2 different great players from 2 different footballing eras. Masters in their own rights. Hard to compare. I was not old enough to know Pele but Maradonna I do know.

Even though I was a kid then, how can I forget that fateful night in 1994 when he and Batistuta quashed our dreams of World Cup Glory. If I ever cried for a game of soccer, it was that night.

His mesmerising runs and dribble are out of this world. Zig-zagging his way through the English defence, only a TV camera could capture his ball control when we all thought God himself "handled" the ball that beat the goal keeper. Thus the legend of the "hand of God" was born that day.

Controvertial and stubborn. A maniacal stare into the camera gave away his drug dependence. Even then he was still the greatest.

After battling his demons, he now represents his country as the national team manager. People doubted his abilities but the evidence is emerging. There is something about him that brings the best out of Messi, Mascherano, Tevez and co.

bisiaet:

So the attached picture is what you mean by Maradona single handedly won a World Cup this is interesting.

I think the attached stated the CLOSEST you will ever get to single handedly winning the WC.

That was a WC semi final match in 1986 and 6 defenders trying to get the ball off him. He scored 2 goals (one of them dribbling 3-4 players) in that match.

Just imagine he had another Maradona or maybe a Messi or C Ronaldo was already born in his generation, then you can only imagine what would have happened in that match or others.

Pele is a 1000 miles ahead of Maradona! !

Those who insinuate that there were others greats that made Pele who he was should please look for his videos and watch them again. . Haba!

One can as well say that the teams Argentina played against in '86 were not tough sides hence allowing Maradona to shine .

King Pele! Prince Maradona

I barely see Pele's highlights and some of Maradona's
I fink old schools shud vote

Mine is dis:

Who is better?

KAITA VS AIYEGBENI

SHALOM

Hmmm They are both world class players, no doubt. But who is better is a matter of personal opinion. The whole world can't be wrong when they voted Maradona as the player of the century(food for thought). I have the opportunity of working under a sports administrator who knows Pele quite well. And he seems to hint that Pele is not happy about the debate and prefares to have them both regarded as great  players and not one better than the other. Well we all know maradona is outspoken and he believes pele is a friend to the Europeans, Blatter, platini and all and has no right to claim the best due to his allegiance with football governing bodies authority.

Well. from a player and football fan perspective i have always believed Maradona was the greatest player of his time and the last decade. He not only single offhandedly won the World cup in "86", but also helped a lowly club like Napoli to win the title of European champs. I regard him high because he seemed to carry the burdens of his team and still achieve success. Well if  were to name my all time 5 players it would be Maradona, Pele, Cryuff, Beckenbauer and Portuguese legend Eusebio(greatest Portuguese and Real Madrid player ever)

suxes2005:


Mine is dis:

Who is better?

KAITA VS AIYEGBENI

I guess your question should be "Who is more "bitter" ?
To which my own answer may be "the two are the most bitter"

Sometimes i wonder wetin dey worry some peeps for head. ok, now make we surve the problem like this:

A said: bring Amodu to coach super eagles
B replied: NO! no bring'am O, the guy no good jor
A said: why? atleast 'em dey try na.
B replied: try wetin? wetin 'em don win since wey 'em dey coach?
A said: E no mean na, but atleast, 'em pattern of football dey ok.
B replied: NO! we no want! we need coach wey get good record.

And now in modern football, wetin we take dey know good players/coach na dia record abi?
Then make una xplain to me very well how maradona take better pass pele for football history?
some said he single-handedly won the '86 W.C - SINGLE HANDEDLY? . . .na only him play the match?
some said he gat great skills - Na skills dem dey take win best player? if so, during okocha time who pass am 4 africa?
Can u imagine 1000something goals in 1000something games, 3W.C and other trophy's what do u want again?
Omo mehn, make we bone MATTER FOR AGHATTA. Pele is far better than maradona period!

Ranoscky:


Can u imagine 1000something goals in 1000something games, 3W.C and other trophy's what do u want again?
Omo mehn, make we bone MATTER FOR AGHATTA. Pele is far better than maradona period!

Started playing at 15, was in the national team by 16, won his first world cup at 17!

3 World Cups medals!!!. . . He is the all-time leading scorer of the Brazil national team

Without drug enhancement!!! Omo no be small thing!

Pele all the way! Just like comparing Kobe with Lebron, Kobe has got 5 championships and Lebron ain't got nothin. So the case's closed!
Pele scored 77 goals out of 92 apperances and Maradona scored 34 out of 91.
Pele won three worldcup and Maradona won just one. Y'all gotta give me a break!

