The Best 5 Footballers Of The Nineties

This piece is one of the hardest things I have ever written, in fact I wished I hadn't started it. How does one man choose just five players from an entire decade to label as the 'best'? A particular issue was deciding who was a 'nineties' footballer and who was an 'eighties' footballer. I have left so many talented and wonderful players off of the list, the most significant of whom is Marco Van Basten. He won the World Player of the Year Award in 1993, yet played most of his career in the 1980's. For the purpose of this exercise I am going to call him a 1980s player. After hours and hours of hard consideration, research and seeking opinions, I present to you my '5 best footballers of the nineties'. Of course, we all have different opinions, but I am now very happy with my selection and hope that my text and videos will justify my choices. Enjoy!

Zinedine 'Zizou' Zidane, is in my opinion the greatest footballer of my generation. In fact he is more than that, he is probably the only talent on this list that could rival the greats of previous generations. When people debate the greatest players of all time you invariably here names such as 'Pele', 'Maradona', 'Best' and 'Cryuff'. For me there is only one player of the 90's who can comfortably be mentioned alongside these names, and that is Zidane. I, like many, refer to him simply as 'The Scientist'.

The Scientist was enthralling, he left defenders dazzled, he left attackers on the floor and he had something that so many players these day lacked; commitment, bravery, determination, charisma? no. Yes he had those characteristics in abundance, but he had something else, something that I can only describe as 'magic'. In a career that took him all the way through the nineties, after starting in 1988 with French club Cannes at the age of just 16, he was arguably still the worlds greatest player when retiring in 2006 approaching his mid thirties.

Zidane is one of just two players ever to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times, and in 1998 was the catalyst of the French team that succeeded in winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup; scoring two essential goals in the final against Brazil. He was acknowledged in 2004 by Pele as one of the greatest 100 living players, I would have put him in my top 3. Of course this article is supposed to be listing the top players of the nineties, but it is well worth mentioning that his influence in the French National was extended to the year 2000 where he again led the nation of his birth to International success in the UEFA Euro 2000 competition. It is no coincidence that the French team has been much more ineffective and pretty much uninspired since the retirement of their talisman. After an unsuccessful World Cup final in 2006 against Italy, he retired from football, with 108 International Caps and 31 goals to his name. His retirement marked the end of the most successful era in French football history.

We haven't even covered his success in club football yet, Zidane learnt his trade in the smaller French teams of Cannes and Bordeaux. It was at Bordeaux that his performances helped the team reach the final of the UEFA CUP final in 1996. Italian giants Juventus became alerted to Zidane's performances and paid just £3m for the midfield maestro. Zidane and Juventus won the Seria A title in his first season as well as finishing second in the UEFA Champions League, they also retained the title in the following year. I can try and use as many adjectives and verbs as I like to try and convey the pure ability and influence of this man, but nothing could convey his true class and ability. Please see the video 'Zidane The Scientist' above to see a compilation of some of his skills. His spell with Juventus ended in 2001, but Zidane had shown enough for Real Madrid to pay 78million euros for the player, becoming the most expensive player in football history at the time.

Although aware that this period of his career was outside of the nineties, Zidane's time at Real Madrid was again a resounding success, and the club lifted the Champions League's league in 2002, the first time Zidane had lifted this trophy and in the following season Real Madrid won the La Liga. Zidane's club honours were matched equally by his individual honours, with personal honours including but not excluding the Ballon D'or, Seria A Footballer of the Year, French Ligue 1 Best Player, UEFA Euro Player of the Tournament, French Player of the Year twice, UEFA Club Player of the Year, FIFA World player of the Year and the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball. Zidane retired as one of the most admired and one of the most decorated players in football history.

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, more commonly known outside of Brazil as simply 'Ronaldo' is probably the only player that comes close to Zinedine Zidane on this list in terms of achievements and respect in the game. Ronaldo burst onto the Brazilian scene at just 16 years old with an astonishing 12 goals in 14 games for his first club Cruzeiro and lead them to their first ever Copa do Brasil championship. This form led to a call up to the Brazilian 1994 world cup squad at just 17 years old, although he did not make the pitch. Brazil's success and his frustration made him hungry.

