The top 10 free kick snipers.
Being a good footballer is about both hard work and talent. A lot of skills are required to be part of the best ones, and some of those skills are in the details. Like the ability of scoring free-kicks! That one is one of the main talents a good football player should have to stand out.
It’s hard to find a fair way to classify free-kicks, each footballer has his unique technique and different opportunities. So we decided to make a list of the players who have converted the most free-kicks into goals.
10. Andrea Pirlo: 43 goals
Playing for the most important teams in Italy, Pirlo has always been seen as the most essential part of the team. Making him famous is not only his ability to give directions to the whole team but also his skill of scoring match changing free-kicks.
9. Marcelinho Carioca:59 goals
Marcelinho Carioca is a Brazilian midfielder with a particular skill for free-kicks, to the point that his nickname soon became “Pé-de-Anjo” (angel’s foot).
8. Rogério Ceni:59 goals
Weirdly enough, Rogério Ceni is not supposed to be this good with free-kicks, because he is a goalkeeper! And yet, he managed to score 59 of them. And once he managed to score 21 goals in one season! Truly impressive.
7. Ronald Koeman:60 goals
Koeman is known to be one of Barcelona’s legend, like Messi and Ronaldinho, he mastered 60 free-kicks thank to his power approach.
6. Zico:62 goals
Zico was one of the best midfielders in South America, with 62 converted free-kicks he dominated the role, scoring also against Scotland during the 1982 World Cup.
5. Diego Armando Maradona: 62 goals
Sharing the same number of free-kick goals with Zico, Maradona is one of the biggest football legends. Whenever he was close to the penalty area, the goal was scored.
4. David Beckham:65 goals
At the fourth place –with 66 converted free-kicks– we find David Beckham. Probably the most famous English football player, he was also the inspiration for the movie Bend it like Beckham, especially for how famous his crossing and free-kicks ability is.
3. Ronaldinho Gaúcho: 66 goals
From Brazil to Europe and back to Brazil again, Ronaldinho surely knew how to make the fans love him. And his free-kicks played a big role in that for sure.
Right now rumours see Lionel Messi as the new Ronaldinho, but he is still far from the number of free-kicks that the former teammate scored.
2. Pelé:70 goals
We had no doubts that Pelé would have had such an important position in our list, the Brazilian conquered the hearts of all football supporters with his skills, and he will be part of football’s history forever. But what amazes us the most is knowing that not only he managed to score so many free-kicks, but that he did it with a way heavier leather ball than the ones we are used to today.
1 Juninho Pernambucano:77 goals
With 77 free-kicks converted into goals, Juninho Pernambucano rules the top of the list. Not only the success rate of his free-kicks is impressive, but also his technique into scoring them leave us amazed all the times. An example for new generations that should aim to break his record now that he is retired as a footballer.
Bonus: José Luis Chilavert
And as a bonus, we have José Lui Chilavert. Even if we already met a goalkeeper with a taste for free-kicks in our list, we need to take note of Chilavert too. He managed to score free kicks also in the international environment of the World Cup, making him a legend.
Do you think we forgot someone who belonged in this list? Comment with your opinion, we will be happy to add another free-kick professional!