The Soccer 100: Vivid Portraits and Stories of the Beautiful Game's Greatest from The Athletic

by The Athletic

Following The Football 100 and The Basketball 100 , the experts and award-winning journalists at The Athletic present their definitive ranking of the greatest male soccer players to ever grace the pitch.

The Athletic is back, returning with 100 compelling profiles of soccer’s most celebrated characters, from Dixie Dean, whose 1928 record for the most goals scored in an English top-flight season remains unbroken, to Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, whose stellar performances in the 2022 World Cup final drew almost 1.5 billion television viewers.

Each feature brings to life a player who has left his own mark on the game, whether he is known for a distinct trademark flash of skill—such as Johan Cruyff’s celebrated turn—or renowned for reinventing tactics or even entire positions. Some, like Pelé, Ferenc Puskás, Lev Yashin, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Diego Maradona, have become national icons. Others have carried club teams to silverware, conjured goals that have gone down in folklore, or found ways to stifle the sport’s most prolific forwards through their defensive excellence. Plenty suffered for their art along the way, yet their brilliance still illuminated matches on the most glittering of stages.

With a team of writers covering the sport worldwide, The Athletic leaves no stone unturned charting the players who have decorated the game’s most memorable moments. Through their stories, they reveal a global legacy and a sport that has divided the world through friendly rivalries while uniting it in overwhelming passion.

The Soccer 100 is a celebration of the beautiful game and its storied history, as told through its 100 greatest players.

Genres: Sports, Football, Soccer, History, Nonfiction

784 pages, Hardcover

Published November 18, 2025

Reviews

[John Schorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book may prove the limits of "the 100 best players in (name your sport)" genre. Most of the names here may be a mystery to casual fans of the sport, and the writing doesn't do much to help you understand why Player 94 had less of an impact than Player 47. There are plenty of compelling stories here, and if the tantalizing hints offered here cause you to seek out more about many players, that's all to the good.

And yet...

The growth in women's soccer in recent years has given the world plenty of players who deserve mention among the best ever...Marta, Mia Hamm, Megan Rapinoe, and Aitana Bonmati, to name a few.

But these women and their contributions are dismissed in a single paragraph so snotty and condescending that this rating was dropped a star.

So just know that this book is about the best 100 male soccer players, and maybe, just maybe, some day The Athletic will see fit to recognize the women who have helped raise the sport.

[Cori Sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw The Soccer 100 in a book store with a byline of “the story of the greatest players in history” I thought surely there will be women in here! I read the inside jacket which seemed gender neutral and thought hurrah I will put this on my holds list, I can’t wait to see which women made the list. Obviously my hopes were dashed as I made my way through the introduction. I then thought, let me spoil it and see who they put as #1 to see if I can still trust their judgement… and so I read it. A good read, but I still can’t wait till they do the top 100 for women’s soccer! (And they better)

[Mehedi Sujan · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SOCCER 100 is a monumental achievement in sports literature, offering an authoritative and captivating journey through football's rich history through the lens of its greatest players. The collaborative effort among The Athletic's distinguished team of writers, led by the great Oliver Kay and James Horncastle, delivers a masterwork that transcends mere player rankings to become a compelling narrative of the beautiful game's evolution.
The book's structure, presenting 100 detailed profiles, strikes an impressive balance between contemporary stars and historical legends. From Dixie Dean's seemingly unbreakable 1928 scoring record to the electrifying 2022 World Cup final featuring Mbappe and Messi, the temporal scope is breathtaking. Each profile is crafted with meticulous attention to detail, weaving together statistical achievements with personal narratives that bring these sporting icons to life.
What sets this volume apart is its commitment to comprehensive coverage. The authors don't merely focus on goalscorers and flashy forwards; they give equal weight to defensive maestros and tactical innovators. The inclusion of transformative figures like Johan Cruyff, whose influence extends beyond his famous turn to revolutionise how the game is played, demonstrates the book's dedication to telling the complete story of football's development.
The Athletic's global perspective proves invaluable, offering insights that go beyond European-centric narratives. Their treatment of legends like Maradona, Pele and Puskas is particularly noteworthy, exploring how these players transcended sport to become cultural phenomena in their respective nations. The writing maintains a perfect balance between analytical depth and accessible storytelling, making it engaging for both casual fans and hardcore enthusiasts.
While the concept of ranking the 100 greatest players inevitably invites debate, that's precisely what makes this book so engaging. The well-researched arguments and compelling narratives behind each selection provide readers with the context needed to understand these choices, even if they might disagree with some placements. The book succeeds not just as a ranking system but as a comprehensive historical document of football's greatest artists.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not anything close to a soccer fan but I know a little bit. I counted and I only knew 18 of the 100 players discussed in this book. For a casual fan like me, the book was effective in introducing some names to me but little else. I don't feel like the book helped me understand why a certain player was better than another aside from why, in their opinion, Lionel Messi is the greatest soccer player of all time. Specifically regarding Diego Maradona, I know he is universally regarded as a top 3 player of all time. Really all I know about him as a casual fan who was born after he retired is that he is Argentinian, had 2 of the most famous goals in soccer history, and that he won a world cup. In their chapter on Maradona pretty much nothing is discussed other than those 2 goals. Obviously, they merit significant discussion, but what was his club career like? What else did he do in his decade plus career? It is very casually mentioned that he rose Napoli to its best ever era, but no explanation is given. On Christiano Ronaldo, I learned that he scored a lot of goals. The book told me things I already knew and I knew little. I can't imagine how boring it would be for real soccer fans. The book also suffers from being very hard to compare players. In football it is hard to compare Dick Night Train Lane (a 1950's cornerback) to Anthony Munoz (a 1980's offensive tackle) but they did play in the same league. Comparing Babe Ruth to Nolan Ryan is difficult but again they played in the same league and baseball has so many normal and advanced statistics that we can at least approach a good comparison. Same with hockey and basketball, but in soccer these players played in different countries, rarely against one another, different eras, different positions, all in a sport which has far less tangible statistics than any of the other major sports, all making this a tough task to rank and evaluate players other than the "eye" test.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard one to rank because on one hand it was a Joy to discover and read about many players from bygone eras that I had never heard of. It was a blast to search up their highlights on YouTube and watch the masters at work.

