Let’s Talk Football GOATs:

Let’s Talk Football GOATs: Why Does It Even Matter Who Is The Greatest of All Time?

By Danial Golforoush

It’s almost a right of passage for every new football fan to pick a footballing great and dub them as their choice for the sport’s GOAT status. With Messi’s World Cup win in late 2022, this conversation has never been more relevant. In the men’s game, every generation has some solid contenders for this discussion—Pelé, Maradona, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and chances are Mbappé and Halland will be in the conversation for the coming decade. However, the question of “the best” in a team sport has always baffled me. How can one player be such a difference-maker in a game when there are 21 other players on the same field? Also, which matters more: individual performance or team performance?

Frankly, none of these has to be mutually exclusive, so taking a holistic look at a player would better allow fans to decide on who is the GOAT! For decades, the conversation was mainly about Maradona and Pelé, who outshined everyone on the field during their time. However, in the past two decades, almost two names stand alone—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Not only are their goal contribution statistics beyond this world, but their consistency over the years has been unheard of. This duo has created a world of fan rivalry that is still ongoing to this day! This is not any old banter that fans would have—this is a screaming-match-at-a-sports-bar, staying-awake-and-arguing-on-Twitter-with-a-random-person-you-don’t-even-know-the-name-of kind of rivalry. This is some people’s whole life! There are websites, fan pages, groups, publications, you name it and there is one associated with this rivalry. It’s a sort of identity for fans. Are you a Messi fan or a Ronaldo fan? You may support Wrexham AFC from the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, or even BSC Young Boys from the Swiss League, but you will have an allegiance or some sort of preference at least. It is a right of passage.

The question, then, is why? Why does this rivalry matter this much? It is simple. It’s all a happy coincidence. Multiple specific things had to align for these two stars to create this fandom.

First, football has been the biggest sport in the world with billions of people around the globe either enjoying it as a form of activity, exercise, entertainment, or pastime for generations. So chances are that a parent, sibling, neighbor, or friend is also a fan of some sort. It’s a numbers game. 

Second, as humans, we ache and thrive to create a sense of community and belong to said community. Thus, each fandom or even the involvement in it gives us the opportunity to interact and spend more time with like-minded and similar people.

Third, Ronaldo and Messi’s careers happened to take off, grow, and continue to keep momentum during the same years, which is very rare. For example, Pelé and Maradona played a decade apart from one another, in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively. So their comparisons were less relevant since they were from different generations of the game. 

Fourth, with the rise of social media, the commercialization of football, and the increased ease of accessibility to football, Messi’s and Ronaldo’s exposure to the world was infinite. With each fan being able to stream games on TV or the internet, follow their favorite players and teams on social media platforms, and play different video games, in fantasy leagues and on betting platforms, football was part of everyday life and at our fingertips. As of January 2023, Ronaldo and Messi are the first- and second-most followed people on Instagram, with 539 million and 424 million followers, respectively. Messi’s World Cup-winning photo is currently the most-liked post on Instagram with 75 million likes. Ronaldo and Messi also have 14 of the top 20 most-liked posts ever on Instagram! Their on- and off-the-pitch effects are not limited to posts and goals. When Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United was announced, Manchester United’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange jumped by 5.8%!

Lastly, the footballing world just got very, very, very lucky with having these two players share the hunger to take the GOAT spot from one another! It feels like the stars have aligned for these two to share the stage. Their on-the-field output has been unheard of, not because of a single season performance, but because of their longevity and consistency. 

With each standard match being 90 minutes long (not taking into account the extra time), on average Ronaldo and Messi are involved in a goal by scoring or providing an assist at least once in each match. This is even more impressive given that both players have played more than 1,000 matches. This requires a disciplined mental and physical regimen to stay at the top of their game.

They also have now each played in a record-tying five World Cups, with Ronaldo winning five European Champion Leagues and Messi winning four. They also have been in the FIFPRO World XI from 2007 until 2021. This is only a testament to their talent and longevity.

Since 2008, Ronaldo and Messi have won 12 of the 14 possible Ballon d’Or awards, with Benzema (2022) and Modric (2018) winning the other two. 2023 is almost a guaranteed award for Messi as he just won the only trophy that had eluded him for so long (the World Cup). This would extend his current record of holding seven Ballon d’Or awards to eight, with Ronaldo now at five awards! The next highest number of awards is three, which is held by three different players.

While the rivalry and banter can be a fun way to show passion towards the game, at the end of the day, deep down, fans of the beautiful game are just happy to be part of this historical time in the game and grow up with these fantastic players. With the likes of Mbappé and Halland on the rise, it is not only a question of how, but a question of when other players will reach the levels of these GOATs, not only to perform for seasons and matches at a time but decades at a time. Until then, Ronaldo and Messi will be in a league of their own. An untouchable one.