Number one. Eight Ballons d'Or, the 2022 World Cup, and two decades as the reference point every young player measures against. His influence is the modern game's default setting.

The most followed human on earth. Five Champions Leagues across two clubs, and the template for the self-built athlete — proof that obsession scales as far as talent.

Three World Cups before turning 30 and football's first global icon. He made Brazil the game's spiritual home and turned the number 10 shirt into an idea.

One man dragging Napoli and Argentina to titles they had no business winning. The 1986 quarter-final — sin and genius four minutes apart — is football's whole story in one match.

The most influential thinker ever to play. Total Football as a player, then a coaching tree — Guardiola, La Masia, the pressing game — that runs the sport to this day.

The engine of the first great dynasty — five straight European Cups with Real Madrid. He invented the total forward decades early and built the club that defines continental glory.

Der Kaiser invented a position. The attacking libero won everything as player and manager — one of three men to lift the World Cup in both roles — and redefined the defender.

The elegance standard. A World Cup final brace, the greatest final goal ever scored at Hampden, then three straight Champions Leagues as a manager. Grace, twice over.

R9: the most complete striker who ever lived, and the ceiling every forward since has chased. The 2002 redemption — eight goals after two years of ruin — remains sport's great comeback.

The Galloping Major scored 84 in 85 for Hungary and headlined the Mighty Magyars who dismantled England 6-3 at Wembley — the day the game's old order ended for good.

The Black Spider modernised goalkeeping — commanding the box, organising the defence, starting attacks. Still the only keeper ever to win the Ballon d'Or, in 1963.

The Little Bird with the bent legs won the 1962 World Cup practically alone and made dribbling an act of joy. Brazilians still argue he, not Pelé, was the people's favourite.

Mozambique's gift to Benfica: 733 goals, the 1965 Ballon d'Or, and the player who made Portugal a football nation. Africa's first global superstar, a decade before independence.

The fifth Beatle: the first footballer who was also a pop star. His talent won the 1968 European Cup; his fame invented the celebrity footballer, for better and worse.

The Wizard of the Dribble won the first ever Ballon d'Or in 1956 and played top-flight football at fifty. The 1953 Matthews Final made the winger the game's first matinee idol.

Nine goals from midfield to win Euro 84 — still the tournament record — and three straight Ballons d'Or. The number 10 as conductor: every playmaker since owes him a debt.

The purest striking technique ever filmed, crowned by the impossible volley in the Euro 88 final. Three Ballons d'Or before injury stole him at 28 — the great what-if.

Der Bomber: 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany and the 1974 winner. He invented the modern penalty-box striker — no run-up, no backlift, just the goal, always the goal.

Six-time world player of the year — more than any man — and the face that carried women's football into the mainstream. 'Cry at the beginning so you can smile at the end.'

The last player who made the whole world smile. Two years of peak Ronaldinho at Barcelona — applauded by the Bernabéu itself — reminded football it is supposed to be fun.

Twenty-five seasons, seven league titles, five European Cups, one club. The standard for defending with the brain — 'if I have to tackle, I have already made a mistake.'

The libero perfected. Milan's number 6 marshalled the greatest defence ever assembled and made the offside trap an art form. Retired with the shirt — no one else may wear it.

England's only World Cup-winning captain and the defender Pelé called the greatest he ever faced. The 1970 tackle on Jairzinho is still taught as the perfect intervention.

Five World Cups played — a men's record — captain of the 1990 winners, and the box-to-box standard for two decades. Maradona named him his greatest ever opponent.

The heartbeat of the 1982 side — the best team never to win it — and Flamengo's greatest son. Proof that influence is measured in players inspired, not only medals won.

A thousand goals, give or take, and the 1994 World Cup carried on his shoulders. The five-yard king: no player ever did more damage in less space with fewer touches.

The metronome of the greatest club and national sides ever built. Barcelona's 2009-11 and Spain's 2008-12 ran on his passing — possession itself became the tactic.

The ghost of the great Spain side who scored the biggest goal in Spanish history — the 116th-minute World Cup winner — and never once celebrated cheaply. Grace, personified.

Twenty-eight seasons at the top, a 2006 World Cup with two goals conceded, and the dignity standard for the position. The most expensive keeper ever remained worth it for decades.

The first global superstar of the women's game. Two World Cups, two Olympic golds, and a generation of American girls who grew up wanting to be her. Nike named a building after her.

The Premier League's greatest player: four Golden Boots, the Invincibles' spearhead, and a way of scoring — the arced finish into the far corner — that a whole era copied.

The non-flying Dutchman turned the second striker into an artist's role. The Newcastle pirouette and the Argentina touch are the two most replayed controls in history.

Il Divin Codino carried Italy to the 1994 final almost alone, then missed the decisive penalty — and was loved even more for it. Vulnerability made him immortal.

The centre of the most explosive transfer ever — Barcelona to Madrid in 2000 — and the winger who began the Galáctico age. A pig's head thrown from the stands measures his weight.

