Highest OVR
A shared summit
3-way tie
98OVR
Maradona, Diego, Messi, Lionel, Pelé, Edson share the highest rating in the database.
The Best / Living archive
Hall of Records
Football's extremes, ranked and explained across 1,284 legends — from shared summits to the statistical contradictions hidden between the numbers.
01
The headline records
Three entry points into the archive, now with shared records and the gap to the runner-up made explicit.
Peak skill
The 99 club
10 attributes at the ceiling
99/99
Anticipation, Creativity, Finishing, First Touch, Free Kick, Heading, Long Passing, Penalties, Reflexes, Shooting Technique reach the maximum recorded score.
Best Int. Ratio
Goal machine
+0.12 over #2
1.42g/app
International goal ratio, minimum 20 caps.
02
The record boards
Readable rankings with the lead, tie or winning margin called out before the full list.
Highest Overall
The pure rating hierarchy.
Maradona, Diego 98 OVR 2 ML 
Messi, Lionel 98 OVR 3 PE 
Pelé, Edson 98 OVR 4 DS 
Di Stéfano, Alfredo 97 OVR 5 CJ 
Cruyff, Johan 96 OVR 6 BF 
Beckenbauer, Franz 95 OVR 7 PF 
Puskás, Ferenc 95 OVR 8 RC 
Ronaldo, Cristiano 95 OVR International Goals
Most goals for country.
Ronaldo, Cristiano 143 Goals 2 ML Messi, Lionel 116 Goals 3 DA 
Daei, Ali 108 Goals 4 CS 
Chhetri, Sunil 95 Goals 5 LR 
Lewandowski, Robert 89 Goals 6 PF Puskás, Ferenc 84 Goals 7 PE Pelé, Edson 77 Goals 8 KK 
Kamamoto, Kunishige 75 Goals Best International Ratio
Efficiency with national team, min. 20 caps.
Fontaine, Just 1.42 Ratio 2 NG 
Nordahl, Gunnar 1.30 Ratio 3 KS 
Kocsis, Sándor 1.10 Ratio 4 MG 
Müller, Gerd 1.09 Ratio 5 KK Kamamoto, Kunishige 0.99 Ratio 6 AL 
Artime, Luis 0.96 Ratio 7 PF Puskás, Ferenc 0.94 Ratio 8 WF 
Wilkes, Faas 0.92 Ratio Club Goals
Career scorers across club football.
Ronaldo, Cristiano 824 Goals 2 ML Messi, Lionel 798 Goals 3 R 
Romário 687 Goals 4 PE Pelé, Edson 680 Goals 5 MG Müller, Gerd 663 Goals 6 LR Lewandowski, Robert 662 Goals 7 PF Puskás, Ferenc 632 Goals 8 E 
Eusébio 584 Goals Dead-Ball Royalty
Free-kick score leaders.
Juninho Pernambucano 99 FRK 2 MS 
Mihajlović, Sinisa 98 FRK 3 BD 
Beckham, David 97 FRK 4 AM 
Assunção, Marco 96 FRK 5 KR 
Koeman, Ronald 95 FRK 6 NS 
Nakamura, Shunsuke 95 FRK 7 PM 
Platini, Michel 95 FRK 8 VH 
Van Hooijdonk, Pierre 95 FRK Keeper Reflexes
Fastest hands in the database.
Yashin, Lev 99 REF 2 BG 
Banks, Gordon 97 REF 3 BV 
Beara, Vladimir 97 REF 4 BG 
Buffon, Gianluigi 97 REF 5 BP 
Buyo, Paco 97 REF 6 CI 
Casillas, Iker 97 REF 7 FU 
Fillol, Ubaldo 97 REF 8 KA 
Köpke, Andreas 97 REF 03
Most complete players
A raw skill-sum ranking. Goalkeepers remain separate because their profile includes specialist attributes.
Overall
87.5avg
DS ![]()
Di Stéfano, Alfredo
2886sum
Highest outfield skill sum. 33 attributes counted.
Defender
85.5avg
BF ![]()
Beckenbauer, Franz
2823sum
Defensive roles only. 33 attributes counted.
Midfielder
85.9avg
ML ![]()
Matthäus, Lothar
2835sum
Midfield roles only. 33 attributes counted.
Attacker
87.5avg
DS ![]()
Di Stéfano, Alfredo
2886sum
Forward and wide attacking roles. 33 attributes counted.
Goalkeeper
64.3avg
NM ![]()
Neuer, Manuel
2379sum
Full profile including GK attributes. 37 attributes counted.
04
Peak skill wall
The highest individual attributes currently recorded, regardless of role.
Anticipation
99
MG ![]()
Müller, Gerd
Creativity
99
MD ![]()
Maradona, Diego
Finishing
99
MG ![]()
Müller, Gerd
First Touch
99
MD ![]()
Maradona, Diego
Free Kick
99
JP ![]()
Juninho Pernambucano
Heading
99
BO ![]()
Bierhoff, Oliver
Long Passing
99
PA ![]()
Pirlo, Andrea
Penalties
99
LT ![]()
Le Tissier, Matt
Reflexes
99
YL ![]()
Yashin, Lev
Shooting Technique
99
VB ![]()
Van Basten, Marco
05
Statistical paradoxes
The strange combinations that turn a leaderboard into a story worth sharing.
IZ ![]()
Weight x elegance
The heaviest player who could dribble
Ibrahimović, Zlatan · 95 kg · 93 DRI
A deliberately strange record: size plus ball-carrying ability.
MD ![]()
Small body, massive rating
The tiny giant
Maradona, Diego · 166 cm · 98 OVR
Shortest elite player by overall rating.
KR ![]()
Back-line goals
The defender with striker numbers
Koeman, Ronald · 239 club goals
Defenders only, minimum 50 club appearances.
CI ![]()
Central recovery pace
The fastest centre-back
Córdoba, Iván · 91 speed
Average of pace and acceleration among centre-backs and sweepers.
06
OVR kings by role
The current top-rated player for each natural position.
Goal & defence
5 roles
Midfield
5 roles
Attack
4 roles
07
Physical extremes
Height, weight and birth-year edges — descriptive records, not measures of footballing quality.
Height range
45 cm apart
Weight range
88 kg apart
Archive timeline
78 years apart
How to read the archive
Methodology, without the mystery.
Records are generated from the current Legends Database snapshot. Ties are preserved, role-specific comparisons stay separate and minimum-appearance rules are shown where they apply.
- Shared recordsPlayers with the same leading value are treated as joint record holders.
- International ratioRequires at least 20 senior international appearances.
- Club goalsRequires at least 50 recorded club appearances.
- CompletenessUses a raw sum of recorded skills; goalkeepers are evaluated separately.
- Physical recordsInclude only players with a recorded non-zero value.
- Database scopeResults describe this archive, not every footballer in history.