The FIFA World Cup is the best soccer tournament. It has featured great teams and players, from past and present generations. These are the greatest players in FIFA World Cup history.
Pele was the best player in a few World Cups. The Brazilian forward won the World Cup three times with Brazil in 1958, 1962, and then as team captain in 1970. Overall, Pelé had great skill and flair and scored some terrific goals, as in the 1958 final against Sweden.
Hurst is a great player of the World Cup, largely due to one hat-trick. The three goals scored in the 1966 final are a record number in a final, and England won the World Cup for England. Hurst might not have been the most naturally gifted English striker, with Jim Greaves usually selected ahead of him, but he had a decisive impact in winning England’s only World Cup to date.
Hurst also scored the winning goal against Argentina in the quarter-finals. In addition, Hurst featured in the 1970 World Cup, where he scored against Romania and played against Germany in the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo was one of the most prolific strikers in World Cup history. For Brazil. Ronaldo scored 15 goals in the finals. That includes both goals in the 2002 final, which won the World Cup for Brazil.
Maradona was superb in the 1986 World Cup, where he scored some great goals to win the World Cup with Argentina. His goal against England in the 1986 quarter-final, in which he dribbled his way around multiple players, was one of the best scored in a World Cup. He also played in further World Cups where he was less influential.
No player has ever scored more goals in a single World Cup than Fontaine. The French forward scored a record 13 goals in six World Cup games in 1958, taking France to the semi-finals. That was an amazing show of World Cup goal-scoring prowess that no player has ever matched since.
For Holland, Cruyff was perhaps their best player, and in 1974, they reached their first World Cup final. Then, they finished as runners-up to Germany in the final. Overall, Cruyff had great skill, scored 33 goals for Holland, and was European Footballer of the Year three times.
Rossi was the top scorer of the 1982 World Cup. With Italy, he scored six goals, including a hat-trick against Brazil. Then he also scored the first goal in the final against Germany to win the World Cup with Italy.
Perhaps the best German striker in history, Müller scored a total of 14 goals in the World Cup finals, which is a total only eclipsed by Ronaldo and Klose. He was the top scorer in the 1970 World Cup, with ten goals scored overall. In 1974, Müller won the World Cup with Germany.
Lionel Messi scored a record number of goals in the FIFA World Cup for an Argentine player, with 13 overall. His amazing ball skills, combined with great goal scoring and playmaking balance, propelled Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022, with La Albiceleste also reaching another final in Brazil. Messi scored several times in Argentina’s triumphant 2022 campaign, including a couple in the final against France.
Those players made a considerable impact in the FIFA World Cup. Players such as Pelé, Messi, Ronaldo, and Fontaine set records and played some great soccer in the World Cup. They were players who lit up the FIFA World Cup in a way few others have.
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