The best Serie A players of all time include record goalscorers, legendary defenders, brilliant playmakers and players who shaped Italian football for decades. Paolo Maldini leads our ranking after combining elite defending with 647 Serie A appearances and seven league titles, while Gianluigi Buffon, Giuseppe Meazza and Franco Baresi also have strong claims to the top positions.
FootballerRank ranks these players only on what they achieved in Serie A’s unified national league era from 1929-30 onward. World Cups, European Cups, Champions League trophies and performances in other countries do not directly improve a player’s position. We compare peak level, Serie A titles, goals, appearances, Capocannoniere awards, longevity, consistency and historical influence.
Key Takeaways
- Paolo Maldini ranks No. 1 among the greatest Serie A players ever.
- Gianluigi Buffon holds the Serie A appearance record with 657 matches.
- Buffon also won a record 10 officially recognized Serie A titles.
- Silvio Piola remains Serie A’s all-time leading scorer with 274 goals.
- Francesco Totti ranks second in league scoring history with 250 goals.
- Gunnar Nordahl scored 225 Serie A goals and won five scoring titles.
- Giuseppe Meazza scored 216 Serie A goals and won three Scudetti with Inter.
- Diego Maradona led Napoli to its first two Serie A championships.
- Michel Platini won the Capocannoniere award three seasons in a row.
- Alessandro Del Piero combined 188 Serie A goals with six officially recognized league titles.
Top 10 Best Serie A Players of All Time
| Rank | Player | Main Club | Main Serie A Achievement |
| 1 | Paolo Maldini | AC Milan | 647 appearances and 7 titles |
| 2 | Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus | Record 657 appearances and 10 titles |
| 3 | Giuseppe Meazza | Inter | 216 goals, 3 Scudetti |
| 4 | Franco Baresi | AC Milan | 470 appearances and 6 titles |
| 5 | Diego Maradona | Napoli | 2 historic Scudetti and 1 scoring title |
| 6 | Francesco Totti | Roma | 619 appearances and 250 goals |
| 7 | Silvio Piola | Lazio / Juventus / Novara | Record 274 Serie A goals |
| 8 | Michel Platini | Juventus | 3 straight scoring titles and 2 Scudetti |
| 9 | Gunnar Nordahl | AC Milan / Roma | 225 goals and 5 scoring titles |
| 10 | Alessandro Del Piero | Juventus | 188 goals and 6 recognized titles |
How We Ranked the Greatest Serie A Players
Serie A has hosted some of football’s greatest players.
The difficult part is comparing very different positions and eras.
Maldini built his case through defending and longevity.
Piola built his through goals.
Maradona’s Serie A career was much shorter but had a huge effect on Napoli.
We therefore use several ranking factors.
Serie A Performance Only
This is the most important rule.
Maradona’s 1986 World Cup does not improve his ranking.
Maldini’s Champions League titles do not count directly.
Buffon’s international career is also separate.
We judge Serie A.
Peak Level
How good was the player during his best Serie A seasons?
Players who were among the world’s finest while playing in Italy receive major credit for the level they showed in league matches.
Serie A Titles
Winning the Scudetto matters.
We also judge how important a player was to those championships.
A squad player and the team’s central star should not receive equal credit.
Goals
Goals carry major value for forwards and attacking midfielders.
The all-time scoring table helps measure both quality and longevity.
However, defenders and goalkeepers need different standards.
Capocannoniere Awards
Serie A’s scoring title helps identify the best striker in a season.
Winning it several times strengthens an all-time case.
Appearances and Longevity
Serie A is a long league season.
Performing at an elite level across hundreds of matches shows consistency.
Defensive and Goalkeeping Records
Defenders and goalkeepers receive credit for clean sheets, defensive influence, positioning and leadership.
Raw goals cannot be used to compare every position.
Historical Influence
Some players became permanent symbols of Italian football.
Their effect on clubs, supporters and how their position was played also matters.
1. Paolo Maldini
Club: AC Milan
Serie A Career: 1985-2009
Appearances: 647
Goals: 29
Serie A Titles: 7
Paolo Maldini ranks first among the best Serie A players of all time.
