With the conclusion of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, there have been significant changes in the historical standing of football.

Lionel Messi's historical status in international football has always been a hot topic among major media outlets and fans.

One clear observation is that Messi has started to occupy the top position in various rankings, leading many to believe that he has been crowned the greatest player in football history.

Recently, the reputable German media “Kicker Sportmagazin” conducted a vote on the top ten players in history, and this vote was quite professional. They directly invited 51 German journalists to vote for the top ten players in history.

The voting rules followed the Ballon d'Or model, with 5 points for the first position, 3 points for the second, and 1 point for the third to tenth positions. Then the total points for each player were calculated, and the top ten players were ranked accordingly.

The results of this vote also shed light on the specific situation of the current historical standing in football. The first position remains undisputedly held by Messi, who received 41 first-place votes from the 51 journalists participating in the vote.

This result directly solidifies Messi's position as the number one player in football history. Despite the accolades, Messi himself remains extremely humble.

In interviews, he has repeatedly expressed his desire to score goals for his team, help them win, and achieve championships, without intentionally pursuing historical goal rankings.

The second position goes to Pelé, who received first-place votes from 5 journalists. As the legendary old football king, Pelé had always been the undisputed number one in history.

However, faced with Messi's formidable seven Ballon d'Or awards, numerous records in the top five leagues, and a World Cup title, Pelé's historical top position has indeed been replaced.

In the third position is Franz Beckenbauer, as voted by German journalists, who awarded him three first-place votes. On the other hand, another legendary football figure, Diego Maradona, did not make it to the top three.

He received only one first-place vote, indicating that German journalists may not have supported Maradona as much due to Messi's emergence.

Here is the list of the top ten greatest players in history voted by the "kicker Sportmagazin":

1. Lionel Messi

2. Diego Maradona

3. Pelé

4. Franz Beckenbauer

5. Johan Cruyff

6. Zinedine Zidane

7. Ronaldo (Nazário)

8. Alfredo Di Stefano

9. Gerd Muller

10. Cristiano Ronaldo