Comparing Pele with Maradona is like comparing death with sleep. Pele is more than Maradona any-time, any-day, any-where using any parameter. Pele is King of Soccer while we can call Maradona the Prince of Soccer borrowing the description given by one of the earlier contributors on this thread.

Sometimes i just dey wonder if na sentiment dey worry us for head for di NL.
how in dis world that the record is there, and still some1 can still come up to argue that maradona is better than pele. under which level? abi doz peeps dey dream ni? E jo, e quit dreaming o, ile ti mo!

Different types of players. Different times. Cannot just tell who is better than who without specifying in what aspect of the game.

Achievements? Pele, by a mile.
More spectacular? Maradona.

baslone:

Started playing at 15, was in the national team by 16, won his first world cup at 17!

3 World Cups medals!!!. . . He is the all-time leading scorer of the Brazil national team

Without drug enhancement!!! Omo no be small thing!

Pele is better than Maradona, you can't compare. Pele was The God of football.

to compare Pele to maradonna who hand tricked is to compare original to wanna be original.

While Pele invented and perfected many established now taking for granted, but still difficulty kicking styles like the bicycle trick, maradonna have to study his film, wanting to be like him to become what he became.

Do we company Johnny Coltrain to Winson Marselis in Jazz, do we compare Jimmmy Hendrick to lenny Travis in Rock, do we compare Muhammad Ali to Evander holyfield in boxing, was Ube Blake, Duke Elliton are comparable to any of today's Jazz greats? The formers are innovators, while the laters are copycats.

The same is Pele who was great as a player, being talked about for over 50 years now, compared to maradonna still not 50 years old.

For my money, Pele will draw the crowd of those who appreciate quality. Even Suza, the famed Brazilian female personality of the 90s, was just 19 or 20 years old when she couldnt help herself but crumbled in the present of the man who could easily be her grandfather. If Pele arrives in Argentina, today, he will draw greater crowd that Maradonna. If Pele arrives in any part of Africa or Europe today, he will draw a bigger crowd than maradonna would, because people see him perform under a more difficult, somewhat crude enviroment than the "hand trickster" whose time is mmerely in the 1980s.


i am not a soccer officianado, but i just watched both of them on Youtube and my money is no Pele.

Ranoscky:

Sometimes i wonder wetin dey worry some peeps for head.  ok, now make we surve the problem like this:

A said: bring Amodu to coach super eagles
B replied: NO! no bring'am O, the guy no good jor
A said: why? atleast 'em dey try na.
B replied: try wetin? wetin 'em don win since wey 'em dey coach?
A said: E no mean na, but atleast, 'em pattern of football dey ok.
B replied: NO! we no want! we need coach wey get good record.

And now in modern football, wetin we take dey know good players/coach na dia record abi?
Then make una xplain to me very well how maradona take better pass pele for football history?
some said he single-handedly won the '86 W.C - SINGLE HANDEDLY? . . .na only him play the match?
some said he gat great skills - Na skills dem dey take win best player? if so, during okocha time who pass am 4 africa?
Can u imagine 1000something goals in 1000something games, 3W.C and other trophy's what do u want again?
Omo mehn, make we bone MATTER FOR AGHATTA. Pele is far better than maradona period!

Your argument is flawed on so many level, it's unbelievable.

first of all, maradona and pele played different roles for both country and clubs. the former a playmaker [/b]and the latter a [b]striker

their primary responsibility and role on the pitch differs significantly, I don't need to go into details over that.

A striker (pele) is expected to score more goals than a playmaker (maradona) that coupled with other factor(s) is a valid explanation

for pele having better goal scoring record than maradona. doesn't take an Albert Einstein to figure out. It would not be natural for Xavi/Iniesta to

outscore david Villa, would it?.


secondly. Pele was surrounded by other great players who were hugely instrumental to Brazil 's 3 world cup victories at the time.

the same cannot be said of maradona who never had that luxury. He was clearly the only exceptional player in that 1986 winning team, unless you consider

burruchaga a great player on the same level as garrincha, Zico, jairzinho et al. as a result of quality differentiation between the two teams, logic tells us that

Brazil and pele are expected to win more trophies than Argentina and Maradona. Taking nothing away from pele but him copping more WC trophies than

Maradona owes to the collective team effort rather than his individual brilliance.

^^^U dey yan trash ma guy!  so also is your arguement flawed !!!

1) read what u said: "maradona and pele played different roles for both country and clubs"
interms of WORLD BEST PLAYERS, it's not judged by position, but your performance. have u forgotten that Canavaro won it (WBP) when he was at realmadrid with the likes of Ronaldo, Zidan etc, on the award list?