Collar up, chest out: the catalyst who turned Manchester United from nearly-men into an empire. Ferguson called him the can-opener; English football calls him King Eric.

The only man to play in three World Cup finals, winning two. Brazil's overlapping express train made the attacking full-back a requirement, not a luxury.

The free kick against France in 1997 bent physics and made him a global one-name brand. A thigh like a cannon and 125 goals from left-back — the position redefined.

San Iker: the save from Robben in the 2010 final is the most valuable stop ever made. Captain of the Spain side that won everything, and Madrid's youth-system saint.

The architect who moved the playmaker backwards. Deep-lying, slow, untouchable — he won everything by proving tempo beats speed. The beard and the wine are canon now.

Two Ballons d'Or, two World Cup finals, and the complete forward of the early 80s. Then three decades running Bayern — influence that outlived his boots by a lifetime.

The man who broke the Messi-Ronaldo Ballon d'Or duopoly in 2018. Croatia's captain to a World Cup final and Madrid's midfield brain across six Champions League wins.

The most expensive player ever, and the bridge between football and pop culture for a decade. The 2015 MSN front line remains the most feared attack club football has built.

The most complete number 9 of his generation and its greatest villain — bites, bans, brilliance. Liverpool's 2014 near-miss and Barcelona's treble both ran on his hunger.

Nine minutes, five goals — the most absurd cameo in Bundesliga history — and 41 in a season to break Müller's untouchable record. Poland's greatest ever sportsman.

Eleven league titles in four countries and the taekwondo bicycle kick from 30 yards. He made arrogance a craft and longevity a brand — playing at the top past 40.

Minute 92:48 in Lisbon — the most important header in Real Madrid's modern history. The warrior-captain of four Champions Leagues, with 28 red cards as the tax.

The sweeper-keeper made mainstream. His 2014 World Cup — playing as an eleventh outfielder — finished what Yashin started and forced every academy to retrain its keepers.

The last Ballon d'Or before the Messi-Ronaldo fifteen-year lockout. The 2007 vintage — gliding through Manchester United — was the most beautiful season of its decade.

The 2001 hat-trick against Valencia — capped by a last-minute overhead to reach the Champions League — is the greatest single-game rescue act in club history. World champion, 2002.

The pass weighted like no one since has managed. City's era of dominance ran through his half-space deliveries — the assist turned into a science, then into an art.

The standard-carrier: Juventus away, 1999 — booked, out of the final, and playing the game of his life anyway. Ferguson called it the most emphatic display of selflessness he saw.

The Premier League's defining midfield force: nine seasons of Arsenal's spine, the Invincibles' engine, and one half of the Keane rivalry that defined an era's temperature.

The third Dutchman: the destroyer-creator who completed Milan's holy trinity, then coached Barcelona back to greatness and gave a debut to a teenager called Messi.

Istanbul 2005: 3-0 down at half-time to the great Milan, and one captain refusing the script. The most complete English midfielder, who dragged average teams to impossible nights.

'Watch the game, you see Busquets. Watch Busquets, you see the whole game.' The invisible pivot of everything Barcelona and Spain won — the position now bears his shape.

The only man to win the Champions League with three different clubs — Ajax, Real Madrid, Milan twice. The globalised midfielder before globalisation, in five languages.

The backheel at Old Trafford, 2000 — the most elegant humiliation a defender ever suffered. The prince of the pivot: proof the holding role could be aristocracy.

The 2014 final: bloodied, cramping, and refusing to go down as Argentina ran at him for 120 minutes. Germany's World Cup was won on his shift more than anyone's magic.

Back-to-back Premier League titles with two different clubs — one of them Leicester. The gentlest superstar in football covered ground that analytics said was impossible.

Guardiola called him the most intelligent player he ever coached. Full-back, wing-back, pivot — wherever the problem was, Lahm was the answer. Retired at the summit, on purpose.

The save from Pelé's header in 1970 remains the reference point for the impossible stop. England's 1966 keeper set the bar every highlight reel still measures against.

World champion at 40 — still the oldest ever — captaining Italy in 1982 after a decade unbeaten at home. The quiet authority standard: 1,142 minutes without conceding.

Bayern's one-club iron man — 442 consecutive Bundesliga appearances — and the safe hands behind West Germany's 1974 World Cup and three straight European Cups.

A giant who made goals shrink. The starfish spread, missile throws and furious organising underpinned Denmark's shock Euro 92 title and Manchester United's 1999 treble.

The Titan: a snarling wall of will who dragged Bayern and Germany to finals almost alone. His 2002 Golden Ball remains the only one ever awarded to a goalkeeper.

The prototype of the modern passing keeper. Champions League wins with Ajax in 1995 and United in 2008 — thirteen years apart — saving the decisive penalty in Moscow.

The 2006 masterclass: a five-foot-nine centre-back conceding two goals in seven games and lifting the Cup as captain. The last defender to win the Ballon d'Or.

