Greatest Ever Footballers

Book excerpt: Who is the greatest ever footballer? Pele? Maradona? Cruyff? Who is the greatest ever British footballer? Charlton? Best? Dalglish? Who is the country's greatest defender, midfielder, goalkeeper? What are the greatest teams fielded by every club in the English and Scottish leagues? And what is the greatest international team of all time? How do you decide? Well, the facts don't lie. Based on a unique and comprehensive network of national and international football databases, compiled by football statisticians across the globe, each player is awarded points (for games played for both club and country) according to a series of criteria, such as win, lose, draw, whether they scored, goals conceded, captaincy, etc. Points accumulated for each game are also weighted in line with the competition in which the game featured and the quality of the opponents played. Each player's points are then fed through to the Greatest Ever compilers who update their lists on a weekly basis. The end result is the only objective, comprehensive and incontrovertible record of who are the greatest talents ever to have graced the beautiful game.