RIGHT-BACK: Dani Alvesĭani Alves is arguably the greatest full-back of all time and is renowned for his pace and tenacity with unrivaled technical ability on and off the ball when on the field. Honourable Mentions: Lev Yashin, Iker Casillas, Manuel Neuer, Thibaut Courtois, Dino Zoff, and Oliver Kahn.

His quick reflexes, superb ball-catching abilities, and penalty-saving skills makes him the best soccer player of all time in the goalkeeping position. He also achieved personal success as the first goalkeeper to win the Serie A Footballer of the Year award and was also named Serie A goalie of the Year a record twelve times. The iconic shot-stopper became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world when the Turin-based club paid €52.88m for his signature in 2001, and he thereafter went on to enjoy a great career at Juventus, where he won a record nine Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia titles, five Supercoppa as well as a World Cup trophy.Īside from his collective achievement with Juventus and Italy, he also achieved decent success at Paris Saint Germain, where he had a short stint in the twilight of his career. The signing of Gigi Buffon from Parma to Juventus in 2001 will forever be regarded as a masterstroke from Marcello Lippi when he spotted him as the goalkeeper that would turn around the fortune of the club in the future. Many years have passed since Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon’s spectacular Serie A debut, yet the legendary goalkeeper is still very much active despite his age. So here are the best soccer players of all time by position. However, the criteria used in determining the game’s finest exponents includes quality, trophy won, leadership skill, and, most importantly, how impactful they are to their respective club or nation. Soccer is a popular sport, undoubtedly the most famous, and followed throughout the globe it has given the fans many amazing footballers who have reached legendary status while playing the beautiful game of soccer.ĭetermining the best soccer players of all time by position is, of course, going to generate a lot of opinions.

They typically possess a great array of skills, high technical quality and have won some of the biggest trophies on the grandest stages. Ever wondered who the best soccer players of all time are by position? These are players who showed excellence in the soccer position they played.

Us soccer player positions by number