what is the greatest soccer player of all times?
395934
zidan is the best soccer player in this time and \npele and maradona and they were
347646
arsene wenger...\nhe transformed thierry henry, robert pires and patrick viera into world class players...
325526
the best player of the moment is definitely ronaldinho of brazil / fc barcelona. but if we're talking about the best active player today then it has to be zinedine zidane of france / real madrid. zidane, however, is in the twilight of his incomparable career while ronaldinho is in his prime.
1123800
Zidane.... no doubt as the legend lives on !!!!!
865732
Muhammed Ali\n  \nPelé\n\n(I have met somebody who played against Pelé, and against Garrincha, and all the famous footballers of that era, Stanley Matthews etc. I don't think he would have voted for a footballer as the best sportsman!)\n\nJesse Owens (well before my time)
143831
Roger Federer. Maybe the best player of all time.
668538
Pele, without doubt. I met him in 2000 while working at one of the major sponsors and he is a really great bloke. So not only was he unbelievable on the pitch, he was a great bloke too. \n\nCompare that to Maradona (junkie), George Best (drunk womaniser) and even Paul Gascgoine (wife-beater, drunk, fake-breast wearer). \n\nI've seen old video of Eusebio too and he was pretty special, but for me the greatest is definitely Pele.
300348
Roberto Carlos(Brazil)- one of the all-time best free kick takers.
356821
Pele actually retired in 1977. That was a little longer than 25 years ago. Best player since then A) Maradona or B) Zidane...followed up by C)Romario
310586
Argentina has a long tradition of great soccer players...from Ardiles, to Batistuta, Veron, and many more.  But the greatest of them all was indeed Diego Maradona.  A very talented, very troubled man.
47377
I think the best player of all time is Ronaldinho. Why? because he is very very talented and he scores a lot of goals also he doesn't keep the ball with him too long he passes it in the perfect place and time. another thing is that he uses his talents when he plays not like the other players who do some techniques only in the practice time not in the real matches.
400006
Pele is the best and is recognized as the best\nPele the one and only\nSee\nhttp://www.ifhof.com/hof/halloffame.asp
10556
i'd go with maradona\n\nRight.. he won 3 world cups... but.. in 58 played only the last games, and in 62 played only one game. Brasil had a GREAT team(garrincha, Gerson, etc).. it wasn't just PELE (Maradona won the 86 cup almost alone, HE was the team.. right they were good, but not THAT good)\n\n\nAnd as someone else said.. winning that FIFA's award is as meaningful as winning Employee of the Month at McDonald's.\n\n\nit's very difficult to compare... it's two different times... a LOT of different circunstances(compare time, opponents, marking, TV presence, media/fan pressure, teams/co-players, etc)... that's why these discussions never get to an end... because it's all about opinions...
430610
Pele.  1,000+ goals, 3 world cups, awesome skill.  There have been many that have had awesome skill but none has done more on the world stage over such a sustained period of time.
634109
all of those answers are good.  i think the top three greatest players of all-time are wayne gretzky, gordie howe and mario lemieux. the greatest player now is a toss-up between alexander ovechkin and sidney crosby. the best defenseman now is a tossup between chris pronger and nick lidstrom.  the best leader now is steve yzerman.  the best goalie now:  martin brodeur.  the best goalie of all time: a tie between patrick roy and terry sawchuck.  the best leaders in history:  mark messier, steve yzerman, and joe sakic to name a few.
478528
definetly ronaldinho gaucho because he is the best soccer player in the world!!!
666304
At this day and age, Ronaldinho (barcelona,) but if you mean ever, there's no question at all that it's Pele. Actually, i think Pele is the most prized athlete period- in the history of any sport ever!!