Top 10 Best Defenders In Football of All Time

Best Defenders In Football – All time Top 10

Who are the Best Defenders In Football of All Time? Have you ever wanted to know who are the Top 10 Best Defenders Ever? Football is one of the best loved sports in the world.

Not only that it is the most popular sport in the world and has been made popular by some of the players that are on this list. During the football era we have seen some of the greatest defenders of all time.

We wanted to explore and see which defenders that are the best defenders in football of all time.

Top 10 Best Defenders In Soccer Of All Time

Let’s count down to the 10 Best Football Defenders Ever to find out who is the greatest defender of all time.

10. Lothar Matthäus

Kicking off the Top 10 Best Defenders In Soccer Of All Time is current football manager and former professional footballer. Matthaus has played in five World Cups and holds the record of most matches played by a single player which is 25 matches.

He is widely considered as one of the best defenders of all time who also played as a midfielder most of the time. Matthäus is also Germany‘s most capped player ever with 150 appearances for the Germans, at the age of 38 he was voted the German Footballer of The Year.

He has won 7 Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munchen and was part of the German squad that won the World Cup 1990 and was part of the German team that came runners up twice in 1982 and 1986.

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9. Cafu

Cafu is a former professional footballer who played notably for AC Milan, Roma and Sao Paolo. The Brazilian is also they most capped international Brazilian player with 142 appearances for the Samba Boy‘s.

The Brazilian was best known for his time at Roma and AC Milan and is considered as one of the best full backs to ever grace the Italian Serie A and one of the greatest Brazilian players ever.

Cafu has won 2 World Cups with Brazil one in 1994 and the other in 2002.

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8. Carles Puyol

Number 8 spot is taken by Barcelona veteran defender Carles Puyol. The former Barcelona man is one of the best defenders ever without any doubts.

The Spaniard spent his whole career with the Catalan club, 15 years with the senior team winning everything everything with the Spanish giants and was the captain of the team before hanging up his boots in 2014.

Carles Puyol can also play as a right back but his natural position is as a center back. He was also part of the Spanish squad that won the FIFA World Cup in South Africa 2010 helping lifting his first and Spain‘s first World Cup trophy.

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7. Bobby Moore

Bobby Moore was an English former footballer who was capatain of West Ham United for over 10 years and captained the England squad that won the 1966 World Cup. The English man is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time and today he makes our list of the Best Defenders In Football.

Brazilian once said that he was one of the toughest defenders he had ever played against. He had won 108 caps for the English national team when he retired in 1973 it was the record number of caps.

Unfortunately in 1993 Bobby Moore passed away at the age of 51.

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6. Fabio Cannavaro

Fabio Cannavaro is an Italian football coach and former footballer. The Italian is the current head coach of Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande since 2014 to mark his first job as manager after retiring from professional football 2011. The Italian defender was one of the best defenders of his time and today he makes the list of the Best Football Defenders Ever.

Fabio was part of the Italian team that won the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006 and was named the FIFA Player of The Year in 2006 and won the FIFA Ballon D’or Award the same year making him the only defender to win the Ballon D’or for a decade but the third defender of all time to win it after Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Matthias Sammer.

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5. Roberto Carlos

Closing in on the top 5 is Brazilian veteran defender Roberto Carlos. Roberto Carlos is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who was best known during his time at Real Madrid. The Brazilian now works as a football ambassador.

Roberto Carlos started out as a forward but spent most of his career playing as a left back and is regarded as one of the most offensive defenders in football history.

In 1997 he was runner up to the FIFA Player of The Year but was named in the FIFA World Cup Dream team, in 2004 he was named in the FIFA 100 Greatest Living players.

He was also well known for his powerful bended free kicks which were measured at 105 miles per hour (169 km/h). Roberto Carlos was part of the Brazilian team that won the FIFA World Cup in 2002.

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4. Alessandro Nesta

The current manager of Frosinone, Alessandro Nesta takes up 4th place ahead of Brazilian Roberto Carlos. Alessandro Nesta is a former Italian footballer who made about 400 appearances in his 20 year Seria A career between Lazio and AC Milan before hanging up his boots in 2014 after playing for his last football club in the Indian Super League. Nesta is widely considered as one of the best center backs of his time and one of the Greatest Defenders Ever.

The 39 year old Italian was well known for his artistic timed tackles and his tight marking on opponents which made him a fierce defender.

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3. Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender or a sweeper. Franco is currently a youth team coach wow similar to AC Milan and Italian legend Paolo Maldini this player spent 20 years of his playing career at AC Milan just 5 years Paolo Maldini who spent 25 years at the Seria A club.

The 55 year old was part of the Italian team that won the World Cup in 1982 and also played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup with Italy. When he joined Milan as a young player he was nicknamed ”Piscinin” meaning ”Little one”.

He won 6 Serie A titles, 3 Champions League, 4 Supercoppa Italiana, 2 UEFA Super Cup and 2 Intercontinental Cups with AC Milan during his footballing career.

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2. Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer is a German football manager and former professional footballer who notably played for Bayern Munchen and the New York Cosmos. The 69 year old was nicknamed ”Der Kaiser” which meant ”The Emperor” because of his elegance style of play, leadership and dominance on the pitch.

The German is regarded as one of the Greatest German Players of All Time and one of the most decorated players in history of football.

Franz Beckenbauer started out as a versatile midfielder before he switched positions and started playing as a defender. He is also twice European Footballer of The Year and has played in 3 World Cups for Germany making 103 appearances for the Germans all together.

He won the FIFA World Cup as a player in 1974 and later won it again as a manager in 1990 making him one of the two men to do so in history.

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1. Paolo Maldini

And finally the Best Defender in Football goes to no other than current AC Milan director Paolo Maldini. The legendary Italian defender deserves top place than other player on the list considering his wonderful defensive football he has played over the years. He is the greatest football defender ever on many lists.

The Italian has spent all his 25 year footballing career at AC Milan which makes him the most loyal footballer ever to grace the footballing world, when you hear the word ”Loyalty” this player must definitely come to your mind as he has been phenomenal throughout his footballing career and has been an idol for a number of young defenders in the world right now.

He won 26 trophies with AC Milan before he retired 5 Champions League, 1 Coppa Italia, 5 Supercoppe Italiane, 5 European Super Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup before he retired in 2009 to mark an end to a 25 year football career.

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