2) read what u said: "A striker (pele) is expected to score more goals than a playmaker"
when Christiano Ronaldo (Play Maker) was stil at man u, did Rooney (striker) score more goals than him?

3) you said: "Pele was surrounded by other great players who were hugely instrumental to Brazil 's 3 world cup victories at the time."
Then, is Messi surpose to be called the WORLD BEST PLAYER judging by what u said? don't u know the big name stars surrounding him at barcelona also? or u want make i count/call dem 4 u?. . . Iniesta, Xavi, Ibramovich, puyol, pique,Henry etc.

4) you said: "the same cannot be said of maradona who never had that luxury. He was clearly the only exceptional player in that 1986 winning team"
Nigeria won olympic '96 that includes countries like brazil, Argentina, mexico etc. Name 1 exceptional player in Nigeria then, that the world can marge with Ronaldo, bebeto etc?

5) you said: "Brazil and pele are expected to win more trophies than Argentina and Maradona. Taking nothing away from pele but him copping more WC trophies than Maradona owes to the collective team effort rather than his individual brilliance."
Then why are u now talking about maradona being the exceptional player that won the '86 W.C when u know that it's the effort of the whole team?. . A tree cannot make a forest, guy wake up from your slumber. quit dreaming!

Ok, let's make it this way:  Everybody knows Morinho as a (WCC) world class coach, why? his record say's it all!.
Realmadrid is known as the best club in the world of football, why? it's record say's it all!
Hodgson was awarded manager of the year, why? he led lowly rated Fulham to European cup final. it's also a record.
U and i need a good coach to handle the super eagles. and almost everybody is calling for sia sia. why? his record a 9ja coach.
George weah of liberia was once a FIFA (WBP) why? his record say's it all!. .Then what is a GREAT player all about?
The record of pele and maradona is there for me, u and others to see. so why all this blind arguement?
Don't xpect anymore post from me again pataining Dis blind arguement b'cos, it's a waste of time. thanx!

^^^^^^^^
You made my day.
Apt analysis and the facts are there to see.

number 3 will only be right if the guy you are referring to said Pele was never the worlds best player in his time!!!

Ranoscky:

^^^U dey yan trash ma guy!  so also is your arguement flawed !!!

1) read what u said: "maradona and pele played different roles for both country and clubs"
interms of WORLD BEST PLAYERS, it's not judged by position, but your performance. have u forgotten that Canavaro won it (WBP) when he was at realmadrid with the likes of Ronaldo, Zidan etc, on the award list?

How is pele's overall performance better than maradona's?

Ranoscky:


2) read what u said: "A striker (pele) is expected to score more goals than a playmaker"
when Christiano Ronaldo (Play Maker) was stil at man u, did Rooney (striker) score more goals than him?

Your sense of reasoning is very moronic, because CR7 outscored Rooney means it's the norm for a playmaker to have better goal scoring record than

a striker. ofcourse there's always an exception to the norm and you cannot base your argument on one single "exception" as the word implies it's an

unpopular even that doesn't happen often, therefore isn't the NORM.

btw Rooney never played as a traditional striker at man utd until last season, he was more of a playmaker for man utd, if you watch the english premier

league, you ought to know that by now. don't be deceived by what the formation tells you, if you doubt this then ask any man utd fan on nairaland.

Ranoscky:


3) you said: "Pele was surrounded by other great players who were hugely instrumental to Brazil 's 3 world cup victories at the time."
Then, is Messi surpose to be called the WORLD BEST PLAYER judging by what u said? don't u know the big name stars surrounding him at barcelona also? or u want make i count/call dem 4 u?. . . Iniesta, Xavi, Ibramovich, puyol, pique,Henry etc.

Stop arguing for argument sake, because you do not have a point here. even a 5 year old knows that the quality of your team mates significantly affects

ones performance therefore giving pele an unfair advantage over maradona. you shut yourself in the foot by using messi as an example. messi would never

have scored so many goals as he did last season without the tantalizing assists from xavi and Iniesta. put messi in a team like malaga [/b]and let's see

how he fares. this is common sense my friend. perhaps if that happens then you would appreciate maradona's achievement better. the only thing messi

example did was strengthen my argument that quality of team mates does indeed improve a players performance.  [b] despite all the odds

stacked against him he (maradona) still managed to produce excellent performances throughout his career. now that's special.

Ranoscky:


4) you said: "the same cannot be said of maradona who never had that luxury. He was clearly the only exceptional player in that 1986 winning team"
Nigeria won olympic '96 that includes countries like brazil, Argentina, mexico etc. Name 1 exceptional player in Nigeria then, that the world can marge with Ronaldo, bebeto etc?

