Is pele great or maradona?
547361
My Uncle Pele\nNaturally!
1087230
pele, maradone, u know... the greats\n\nas of the current generation, kahn, ronaldihno, and christiano ronaldo
440982
Pele from Brazil and Maradona from Argentina
539046
everyone says pele but the people who know football they know its diego. Pele never played outside the americas Maradona done it in the hardest leagues in the world Italy and Spain. Pele was in a team full of brilliant players. Maradona was in a team of average players. Maradona won the world cup by himself.  And in the 2 seasons he was at Napoli they won the italian league those two years the only time in their history.
1114195
I believe that he is compared to Maradona because of the style of play seems similar, and there physique is very close to the same.  He is a small quick player with the ability to maneuver in and out of defenders, he also has a wicked shot.  Maradona was a small quick absolutely phenomenal player.  I don't know if he will ever become the next Maradona, but he is definatley on the right track.
461009
Ronaldihno is the best ever. Pele didnt have the competition that ronaldihno has. granted there were quality players then, but there are many more today that ronladihno has beaten and outshined! that crooked toothed brazilian has more talent in his pinky finger than pele's whole body.
1164961
In reply to Arsenalfox2000 - I agree that we apply the word great to too many modern players today. I also agree that Pele was a great GOALSCORER - However, he participated in 2 world cup wins, the first in 58 which he was a young reserve who was brought in late on in the world cup and scored some good and VERY important goals, at 17 this made him a star the first real superstar footballer. in 62 he was injured and in 66 he was injured and retired. He came back in 1970 and had a very good world cup scoring great goals in a great team however the star of the show was Jarzinho. So in reality he was a great young player in 58 and then did very little on the world stage until 1970 - Of course in the meantime he was banging goals in for fun with Santos and obviously this was against some fantastic Brazilian defences????? (yeah right) - he was a great goalscorer with a some flair and vision; just like Van basten, Muller, Greaves etc. True he was an ambasador but does that make George best a bad player??? is Lineker better than Maradona because he is a nice guy????? I dont think so, Maradona came from the slums of Argentina and he was never going to be Mother Teresa, especially when he was surrounded by the wrong crowd all along just like Mike Tyson, Brazil won the world cup in 62 without Pele and they would have won it without him in 70 too. Maradona with Napoli and Argentina took these teams to another level, He scored great goals, created goals, led and inspired those around him to be winners and they would not have won their titles without him!!!!  He was not just a goalscorer but a GENIUS and Genius is not a word you hear associated with Pele. If he was, you would not have to point to the fact that he was great ambasador and all the other rubbish outside of the actual football on the pitch. As a goalscorer he was great, but so was Lineker, would you call Lineker a Genius - NO you would not. The other factor that you have to consider, is the standard of football when Pele played - It was very poor, teams would get beat by many goals regularly and the fitness and skill levels was poor. The lesser teams today are of a certain standard, all compenet footballers; back in the day except from a few....... the rest made the numbers up. \n\nGenius is:- Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Platini, Bergkamp, Cantona,  Ronahldinho, Henry, Zidane, Rooney, Beardsley.\n\nGreat goalscores - Pele, Shearer, Lineker, Greaves, Muller, Van Basten, Rush, Schevchenko, Raul, Fowler, Fontaine and many more. \n\nThere are few GENIUS but MANY Goalscores - Genius in football is not jus the ability to finish - but it is the ability to create the unexpected, vision, composure, flair, style, grace, fantasy, art and skill. \n\nYou can apply this to any sport or position in football. Tennis, Genius = Agassi Great = Sampras\n\nCentre Half - Genuis Legend = Baresi - Great Legend = Tony Adams\n\nFull Back - Genius Legend = Maldini - Great Legend = Cafu\n\nBoxing - Genius Legend = Ali, Great = Tyson \n\nGolf  - Genius Legend = Tiger Woods - Great = Nicholas\n\nFormula One - Genius Legend = Airton Senna - Great Legend = Schumaker\n\n\nTo be a Genius you need the X FACTOR you need GRACE and in front of the Camera Pele does have grace, on the pitch however he is a DEMON GOALSCORER, a Legendary goalscorer but not a GENIUS Footballer!!!!!!!!!\n\nSometimes the Legend beats the Genius eg, Sampras considered better than Agassi on the other hand Ali is considered better than Tyson -  In sport the professional legend gets more recognition than the rough around the edges Genius and this is the case with Pele and Maradona - althouthgh Maradona is also a Legend, the Legend of Pele beats Maradona becasue of other areas that people judge outside of the football pitch. But Pele is not a Genius and Maradona is - Maradona is the single most gifted footballer ever along with my personal favourite Roberto Baggio.
434136
Pele. He is being regarded as the Legend in football/soccer game. You can't complete the history of football without mentioning his name. He is all time hero.
472184
Pele is the best, he is an amazing performer, and helped lead Brazil to 3 of its 5(soon to be 6) world cup victories. He is also one of the most influencial players to play the game. And the comment about Maradona not being considered an athlete is disrespectful to the game. Maradona was a great player, and drugs had nothing to do with that, if you wanna bet, why dont you go take some steroids or something and see if you become the next Maradona
1120274
pele was one of the greatest football players of all time. to find his like you would need to look at the entire history of the sport and bring in players like puskas, stanley matthews, or alec james.\n\nmaradonna wasn't a football player at all. he was just a cheat.
26129
No one will be like Maradona EVER!!!\nBut messi is pretty good!!!\nWhy?\nHave you seen him playing!!!!??????
363009
Maradona was great but Pele has no equal. Pele led Brazil to a World Cup title when he was 17, that is amazing and will never be equalled. There may be other young players to play in the World Cup but to lead the team to a title is another thing altogether. Pele won three World Cups and Maradona only one.The only thing Maradona had over Pele was that he played in Europe for 12 years.
307612
Diego Maradona from Argentina
10556
i'd go with maradona\n\nRight.. he won 3 world cups... but.. in 58 played only the last games, and in 62 played only one game. Brasil had a GREAT team(garrincha, Gerson, etc).. it wasn't just PELE (Maradona won the 86 cup almost alone, HE was the team.. right they were good, but not THAT good)\n\n\nAnd as someone else said.. winning that FIFA's award is as meaningful as winning Employee of the Month at McDonald's.\n\n\nit's very difficult to compare... it's two different times... a LOT of different circunstances(compare time, opponents, marking, TV presence, media/fan pressure, teams/co-players, etc)... that's why these discussions never get to an end... because it's all about opinions...
320361
Pele is by far the best player of all time he changed the game when he was very young and people told him that he was too little but he showed them by scoring the most goals in his first world cup
388454
After Pele and Maradona for sure Mr Beckenbauer from Germany.\nIn 4th,Johan Cruijff, from Holland. \nAs a player, the guy was a Genius! \nEven Pele says it.\n\n\nBut keep in mind guys like: Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,Thierry Henry, among others.
518109
There's nobody to beat Pele.He has stunning talents