He left for Europe immediately after the world cup, signing for Dutch club PSV where he spent two years and scored a prolific 42 goals in just 45 league appearances. Ronaldo subsequently moved to Barcelona for 1996/1997 season where his goalscoring talents again saw an incredible return, this time it was 47 goals in 49 games. Ronaldo's exploits meant that Barcelona won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Supercup and the European Cup Winners Cup in one season. The season saw him win the La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals; the significance of which should not be understated. Ronaldo remained the last player to score more than 30 goals in Liga for 12 years up to the 2008/2009 season.

Ronaldo then moved to Internazionale in Seria A for a then world record transfer fee after just one year with Barcelona, where he helped the team win the UEFA Cup in his first season; Ronaldo scored in the final. His move to Inter, although initially very fruitful, turned to disaster at the end of 1999 when he ruptured a tendon in his right knee. This injury was not initially thought too serious, and he was back by April 2000 after about 6 months. In his comeback game he was on the pitch for just 7 minutes before his knee broke down again. This time he required two operations and was in rehabilitation for 36 months, three whole years out the game.

Being out of the game for three years would have finished all but the most mentally tough players and it was his comeback from injury in 2002 that sealed his place in history as a footballing legend. Returning for Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, having played just a handful of friendly games, he helped Brazil to win the world cup and finished the tournaments top scorer with 8 goals including the two goals of the final against Germany. Eight years after his youthful frustration on the bench at World Cup 1994, he had returned from injury to lead Brazil to success for the fifth time in their history. His performances led to him winning the World Player of The Year for the third time, a record that has been equalled by only Zidane.

Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid, although his fitness was often questioned and his injury problems were never fully overcome. He still managed an incredible 49 goals in 69 league games for Inter Milan and 83 goals in 127 games for Real Madrid. He is currently playing back in Brazil for Corinthians after a brief spell at AC Milan. To date Ronaldo has scored an impressive 240 goals in 333 league career games, and scored 67 goals in 97 competitive Brazil games, making him one of history's most natural goal scorers. Ronaldo is known in Brazil as O Fenomeno, meaning 'The Phenomenom', it is a nickname that cannot be argued.

Enough has been said about Ronaldo's influence on the Brazil team, and indeed his hugely successful career, but Ronaldo was not the only legendary Brazilian to appear in the nineties. Step forward Rivaldo, a creative and charismatic attacking midfielder whose career brought 34 goals in 74 matches for his national team. Rivaldo was a play-maker pure and simple, the talisman of the Brazilian team and played a huge part in Ronaldo's international success too.

Rivaldo, just like 'The Scientist' and 'The Phenomenom' is a former FIFA World player of the year, having won the award in 1999. He won the European player of the year award in the same year. Rivaldo really was the complete player, he had vision, creativity, a high work ethic, would defend, would attack. An in-form Rivaldo was an unstoppable player. What made him that little bit extra special however, in my personal opinion, was the sheer number of goals he could score from midfield. Although Rivaldo could play up front, he played the vast majority of his career in an attacking midfield role behind behind the front two. If you had never seen him play, and were to look at his career stats, you would hazard a guess at Rivaldo being a very competent striker. Approximately one goal in every two for Barcelona, where he enjoyed the most successful years of his career, helped the club to two consecutive La Liga titles as well as other honours.

After five years at Barcelona, where many of their fans consider Rivaldo to be their greatest ever player, he spent a solitary year at AC Milan in Italy. It was a season that brought him the UEFA Champions League winners medal that he so desired and deserved. This success signalled the start of his winding down. A brief move back to Brazil followed, the to Greece to play for Olympiakos and AEK Athens, he is currently playing in the Uzbek league at the age of 37. Rivaldo has left a legacy, particularly in Spain where he was at times completely unstoppable. He fast approaches the inevitable end of his career having scored an incredible 294 goals in 589 games as of summer 2009 and having achieved the three biggest accolades in world soccer. He will leave with him a legacy that will be carried to the graves of all soccer fans of the past fifteen years.