5) you said: "Brazil and pele are expected to win more trophies than Argentina and Maradona. Taking nothing away from pele but him copping more WC trophies than Maradona owes to the collective team effort rather than his individual brilliance."
Then why are u now talking about maradona being the exceptional player that won the '86 W.C when u know that it's the effort of the whole team?. . A tree cannot make a forest, guy wake up from your slumber. quit dreaming!

Ok, let's make it this way:  Everybody knows Morinho as a (WCC) world class coach, why? his record say's it all!.
Realmadrid is known as the best club in the world of football, why? it's record say's it all!
Hodgson was awarded manager of the year, why? he led lowly rated Fulham to European cup final. it's also a record.


U and i need a good coach to handle the super eagles. and almost everybody is calling for sia sia. why? his record a 9ja coach.
George weah of liberia was once a FIFA (WBP) why? his record say's it all!. .Then what is a GREAT player all about?
The record of pele and maradona is there for me, u and others to see. so why all this blind arguement?
Don't xpect anymore post from me again pataining Dis blind arguement b'cos, it's a waste of time. thanx!

Footie analyst all over the world that has better understanding about the dynamics and fundamentals of football than you regarded maradona (1986) and

Garrincha (1962) as the only two players to have singlehandedly won the world cup, LITERALLY. the word singlehandely in the context indicates a performance

of outstanding quality.  it doesn't necessarily dismiss the collective contributions of the team. why isn't such an accolade attributed to pele ?

Maradona's outstanding performance doesn't stop there. He also inspired a mid table team (Napoli) to win the serie A title at the time when it was considered

as the best football league in the world. beating the likes of AC milan,Juventus,Inter,Roma,Lazio to the title. that is the pinnacle of exceptional achievement

Garrincha and Ronaldo da lima in my opinion are better than Pele.

How is pele's overall performance better than maradona's?

Pele didn't need to use "The hand of God" to put a goal.

Horus:

Pele didn't need to use "The hand of God" to put a goal.

This is the most moronic statement I have ever read in my life.

how many of maradona's goal were scored using the hand of god. I can't even believe I'm responding to this post.

The fact that pele played in an era where media coverage was sooooo diff (unlike maradona)yet his name still sends sparks flying says a whole lot.

Face it u judge maradona as best cos u can see at least 80% of his plays n video and judge for urself. Most of pele's video clips are not there for all u know, he might also have single handedly won a cup. U can't say cos u have not seen it all, yet his name won't go away.it only goes to show,
The guy MUST BE D BEST!!!!!!!!
Its almost like the case of beckky and jay-jay. If not for english media hype can u differentiate the 2.

o9999:


Its almost like the case of beckky and jay-jay. If not for english media hype can u differentiate the 2.

They are never to be compared. Beckky is hardworking but jay-jay is the definition of football!!!

jalether:

Garrincha and Ronaldo da lima in my opinion are better than Pele.

For God's sake, today is July April 1st!!!

jalether:

This is the most moronic statement I have ever read in my life.

how many of maradona's goal were scored using the hand of god. I can't even believe I'm responding to this post.

Cheating is cheating, and Maradona should know that scoring a goal with the hand is not allowed, PERIOD!!.  Maradona first tested positive for cocaine following a league game in 1991 and was suspended for 15 months. By his own admission, he had been using drugs since 1982, when he was 22. Maradona, failed drug tests several time in his "career". Maradona was first banned for using cocaine while playing for Napoli in Italy. In 1994 he was kicked out of the World Cup finals in the United States and again banned for 15 months after testing positive for a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs, including ephedrine.

some people here will just vomit something without considering the implications . can someone tell me how can a single footballer single handledly won a match without a support of his team mate now talk of a trophy.ah na Wa for you oooh . If the FIFA are not bunch of idiots why can't them withdraw all his honor after they discovered that he was using cocaine to boosted his energy , to tell you that he could not do thing without the help of cocaine you see. they should do what American did to Mario Jones

Maradona should come out and boast of his glory it's been tarnished maradona can't do anything without cocaine okay i don't even regard hi as footballer icon b,cos of that cocaine issue that shows me that he could not performed without an influence.

jcross19:

some people here will just vomit something without considering the implications . can someone tell me how can a single footballer single handledly won a match without a support of his team mate now talk of a trophy.ah na Wa for you oooh . If the FIFA are not  bunch of idiots why can't them withdraw all his honor after they discovered that he was using cocaine to boosted his energy , to tell you that he could not do thing without the help of cocaine you see. they should do what American did to Mario Jones

Ofcourse fifa should withdraw all his honors as the drugs he took significantly boosted his overall ability such as incredible vision, passing,dribbling

ball control and shot accuracy . you are an excellent footie commentator, well done