His case combines elite ability with extraordinary longevity.
Maldini made his Serie A debut for Milan in January 1985.
He was only 16.
His final league appearance came in 2009.
That gave him almost a quarter-century at the highest level of Italian football.
Maldini played 647 Serie A matches.
Only Gianluigi Buffon has since played more.
He began mainly as a left-back.
Later in his career, Maldini moved into central defence.
He was elite in both positions.
His main strengths were positioning, anticipation and decision-making.
He rarely needed reckless challenges because he often read the attack before it developed.
Maldini won seven Serie A titles.
His first came in 1987-88.
He was part of the Milan teams that dominated the early 1990s.
Milan won three straight Scudetti from 1991-92 through 1993-94.
The 1991-92 side completed the entire league season unbeaten.
Maldini later won titles in 1995-96, 1998-99 and 2003-04.
His Serie A career stretched across different coaches, tactical systems and generations.
That adaptability separates him from most rivals.
Why Maldini ranks No. 1: Seven Scudetti, 647 appearances and more than two decades as an elite defender give him the strongest balance of peak, longevity and league success.
2. Gianluigi Buffon
Clubs: Parma, Juventus
Serie A Career: 1995-2018, 2019-2021
Appearances: 657
Serie A Titles: 10
Longest Clean-Sheet Run: 974 minutes
Gianluigi Buffon holds two of Serie A’s biggest records.
He played 657 matches, more than any other player.
He also won 10 officially recognized Serie A titles, another player record.
Buffon made his Serie A debut for Parma in 1995.
He was only 17.
His first match came against AC Milan.
He kept a clean sheet.
Buffon quickly developed into one of Italy’s leading goalkeepers.
Juventus signed him in 2001.
He won the Scudetto in his first season.
Many more followed.
His longevity is remarkable because goalkeeping standards changed during his career.
Buffon remained an elite shot-stopper while adapting to modern demands around passing and positioning.
His greatest Serie A clean-sheet record came in 2015-16.
He went 974 consecutive minutes without conceding.
That remains the record in the unified Serie A era.
Buffon eventually passed Maldini’s appearance record.
He finished at 657.
Maldini stays first in our ranking because he had a slightly stronger case as an elite outfield player across several dominant Milan eras.
The gap is very small.
Why Buffon ranks No. 2: The records for Serie A appearances and officially recognized league titles, plus his 974-minute clean-sheet streak, create one of the league’s greatest careers.
3. Giuseppe Meazza
Main Club: Inter
Position: Forward / Attacking Midfielder
Serie A Goals: 216
Serie A Titles with Inter: 3
Top-Scorer Awards: 3
Giuseppe Meazza was Italian football’s first true superstar of the unified Serie A era.
The national round-robin league began in 1929-30.
Meazza immediately became one of its defining players.
Inter won the title that season.
Meazza scored 31 league goals.
He helped Inter win further championships in 1937-38 and 1939-40.
His scoring total reached 216 Serie A goals.
That places him among the competition’s highest scorers ever.
Meazza was not simply a penalty-box striker.
He had close control and creativity that allowed him to drop deeper.
He could create chances and then move forward to finish attacks.
He won the league scoring title three times.
That mix of scoring and playmaking made him different from many early center-forwards.
The stadium shared by Inter and Milan was later officially named after him.
His World Cup achievements do not count directly in this ranking.
His Serie A career alone is strong enough for third.
Why Meazza ranks No. 3: 216 goals, three scoring crowns and three Inter league titles made him the first great superstar of Serie A’s unified era.
4. Franco Baresi
Club: AC Milan
Serie A Appearances: 470
Serie A Goals: 12
Serie A Titles: 6
Franco Baresi ranks among the greatest defenders Serie A has produced.
His style was based on reading the game.
Baresi was not physically huge.
He did not need to be.
He understood space, timing and defensive organisation better than almost every opponent.
Baresi spent his complete senior career with AC Milan.
He stayed through difficult periods and later became captain of one of the strongest teams in Serie A history.