Roberto Baggio was without a doubt amongst the most gifted and popular players in world soccer throughout the nineties, although he had actually been playing professional football since 1985 as a 17 year old in the Italian lower leagues. It was during the early to mid nineties however that the world saw the very best of Baggio, where he helped Italy third place in the 1990 World Cup and then to second play in the 1994 World Cup.

In 1993, in the middle of a very successful five year spell at Juventus, Baggio won both the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or. Such was his respect amongst his peers that a group of previous Ballon d'Or winners voted Baggio as the 18th best player of the century. Juventus had bought the young Baggio for a then world record transfer fee of 12 million Euros from Fiorentina, much to the disappointment of Fiorentina fans who were so angry that full scale riots broke out in Florence. It was a major investment by Juventus that turned fruitful when in 1993 they won the UEFA Cup, which at the time was the primary European cup competition. Baggio finishedhis spell with Juventus by winning the Seria A title for the first time.

Baggio moved on to Milan in 1995 where he again won a Seria A title, becoming the first and only player to win the Seria Ain consecutive years with two different clubs. His spell at Milan lasted two years but his career was widely considered to be coming to an end and he was written off as a spent force by the Italian media and by managers. He was to respond in some style. It was to be Bologna that gave Baggio the chance to resurrect his ailing career, and he paid them back in some style by scoring 22 goals in one season, a personal best which led to him winning back his place in the Italy national squad prior to the 1998 World Cup. Baggio was played ahead of the up and coming Alessandro Del Piero, and it was during this tournament that Baggio achieved the feat of scoring in three different World Cups.

Baggio finished his career with a four year spell at Brescia before retiring at the age of 37, having scored over 300 career goals, 205 goals in Seria A and scoring 27 goals in 56 games for Italy. As a tribute to Italy's greatest player of a generation, Brescia have retired the number 10 shirt indefinitely in his honour.

It is with great reluctance that I place Romario at 5th on this list, and that is because I genuinely believe that he was more naturally gifted technically than either Rivaldo or Baggio. Such was his ability that Johan Cruyff described him as "a genius of the goal area". And that is no overstatement, there is no doubting that Romario is a better finisher of goals than any of the players on this list. In fact, he was a pure goal machine. The problem is, he did not remain at the top of world football for long enough, out of his own choice.

After winning the Dutch league in 1991 and 1992 he moved to FC Barcelona in 1993. His first year in Spain saw him win the league with Barcelona and become the leagues top scorer with a prolific 30 goals in 33 games. At the end of the season he was on a plane to Atlanta for the 1994 World Cup with the Brazilian national team, the same squad that contained an unused 17 year old Ronaldo and the same team that subsequently won. At the end of 1992 Romario, was named the Fifa World Player of the Year, after coming second in 1993. Romario chose to leave Europe in 1995 after a dissapointing season with Barcelona that was marred by injury and personal problems. A short and unproductive spell with Valencia followed and he was left out of the Brazil World Cup squad in 1998. It was rumoured that he had fallen out with the national coach, although the national coach insisted that the decision was as a result of his loss of form. Romario was also left out in 2002 with the coach stating indiscipline as the reason, this is despite Romario being in good form.

Romario spent most of his career in Brazil playing for numerous clubs and rediscovered his form and impressive goal scoring exploits. Romario also had a spell in Saudi Arabia and then in the MLS with Miami FC in 2006. Despite being 40 years of age, Romario set an MLS record with 19 goals in just 25 appearances. The season prior he had finished as the top scorer in the Brazilian championship. Romario made number of sporadic appearances for Brazil and during his career scored 71 international goals in 85 appearances. Romario retired from playing in 2008 with an amazing 929 officially recognised career goals, believed to be second only to Pele.

Having reflected on Romario and his achievements, as well as doing a fair bit of research, I realise that he should be third on my list. This belief appears to be backed by some of the worlds greatest players. Cryuff, Maradona and Baggio all believe him to be one of the greatest players of all time. If Romario had played in Europe for longer, and in the 1998 and 2002 world cups, would I be putting Romario to the top of my list? Maybe I would.