However, I feel the writing was severely lacking in quality. Many of the stories lack passion, eloquent descriptions or detailed storytelling. Many in fact seem to follow the same formula of basic introduction >talk about childhood > uninspired summary.

Especially felt lacking with the stories of Iniesta, Pirlo & Ronaldiho. Three quarters of Iniestas story were about his mental health issues. And how do you write a story about Pirlo and never even mention his free kick skills? And worst of all they waste two pages talking about Ronaldinhos downfall at Barca. This is the possibly the most naturally gifted player of all time, and they immediately go negative.

Which brings me to the final point of the focus on some players politics and off the pitch negative issues. This is the soccer 100. I don't really care or want to hear anything else except about the players and what they did on the pitch

[Nestor Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read that really gives you some perspectives about the history of the sport as well as the players that have defined it. Among these perspectives, 2 that really stood out to me were Just Fontaine and Marco van Basten. I think that if their stories had played out differently there would have been different outlooks on the history of the sport. Among the 100 there were 9 players that I either knew little about or had never heard of:

1. Uwe Seeler
2. Gunnar Nordahl
3. Giacinto Facchetti
4. Tostão
5. Oleg Blokhin
6. John Charles
7. Günter Netzer
8. Matthias Sinderlar
9. Johan Neeskens

All in all I truly recommend this as read for any fan of the sport and would definitely be interested in seeing how this list could change in the next 25 or 50 years.

[Patrick Rudd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m honestly surprised at the people who gave this less than 5 stars and instead whinged about the lack of women and an unclear rating system.

It is definitely 5 stars alone with the poetic and visionary James Horncastle who contributes, in my opinion, not enough chapters. This book is an incredible collection of some of the best football writers out there and exposes readers like me, who would consider themselves big fans of the game, a look into some of the lesser known greats of the game. No entry is the same as another and the journeys each author takes you on are fun to read in addition the knowledge consumed. If you are a fan of the game, get this book!

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago this book would probably not have caught my interest, but then I watched a few games. I became hooked on soccer (which is to distiguish it from American football in the US), but to the world it is football and rightly so. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a huge gap in my knowledge about famous footballers, thus, this book.

I don't pretend to understand all there is to know about football now; for example I still don't savvy what is wrong about being 'offside,' but I love to watch the various leagues such as Serie A play. I only wish I could have seen some of these great players in their heyday. Seeing Lionel Messi gives you an idea of the thrill it must have been to see them on the pitch. I'm glad someone took the time to remember these men for all the pleasure that they have given their fans over the years.

[Mo Holub · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and interesting dissection of the storied history of soccer through 100 different male players that left 100 different marks on the men's game. Think the title could use a revision to specify that these are the stories of the 100 greatest MEN's players in history...we are only looking at half of the picture. Semantics, maybe, but intention goes a long way.

[Ben Sicnolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a bit, learning some things about players I didn't know as well and just reliving some I do. They are wrong on some of their order, but what can you do.

[Annie’s Daddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as other entries in the 100 series. Some of the entries feel a bit too long and more a personal profile than an analysis of what made players great.

[Luke Rattray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was awesome to learn about some players that I had never heard of, but I think they missed the mark significantly regarding what actually made the players great. Loved some of the anecdotes but didn’t care for how political they made some of the players in their section (there’s a time and a place for that), but I just really wanted to know what made them great and I think they missed out on that