started scoring many goals the season following World Cup 1990 where Argentina reached the final, too late for Batistuta. And playing so many years for Fiorentina didn't help winning titles. Romario, on the other side, made the most of his collaboration with Bebeto, Ronaldo and Rivaldo with Brazil, and had success in Brazil at club level, in Holland with PSV and during his short spell with the Barcelona of Cruyff. Papin and Lineker competed for the podium. But Lineker had the same problem as Shearer, he never played for the Big 4 in Premier League, and played in a weak Barcelona side before the arrival of Cruyff. Papin was wiser, playing for the best teams of the countries he played in (OM, AC Milan and Bayern Munich). Then follows Bebeto who wins against Suker for wininng so much with Brazil. Suker did really well with Croatia, even better than Bebeto did with Brazil as he never was the true star, being overshadowed first by Romario, then by Ronaldo. And to close the ranking, a duel between Van Basten and Roberto Baggio that the dutchman wins. Baggio had the same kind of bad luck that Trezeguet had, missing a penalty in a World Cup Final Shootout (1994), and missing winning the Champions League twice (1994, 1996) for switching teams between AC Milan and Juventus at the wrong time.

Born 50s

The two first spots are actually the property of playmakers (number 10) with great scoring ability, which prove that the “Born 50s” is not a competitive decade

Here Zico is a clear number one. And he does have as big an advantage than Messi-C. Ronaldo have over the rest of the contenders (Born 80s). Then Platini, Hugo Sanchez and Dieter Muller competed for runner-up. Sanchez international career with Mexico was so poor, and his goals tally so low compared to Platini and D. Muller that he is penalised. Dieter Muller was prolific with Western Germany, but he only played a couple of year and a dozen of games. So his international career was short, and a great striker is supposed to be in the national team for a long time. He is penalized for “short international career”. It leaves Platini as a natural choice for number two, and Sanchez number three, as it's still better having a long but unsuccessful career, than a very short. Kempes was slightly over the limit behind D. Muller (1.2), but he is a World Cup Champion 1978, and the star player of winning side Argentina. He deserves to pass D. Muller in the ranking. Despite of being considered the best Austrian player ever, Krankl could not compete with Kempes, Austria never achieving anything. And to close the ranking, a duel between Rossi and Altobelli, two World Cup Champions 1982 with Italy. But Rossi was the hero in 1982 and he played for a better club (Juventus for Rossi, Inter for Altobelli). Sure that Altobelli would totally agree with this choice.

Born 40s

Probably the most competitive decade. If not, how to explain that Pelé is not topping the ranking.

As clear number one we have Gerd Muller. And the numbers are on his side. He scored with West Germany more goals than games he played. A feature never achieved by anyone else in his era and after, even by great Pelé. As clear number two we have Gigi Riva, the best striker Italy ever had. He did very well in a very defensive league, Serie A Catenaccio Era. And where all the best italian strikers failed to score big with the “Azzurri”, Riva managed to do very well too with Italy. Pelé is “only” number three because most of his goals with Santos where scored in a regional league (Paulista). The first half of his international career (before 1965) happened in an era with high goal per game average. It dropped by the mid-sixties, and then even more in the 70s, which penalised Pelé against his younger contenders (Riva, G. Muller). Then follows Eusebio, scoring very big in very weak Portuguese league. Then follows Boninsegna, Riva teammate with Italy and Cagliari, slightly less successful, especially with Italy. Then Greaves takes over Fischer as a World Cup Champion 1966, even if he didn't played the final. Fischer has against him his long list as runner-up (World Cup 1982, three times in Bundesliga). And to close the ranking, Cruyff who was ten times champion at club level (nine in Holland) and won three times the Champions League with Ajax, not mentioning being runner-up in World Cup 1974. It was too much for italian Pratti, member of AC Milan Champions League winner 1969 and successful Italy (1968-70). But still, he couldn't match Cruyff incredible club record, and that left him out of the top 8 list.

Born 30s

Probably the less competitive decade. Only 13 contenders, that's why I made only a top 6 to be fair with some decades where doble contenders compete for top 8

As clear number one we have Fontaine. But at the time there were few international games. It would be interesting to see how many goals Fontaine would have scored if he had played up to 70 games with France. Far behind we have Artime, not well known in Europe as he spent his club career in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay), very prolific goalscorer like Batistuta. He never won anything with Argentina, reason why he did not raise to international fame. Then follows Smith, an unknown Enghish striker who played for England just before World Cup 1966, but a prolific goalscorer in English First Division with Tottenham. Then follows Sivori, very successful in club in Argentina and Italy, but very limited international career for changing national team (Argentina to Italy). Then to close the ranking a dual between West German Seeler and Sweden Hamrin. Strangely these two reach a World Cup Final (1966 for Seeler, 1958 for Hamrin), but remained somehow anonymous for being on the losing side. Seeler reached semifinal in World Cup 1970 too, what help him having the edge over Hamrin. Very obscure ranking when compared to the “Born 40s”.

Born 20s

The Mighty Magyars make the “Born 20s” quite competitive

As number one we have Puskas. Not too far behind we have Nordahl, who were judged ineligible to play for Sweden when he joined AC Milan for a “stupid” law in Sweden at the time that said “you had to play in a Swedish team to play for the national team”. Hopefully it changed since, but too late for Nordahl. He missed the World Cup Final 1958 against Brazil and Pelé. As number three we have Kocsis, Puskas countryman and one of the “mighty magyars”. He beat Spanish Zarra for reaching World Cup Final 1954. Zarra was like Hugo Sanchez, amazing in la Liga, but didn't achieve anything with Spain. Then follow a dual of unknown English strikers, Lofthouse and Mortensen. It was very close, and Lofthouse get first but we could argue. Then follows Di Stefano, who played more as a second striker and who played for three diferent national teams (Argentina, Colombia, Spain). It's a shame that the best player of his generation couldn't have a proper international career. And to close the ranking, the most obscure player being part of the list (all decades), Cisowski. He could be a bit more famous if he didn't miss World Cup 1958 where France reached semifinal, but he was often injured. And as in France they don't remember their “greats of the past” like english do for example, he got somehow forgotten, but he was a prolific goalscorer in French la Ligue 1.