The most elegant tackler of his era: sliding interventions timed like music. Milan's last great libero-schooled defender, and the aesthete's pick for the perfect centre-back.

El Gran Capitán: the 1978 World Cup-winning captain and the highest-scoring defender of his age — 134 goals of leaps, headers and thumped penalties. Argentina's iron standard.

Don Elías: three-time South American Footballer of the Year and the continent's greatest defender. Pelé picked him; Chile reveres him; the world barely knows him. Fix that.

The first great attacking full-back: 75 goals from left-back in Herrera's Grande Inter. Every overlapping defender since 1963 is running a route Facchetti mapped.

The captain of the 1970 side — the greatest team ever — whose final-goal thunderbolt finished the most famous move in football. The full stop on perfection.

Four World Cups, two of them won, and the right-back spot in the tournament's all-star team three times — a feat no defender has matched. Brazil's eternal right side.

The Encyclopedia of Football: the left-back who invented going forward. Garrincha's minder at Botafogo and the 1958-62 champion who wrote the attacking defender's first chapter.

The most decorated player in the game's history — 40-plus trophies — and Messi's favourite accomplice. The right flank of the great Barcelona was a two-man conversation.

El Tractor: 858 games for Inter across nineteen seasons, captaining the 2010 treble at 36. The loyalty standard — and not one hair ever out of place while setting it.

The 1998 semi-final: two goals — his only two for France, ever — to send Les Bleus to their first final. Then a second life as football's leading voice against racism.

Six European Cups — still the record no outfield player has touched. Real Madrid's flying left winger played in eight finals across the dynasty he helped define.

The Hurricane of 1970: a goal in every round of the World Cup, a feat still unmatched at a won tournament. Garrincha's heir who turned the Botafogo wing into a storm.

The most telegraphed move in football — cut inside, curl far post — and completely unstoppable for a decade. The 2013 Wembley winner closed Bayern's treble.

The 1920s superstar who drew 53,000 to Goodison — before the FA banned women's football for fifty years. Nearly a thousand goals, and the first woman in the Hall of Fame.

The most dominant player of the first Women's World Cup — ten goals in 1991 — and the warrior of 1999, playing through chronic fatigue syndrome. The foundation stone.

Co-winner of FIFA's Player of the Century and the star of the 1999 China side that pushed the USA to penalties in the Rose Bowl. Asia's first great footballing icon.

The 117th-minute flick in the 2011 final — with Japan playing for a nation in mourning after the tsunami — is the most emotionally freighted goal the game has produced.

Three-time world player of the year and back-to-back World Cups with Germany. The complete striker of the 2000s — so good Perugia tried to sign her for the men's team.

The 122nd-minute header against Brazil in 2011 — the latest goal in World Cup history — and 184 international goals, more than any player of either sex at her retirement.

190 international goals — the most by any human being in the history of football. Canada's captain for two decades, crowned at last with Olympic gold in Tokyo.

The 2019 World Cup: Golden Boot, Golden Ball, and the pose — arms wide in Lyon — that made her the face of athletes speaking up. Equal pay followed her fight.

Back-to-back Ballons d'Or as Barcelona Femení filled Camp Nou with 91,000 — the largest crowd ever at a women's match. La Reina of the possession game's new dynasty.

The heir: consecutive Ballons d'Or, a World Cup, and midfield control that critics compare to Iniesta without blushing. Where the women's game's influence points next.

The Golden Head: 75 goals in 68 games for the Mighty Magyars, including seven at the 1954 World Cup. The header raised to an art form, in football's first great modern side.

The Golden Boy: Italy's first Ballon d'Or and the elegant number 10 of the 1960s Milan. The staffetta of 1970 — sharing a shirt with Mazzola — remains Italy's great argument.

The gentleman libero: everything Beckenbauer was, without a single sending-off in a whole career. Juventus and Italy's 1982 spine, and proof that class needs no snarl.

The last classic enganche: football at walking pace, defended like a museum piece by those who loved it. Boca's idol proved slowness could still be a superpower.

Batigol: the most feared pure striker of the 90s, faithful to Fiorentina through relegation before Rome finally gave him a title. The machine-gun celebration says the rest.

260 Premier League goals — a record that has outlived every challenger for two decades. He turned down United for home, and Newcastle will never forget it.

Thirteen Premier League titles — more than any club except his own. The 1999 semi-final slalom is the FA Cup's greatest goal, and 24 seasons of left-wing consistency the quiet record.

The Egyptian King: Liverpool's title drought ended on his goals, and a whole region found its global superstar. Studies measured falling islamophobia around Anfield — influence, literally.

The transfer that proved a defender could transform everything: Liverpool conceded half as much, won it all, and he came within a vote of the Ballon d'Or. The modern standard.

The thesis. Didi invented the folha seca free kick, ran Brazil's 1958 and 1962 sides, and let Pelé take the fame. Influence is not celebrity — it is how many play differently because you existed.