Pelé - the greatest of all time.

Pelé is regarded by most observers as the ultimate hero of soccer. Strong, agile and quick, he scored over a thousand goals in his career and won three World Cups for Brazil. Bursting on to the scene during the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the 17 year-old prodigy took the competition by storm, scoring six goals on the way to a memorable final, which Brazil won 5-2.

However, it is probably for the 1970 World Cup victory that Pelé is most fondly remembered. The Brazil side that won that final, 4-1 against Italy, is widely agreed to be the greatest team in the history of soccer. One of the most elegant of athletes, Pelé is surely the best soccer player ever to have played the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9

George Best - a prodigiously gifted winger.

George Best was not only a great hero of soccer but a cultural icon in his day. A swashbuckling winger in the great Manchester United team that won the European Cup in 1968, Best was the most naturally gifted, and arguably the greatest, soccer player of his time - two-footed, nimble and with a control of the ball that marked him out from more ordinary players. But, more than that, Best was a soccer icon – with his dashing good looks and playboy lifestyle, he became an emblem of the swinging London of the late 1960’s, and was linked with a string of beauties. His entry in the Hall of Fame gives a good account of his life and career.

http://www.ifhof.com/hof/best.asp

Perhaps as a result of being the most famous soccer player in the world, George Best all but retired from the game in 1974 aged just 27, and it is for his time at Manchester United that he is best remembered as one of the most famous soccer players of all time. This 60’s hero of soccer tragically died in 2005 of complications from alcohol abuse.

Zinedine Zidane - a modern hero of soccer.

Of all the famous soccer players to have pulled on the jerseys of their country, perhaps none in modern times has been quite so inspirational as Zinedine Zidane. Born in France to Algerian parents, ‘Zizou’, as he is known, was a relatively late bloomer as a player, and although his talent was widely recognized among fans, it was not he captained France to the 1998 World Cup that the full extent of his talent became obvious.

Zidane is a true hero of soccer, particularly to the millions of immigrants in France, but also to fans and players from all over the world, who regard him as the best soccer player of the last twenty years.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/archive/worldcup/editorial/legends_zidane.html