Under Arrigo Sacchi, Milan won the 1987-88 Scudetto.
Baresi led a defensive unit that became famous for pushing forward as one group.
Milan later became even more dominant under Fabio Capello.
Baresi won six Serie A titles in total.
He made 470 league appearances for Milan.
His leadership also helped set standards followed by Maldini and later defenders.
Why does Maldini rank higher?
Longevity is part of it.
Maldini played almost 180 more Serie A matches and won one additional title.
Baresi’s peak was every bit as impressive.
Why Baresi ranks No. 4: Six Scudetti, elite defensive intelligence and captaincy during Milan’s dominant era give him one of Serie A’s strongest defensive careers.
5. Diego Maradona
Club: Napoli
Serie A Career: 1984-1991
Serie A Goals: 81
Serie A Titles: 2
Capocannoniere: 1987-88
Diego Maradona has a shorter Serie A career than most players above him.
His impact was enormous.
Napoli had never won the Italian league when Maradona arrived in 1984.
That changed in 1986-87.
Maradona led Napoli to its first Serie A title.
The championship had meaning beyond football.
Juventus, Milan and Inter had historically dominated much of Italian football’s success.
Napoli became champions from the south.
Maradona helped them do it again in 1989-90.
Between those championships, he also became Serie A’s leading scorer.
Maradona scored 15 league goals in 1987-88 and won the Capocannoniere title.
His raw scoring total of 81 goals is much smaller than Totti, Piola or Nordahl.
His role was different.
Maradona created attacks, controlled possession and carried much of Napoli’s creative responsibility.
His complete football career does not affect this ranking.
Even when we count only Serie A, leading Napoli to its first two titles gives him a special place.
Why Maradona ranks No. 5: Taking Napoli from a team without a Serie A title to two-time champion gives him one of the greatest individual-impact cases in league history.
6. Francesco Totti
Club: Roma
Serie A Career: 1993-2017
Appearances: 619
Goals: 250
Serie A Titles: 1
Capocannoniere: 2006-07
Francesco Totti spent his entire Serie A career with Roma.
He made 619 league appearances.
Only Buffon and Maldini have more.
Totti also scored 250 Serie A goals.
That ranks second only to Silvio Piola.
Those totals are even more impressive because Totti was not always a traditional striker.
He spent large parts of his career as an attacking midfielder, second striker or false nine.
His passing was as important as his finishing.
Totti’s biggest team achievement came in 2000-01.
Roma won the Scudetto.
It remains the club’s most recent league title.
Totti later produced his highest-scoring Serie A season in 2006-07.
He scored 26 goals and won the Capocannoniere award.
That season also brought him the European Golden Shoe, although the European award does not affect this ranking directly.
Totti could have increased his chances of winning more league titles by leaving Roma.
He chose to stay.
The result is an unusual all-time case built on loyalty, longevity and production.
Why Totti ranks No. 6: 619 appearances, 250 goals and more than two decades as Roma’s central attacking player create one of Serie A’s greatest individual careers.
7. Silvio Piola
Clubs: Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Torino, Juventus, Novara
Serie A Appearances: 537
Serie A Goals: 274
Capocannoniere Awards: 2
Silvio Piola holds the oldest major record in this article.
He is still Serie A’s all-time leading scorer.
Piola scored 274 goals in the unified league.
His first came for Pro Vercelli in November 1930.
Nobody has passed him.
Francesco Totti came closest with 250.
Piola scored for several clubs across a career that stretched from the 1930s into the 1950s.
His biggest scoring years came with Lazio.
He won the Capocannoniere twice.
Piola did not win a Serie A title.
That is the major reason he ranks below Totti and several title-winning legends.
However, the all-time scoring record cannot be ignored.
Holding the mark across so many decades shows how extraordinary his production was.
Why Piola ranks No. 7: The all-time Serie A record of 274 goals gives him a permanent place among the competition’s greatest players.
8. Michel Platini
Club: Juventus
Serie A Career: 1982-1987
Appearances: 147
Goals: 68
Serie A Titles: 2
Capocannoniere Awards: 3
Michel Platini spent only five seasons in Serie A.
