My friend and I were heated on an argument on who's the best free-kick taker in the world and I think currently no one bests Del Piero in taking free kicks, but he doesn't share my view and instead rates Juninho of Brazil/Lyon as the best. He even rates C. Ronaldo and Beckham higher than Del Piero.

Well, I just thought that I should introduce this topic here on nairaland because I want to know if people will agree with me on who's the best. I'll add a poll to make this topic more interesting.

Beckham anyday.

@Poster,

Your friend is nuts
What is the conversion rate of Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham?

I might find Del Piero vs Juninko more debatable but not thise losers called Ronaldo and Beckham.

@Topic who created Gerrard, lampard, and those jesters as free kick takers not even Ronaldinho, Pirlo

as far as i am concerned pirlo, beckham and juninho are d best and most importantly d most consistent freekick takers. these players have been hitting d back of d net consistently for most of their careers. also what separates these 3 is that they are as likely to score direct as they are to pick out a team mate with good delivery resulting in goals.u hardly ever see an opposition goalie come to claim a delivery from these 3 simply cos they have such quality.of d 3 juninho can probably hit them direct from further out than beckham and pirlo respectively and scores more direct goals.pirlo would be most precise but also lacks d power or swerve and dip of beckham and juninho and would have more assists than juninho and beckham respectively.beckham meanwhile is well balanced. he has decent range, power and accuracy.take your pick from these 3. del piero is also quite deadly but he doesnt have d variety of these guys.meaning he is resticted to certain criteria before he can be deadly (i.e distance, position of d ball with respect to 18 yard box, right or left side e.t.c).same goes for some other players.

Juninho
Becks
CR7
Lamps
Del P
in that order. My opinion

dayokanu:

@Poster,

Your friend is nuts
What is the conversion rate of Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham?

I might find Del Piero vs Juninko more debatable but not thise losers called Ronaldo and Beckham.

@Topic who created Gerrard, lampard, and those jesters as free kick takers not even Ronaldinho, Pirlo

Dayo, I am dissapointed.

Of everyone on Nairaland, I expect you to know that Wendel is the best freekick taker right now.

Juninho lost it.

@Ibime,
I would rate Wendel as upcoming but Juninho has been in the game for long. His free kicks are still feared by keepers all over Europe.

He still scored in November this year.

How can we talk about best free kick takers without Sinisa Mihaijlovic?

I beleive the topic is addressing active players cos if not Sinisa is the best free kick taker to have ever lived.

Sinisa was the god of freekicks but some would argue that Koeman and Beckham were better or equal in their prime.

Alvaro Recoba
Rogerio Ceni

@Ibime,
Koeman I might agree but Beckham is no where near Rivaldo, Dinho, Juninho, in free kick terms

O boy fashi. As of 1998 - 2001, Beckham was king of freekicks o!

Nooo. That was the time Rivaldo, Sinisa and co were at their free kick peaks.

The English media just blew Beckham out of proportion. Against Greece his famous kick, Did you know how many he wasted?

Then how many has he scored in his career?

Back then Beckham scored at least 5 to 8 freekicks per season.

Juninho . . . . . end of discussion!

I jst think we should all leave out d sentiments coz DAVID BECKHAM is d Best Freekick Taker In The World(any dead ball situation)!

Ibime:

O boy fashi. As of 1998 - 2001, Beckham was king of freekicks o!

Gbam!!

Beckham was a freekick maestro Dayo that matter is not even up for argument! how many players score all their freekick chances?His world cup strike against Colombia was classic!! too much swerve and accuracy

@A-40,

Did you see Carlos freekick against France at the tornoi,
Did you see Rivaldo's 2 free kicks against AC Milan Milan 3 Barca 3
Did you see Dinho's free kicks against Bolton and against Bremen?

Did you see Juninhos kicks
He has scored from free-kicks beyond 40 yards on three occasions: a 41 meter screamer against AC Ajaccio in 2006[8], a 45 meter goal against F.C.Barcelona in 2007.[9] and a 48 meter goal against OGC Nice in 2008

Beckham trails all these guys in technique and conversion rates

Don't get me wrong homie i am not saying Beckham is the best but i am saying his one of the best

Did you see his free-kick against Madrid?
Against Greece nko?

Carlos relies on sheer power why not add Taye Taiwo to the equation! and i don't agree with your suggestion that Rivaldo is better than Becks!! he would probably only trail Ronaldinho in conversion rates and Juninho in technique and that one sef is very debatable

Guyz where did you put Pirlo of AC Milan?

Beckham is world best in FK

Juninho follows

then Pirlo and Recoba comes up

arteta,Xavi,R10,Deco/Ballack may also come up

Becks is the best.
Even before Juninho,Beckham has been.You are just biased Dayo

It's obvious than on current form, Del Piero is the best,

Bend it like Beckam. All time best, he has converted at crucial moments and when it matters most. Free kick is his trade mark, he is the custodian.

@ All,
We all know that Beckham is very good with free kicks but men . . . . guys you people need to wake up and try to neutralize the English hype. Beckham is VERY VERY good with free kicks but men, JUNINHO is feared!
Before Beckham takes a kick, you can tell which side of the net he will likely put it. Juninho, NO WAY! Juninho scores regulary from distances that Beckham HAS NEVER scored from.
For the Beckam supporters, can we get facts that put Beckham before Juninho?
For the 1998 - 2008 time frame its obvious that the debate is [b]Beckham vs Juninho [/b]and Dayokanu has given us facts that put Juninho ahead of Beckham.
Facts Please!
JUNINHO!

he may not be the best but ronaldinho should be in the list

It's undoubtedly Juninho

In his days, it's got to be Hristo Stoitkov

Dat wuld b juniho,
Currently he has scored 40 free kicks 4 lyon

Puka Puka Juninho,, Father of all free kick takers,
scored 40 Free kicks last season alone in all competitions, both from far distance and near,
Started it before Beckham,
Just didn't have media luck like Beckham,
What about Dani Alves?
And what about Nakamura?

Infact the main thing Beckham was well known for is the way he does his crossings and pullings, both corner kicks and co, but not really that great in Dead balls like Juninho, Del piero and of course Pirlo.

David beckham is just a media creation of the English media.

The same they are trying to do with Cristiano Ronaldo right now

Beckham is way behind Juninho, Rivaldo , Ronaldinho, Del Piero. Andrea Pirlo and co

We must differentiate hype from reality.

Beckham's prowess with free-kicks is not a hype.

Beckham lacks all other skills, but his crossing and set-piece delivery alone has taken him to three of the best clubs in the World.

I say, for a man so talentless, that crossing and set-piece taking must be extra-ordinary - and it is.

Beckham has not been scoring freekicks for some time, but in a 5 year time-span from 1997 to 2002, he scored a hell of a lot.

People here talking about Juninho scoring 40 free kicks to date.

Beckham has scored 43.

It is not a hype. It is reality that Beckham was the best from 97-2002, with the possible exception of Mihajlovic.

Mentioning Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos et al is an insult. The only names that stand comparison with Beckham over the last 12 years are Juninho and Mihajlovic. Full stop.

How many freekicks has Roberto Carlos scored for example? A man that used to waste all of Madrid's freekicks just because he established a flukish reputation in Le Tournoi.