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.

The headline records

Three entry points into the archive, now with shared records and the gap to the runner-up made explicit.

Highest OVR

A shared summit

3-way tie

98OVR

Maradona, Diego, Messi, Lionel, Pelé, Edson share the highest rating in the database.

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

Fontaine, Just

France · ST

1.42g/app

International goal ratio, minimum 20 caps.

The record boards

Readable rankings with the lead, tie or winning margin called out before the full list.

Highest Overall

The pure rating hierarchy.

3-way tie

1MD

Maradona, DiegoAMArgentina98OVR 2ML

Messi, LionelFWArgentina98OVR 3PE

Pelé, EdsonFWBrazil98OVR 4DSDi Stéfano, AlfredoFWArgentina97OVR 5CJCruyff, JohanAMNetherlands96OVR 6BFBeckenbauer, FranzSWGermany95OVR 7PFPuskás, FerencFWHungary95OVR 8RCRonaldo, CristianoSTPortugal95OVR

International Goals

Most goals for country.

+27 over #2

1RC

Ronaldo, CristianoSTPortugal143Goals 2ML

Messi, LionelFWArgentina116Goals 3DA

Daei, AliSTIran108Goals 4CSChhetri, SunilSTIndia95Goals 5LRLewandowski, RobertSTPoland89Goals 6PFPuskás, FerencFWHungary84Goals 7PEPelé, EdsonFWBrazil77Goals 8KKKamamoto, KunishigeSTJapan75Goals

Best International Ratio

Efficiency with national team, min. 20 caps.

+0.12 over #2

1FJ

Fontaine, JustSTFrance1.42Ratio 2NG

Nordahl, GunnarSTSweden1.30Ratio 3KS

Kocsis, SándorSTHungary1.10Ratio 4MGMüller, GerdSTGermany1.09Ratio 5KKKamamoto, KunishigeSTJapan0.99Ratio 6ALArtime, LuisSTArgentina0.96Ratio 7PFPuskás, FerencFWHungary0.94Ratio 8WFWilkes, FaasFWNetherlands0.92Ratio

Club Goals

Career scorers across club football.

+26 over #2

1RC

Ronaldo, CristianoSTPortugal824Goals 2ML

Messi, LionelFWArgentina798Goals 3R

RomárioSTBrazil687Goals 4PEPelé, EdsonFWBrazil680Goals 5MGMüller, GerdSTGermany663Goals 6LRLewandowski, RobertSTPoland662Goals 7PFPuskás, FerencFWHungary632Goals 8EEusébioSTPortugal584Goals

Dead-Ball Royalty

Free-kick score leaders.

+1 over #2

1JP

Juninho PernambucanoAMBrazil99FRK 2MS

Mihajlović, SinisaCBSerbia98FRK 3BD

Beckham, DavidRMEngland97FRK 4AMAssunção, MarcoCMBrazil96FRK 5KRKoeman, RonaldSWNetherlands95FRK 6NSNakamura, ShunsukeAMJapan95FRK 7PMPlatini, MichelAMFrance95FRK 8VHVan Hooijdonk, PierreSTNetherlands95FRK

Keeper Reflexes

Fastest hands in the database.

+2 over #2

1YL

Yashin, LevGKRussia99REF 2BG

Banks, GordonGKEngland97REF 3BV

Beara, VladimirGKCroatia97REF 4BGBuffon, GianluigiGKItaly97REF 5BPBuyo, PacoGKSpain97REF 6CICasillas, IkerGKSpain97REF 7FUFillol, UbaldoGKArgentina97REF 8KAKöpke, AndreasGKGermany97REF

Most complete players

A raw skill-sum ranking. Goalkeepers remain separate because their profile includes specialist attributes.

Highest outfield skill sum. 33 attributes counted.

Defensive roles only. 33 attributes counted.

Midfield roles only. 33 attributes counted.

Forward and wide attacking roles. 33 attributes counted.

Full profile including GK attributes. 37 attributes counted.

Peak skill wall

The highest individual attributes currently recorded, regardless of role.

Statistical paradoxes

The strange combinations that turn a leaderboard into a story worth sharing.

Weight x elegance

The heaviest player who could dribble

Ibrahimović, Zlatan · 95 kg · 93 DRI
A deliberately strange record: size plus ball-carrying ability.

Small body, massive rating

The tiny giant

Maradona, Diego · 166 cm · 98 OVR
Shortest elite player by overall rating.

Back-line goals

The defender with striker numbers

Koeman, Ronald · 239 club goals
Defenders only, minimum 50 club appearances.

Central recovery pace

The fastest centre-back

Córdoba, Iván · 91 speed
Average of pace and acceleration among centre-backs and sweepers.

OVR kings by role

The current top-rated player for each natural position.

Goal & defence

5 roles

GKYLYashin, LevRussia94OVR SWBFBeckenbauer, FranzGermany95OVR CBBFBaresi, FrancoItaly92OVR RBCCafuBrazil90OVR LBMPMaldini, PaoloItaly93OVR

Midfield

5 roles

DMRFRijkaard, FranklinNetherlands90OVR CMSLSuárez, Luis MiramontesSpain92OVR AMMDMaradona, DiegoArgentina98OVR RMFLFigo, LuísPortugal90OVR LMRFRibery, FranckFrance89OVR

Attack

4 roles

RWGMGarrincha, ManoelBrazil93OVR LWBOBlokhin, OlegUkraine90OVR FWMLMessi, LionelArgentina98OVR STRCRonaldo, CristianoPortugal95OVR

Physical extremes

Height, weight and birth-year edges — descriptive records, not measures of footballing quality.

Height range

45 cm apart

KJTallest202 cmKoller, JanJJShortest157 cmJohnstone, Jimmy

Weight range

88 kg apart

KJHeaviest100 kgKoller, JanPSLightest12 kgParling, Sigge

Archive timeline

78 years apart

MSEarliest born1915Matthews, StanleyGRLatest born1993Guerreiro, Raphaël

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.