Few players achieved as much individual dominance in such a short period.
Platini joined Juventus in 1982.
He quickly became the team’s attacking leader.
His game was based on passing, movement, free kicks and goals from midfield.
Platini won the Serie A scoring title in three consecutive seasons.
That is an exceptional achievement for a midfielder.
He finished as Capocannoniere in:
- 1982-83
- 1983-84
- 1984-85
Platini also won two Serie A titles with Juventus.
His three Ballon d’Or awards during the period show how highly his peak was rated, although those global awards are not part of our main Serie A scoring method.
His league career lasted only 147 matches.
That limits his longevity score.
His peak was strong enough to rank eighth anyway.
Why Platini ranks No. 8: Three consecutive Serie A scoring crowns from midfield and two Scudetti give him one of the league’s greatest short elite peaks.
9. Gunnar Nordahl
Clubs: AC Milan, Roma
Serie A Goals: 225
Serie A Titles with Milan: 2
Capocannoniere Awards: 5
Gunnar Nordahl became Serie A’s dominant goalscorer during the 1950s.
He joined AC Milan in 1949.
His scoring rate changed the club.
Nordahl won the Capocannoniere five times.
That remains one of the best records in Italian league history.
He scored 225 Serie A goals across his time with Milan and Roma.
Only Piola and Totti have scored more.
Nordahl was powerful but technically strong.
He attacked space quickly and finished with very few touches.
His 35-goal league season in 1949-50 stood as the unified Serie A single-season record for 66 years.
Gonzalo Higuaín eventually passed it with 36 in 2015-16.
Nordahl helped Milan win Serie A titles in 1950-51 and 1954-55.
His combination of scoring crowns and league titles earns him ninth.
Why Nordahl ranks No. 9: 225 goals and five Capocannoniere awards make him one of the greatest scorers Serie A has ever seen.
10. Alessandro Del Piero
Club: Juventus
Serie A Career: 1993-2012
Serie A Appearances: 478
Serie A Goals: 188
Officially Recognized Serie A Titles: 6
Capocannoniere: 2007-08
Alessandro Del Piero completes our Top 10.
He became the defining Juventus attacker of his generation.
Del Piero could play as a second striker or attacking midfielder.
He was especially dangerous when moving from the left side onto his right foot.
That type of curling finish became so closely connected with him that supporters began describing it as a Del Piero-style goal.
His Serie A longevity was exceptional.
Del Piero made 478 league appearances for Juventus.
He scored 188 goals.
He also won six officially recognized Serie A titles during his career.
His individual scoring peak came late.
At age 33, Del Piero scored 21 goals in 2007-08 and won the Capocannoniere.
His career also included Juventus’ 2006 relegation to Serie B.
Del Piero stayed with the club and returned to Serie A the following year.
European achievements do not count here.
His Serie A numbers and longevity are enough for tenth.
Why Del Piero ranks No. 10: 188 goals, almost 500 league matches and six recognized titles give him the final place in our Top 10.
Full Ranking of the Greatest Serie A Players Ever
| Rank | Player | Main Serie A Record | Titles |
| 1 | Paolo Maldini | 647 appearances | 7 |
| 2 | Gianluigi Buffon | Record 657 appearances | 10 |
| 3 | Giuseppe Meazza | 216 goals | 3 |
| 4 | Franco Baresi | 470 appearances | 6 |
| 5 | Diego Maradona | Napoli’s first 2 Scudetti | 2 |
| 6 | Francesco Totti | 619 appearances, 250 goals | 1 |
| 7 | Silvio Piola | Record 274 goals | 0 |
| 8 | Michel Platini | 3 straight scoring titles | 2 |
| 9 | Gunnar Nordahl | 225 goals, 5 scoring titles | 2 |
| 10 | Alessandro Del Piero | 188 goals | 6 |
Who Is the Greatest Serie A Player of All Time?
Paolo Maldini is the greatest Serie A player of all time in our ranking.
Buffon has more appearances and more league titles.
Piola scored far more goals.
