Who is the Best Dribblers in Football History? Dribbling is the purest form of individual skill in football. It is one player, one ball, and one defender — and the joy of watching a great dribbler at work is something no other sport can replicate.
Who is the Best Dribblers in Football History
These ten players are the greatest who have ever made defenders look completely helpless.
10. Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is one of the most naturally gifted dribblers the modern era produces. He completes an extraordinary 1,220 successful take-ons in his career — the second highest total ever recorded by Opta, behind only Lionel Messi.
His success rate of 57.1% is remarkably high for a player who dribbles as frequently as he does. He is low to the ground, quick over short distances, and almost impossible to knock off the ball. At Chelsea, he is simply untouchable on his best days.
9. Jay-Jay Okocha
Jay-Jay Okocha earns his nickname for a reason. He is one of the most flamboyant, inventive, and downright entertaining dribblers the world has ever seen. His tricks and feints go beyond the practical — they are performances in themselves.
He plays for Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe, PSG, and Bolton across a wonderful career. At every single club, he is the most exciting player on the pitch. He makes defenders look like statues. His dribbling has a playfulness to it that very few footballers in history ever match.
8. Ronaldo Nazário
Ronaldo Nazário — the original Ronaldo — is the most frightening dribbler in the world during his peak years. He is not the kind of dribbler who dances and feints for entertainment. He runs at defenders with terrifying pace and power and goes straight through them.
He completes 816 successful take-ons in the Opta era alone, and most of his best years come before detailed tracking even exists. When he is fit and running at full speed, there is no defender on earth who can stop him.
7. Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff is so gifted at dribbling that he invents a move — the Cruyff Turn — that defenders are still unable to read over 50 years later. He plays football in a different dimension from everyone around him.
His dribbling is defined by intelligence rather than brute speed. He reads where space is before it exists. He changes direction at the last possible moment and leaves defenders standing completely still. He wins the Ballon d’Or three times and changes the way the world understands football.
6. George Best
George Best is widely considered the greatest British footballer who ever lives, and his dribbling ability is at the centre of that argument. He plays in an era without the tactical discipline of modern football, and he exploits it brilliantly.
He is fast, clever, two-footed, and completely unpredictable. He makes defenders look clumsy and slow on a weekly basis for Manchester United throughout the late 1960s. Sir Matt Busby calls him the greatest player he ever sees. Pelé calls him the best player in the world. That is hard to argue with.
5. Neymar Jr
Neymar is the most technically gifted dribbler of his generation. His skill set is wider than almost any other player in football history. He uses step-overs, elasticos, nutmegs, and feints that nobody else in the game can execute with the same speed and precision.
He completes more successful dribbles per season in Ligue 1 than any other player. At Barcelona alongside Messi and Suárez, he is the most exciting dribbler in the world on his day. When he is in full flow, he is genuinely impossible to defend.
4. Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho is the most joyful dribbler in the history of football. He does not just beat defenders — he humiliates them with a smile on his face and then laughs about it. He plays football like a man who genuinely cannot believe he is being paid to do something this fun.
He wins the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and is at the absolute peak of his powers at Barcelona between 2004 and 2006. He scores one of the most famous goals in El Clásico history — a solo dribble and finish so brilliant that even Real Madrid fans stand up and applaud him.
3. Lionel Messi
The statistics alone settle the argument for the modern era. Messi completes 1,880 successful take-ons since Opta starts tracking — 660 more than anyone else on the list. Nobody is even close.
His dribbling is defined by his extraordinary low centre of gravity, his close ball control, and his ability to change pace and direction in spaces so tight that nobody else would even try. He dribbles past defenders as if they are training cones. His balance is superhuman and his vision while running at full speed is simply unmatched.
2. Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona scores the greatest goal ever scored in World Cup history during the 1986 quarter-final against England. He picks the ball up in his own half, dribbles past five players and the goalkeeper, and slots it into the net. That goal alone would be enough to earn his place on this list.
He is compact, explosive, and completely impossible to stop once he gets the ball at his feet. His balance and close control are extraordinary. In the streets of Naples, in the stadiums of Barcelona and Buenos Aires, and on the greatest stage the sport has to offer — he is magic with the ball at his feet every single time.
1. Garrincha — The Greatest Natural Dribbler Who Ever Lived
Garrincha is the name at the very top of every serious all-time dribbling list, and he deserves to be there. He is born with physically deformed legs — one bowed outward and one bowed inward. Doctors tell him he will never play professional football. He goes on to become the greatest dribbler the world has ever seen.
He plays for Brazil at two World Cups — 1958 and 1962 — and Brazil win both of them. In 1962 he is the best player in the tournament. He is faster with the ball than most players are without it. He beats the same defender three, four, five times in the same match — not because the defender is bad, but because nobody in the world can figure out which way he is going.