Maradona may have produced the greatest transformation of one club.
Maldini offers the strongest balance.
He spent almost 25 years in Serie A.
He played 647 matches.
He won seven championships.
He remained elite at left-back and center-back across several generations.
That mix of longevity, peak quality and team success gives him first place.
Paolo Maldini vs Gianluigi Buffon: Who Ranks Higher?
This is the closest debate at the top.
Buffon has major statistical advantages.
Buffon
- 657 appearances
- 10 Serie A titles
- 974-minute clean-sheet record
Maldini
- 647 appearances
- 7 Serie A titles
- Elite at two defensive positions
Buffon has the stronger record-book case.
Maldini has the slightly stronger positional and tactical influence.
He remained a leading defender across Milan teams built by different managers and different generations.
We give Maldini the narrow edge.
A ranking that puts Buffon first would also be reasonable.
Maldini vs Baresi: Who Was the Greater Serie A Defender?
Baresi may have had the higher defensive peak.
He captained Milan during one of the most dominant defensive periods in league history.
Maldini had greater longevity.
He played 647 Serie A matches compared with Baresi’s 470.
Maldini also won seven Scudetti compared with Baresi’s six.
Our order is:
1. Paolo Maldini
4. Franco Baresi
The difference is based mainly on Maldini’s longer elite career.
Maradona vs Totti: Who Ranks Higher in Serie A?
Totti has much larger career numbers.
He scored:
250 Serie A goals
Maradona scored far fewer.
Totti also played more than 600 league matches.
Maradona’s advantage is championship impact.
Napoli had never won Serie A before his arrival.
He helped the club win twice.
Totti won one title with Roma.
Because team-changing peak impact matters strongly in our method, Maradona takes fifth.
For longevity and career statistics, Totti wins easily.
Who Is Serie A’s Greatest Goalscorer?
Silvio Piola holds the all-time record.
He scored:
274 Serie A goals
The leading historical totals are:
- Silvio Piola – 274
- Francesco Totti – 250
- Gunnar Nordahl – 225
- Giuseppe Meazza – 216
- José Altafini – 216
- Antonio Di Natale – 209
- Roberto Baggio – 205
Piola’s record has survived for more than seven decades.
Who Has Played the Most Serie A Matches?
Gianluigi Buffon is Serie A’s all-time appearance leader.
He played:
657 matches
Paolo Maldini ranks second with 647.
Francesco Totti follows with 619.
The three players are the only names to pass 600 Serie A appearances.
Who Has Won the Most Serie A Titles as a Player?
Gianluigi Buffon holds the officially recognized player record with:
10 Serie A titles
His championships came with Juventus.
Maldini won seven with AC Milan.
Several Juventus legends also built large title totals across different eras.
The ranking counts only officially recognized league championships.
Who Has Won the Most Serie A Top-Scorer Awards?
Gunnar Nordahl won the Capocannoniere five times.
That is the all-time record.
Ciro Immobile later became the first Italian player to win the award four times.
Michel Platini won three straight scoring titles during his Juventus career.
Giuseppe Meazza also won three.
Who Is the Greatest Serie A Defender?
Paolo Maldini ranks first.
Franco Baresi is second in our defensive comparison.
Other strong candidates include:
- Gaetano Scirea
- Giacinto Facchetti
- Alessandro Nesta
- Javier Zanetti
- Giorgio Chiellini
- Fabio Cannavaro
- Giacomo Bulgarelli
Maldini’s mix of longevity, titles and versatility gives him the edge.
Who Is the Greatest Serie A Goalkeeper?
Gianluigi Buffon ranks clearly first among goalkeepers.
His Serie A record includes 657 appearances and a record ten recognized titles.
Dino Zoff is the strongest historical challenger.
Walter Zenga, Sebastiano Rossi and Angelo Peruzzi also belong in longer all-time discussions.
Buffon’s longevity separates him.
Who Is the Greatest Serie A Midfielder?
Michel Platini ranks highest among attacking midfielders in our Top 10.
His three consecutive Capocannoniere awards are remarkable.
Other midfield legends have strong cases.
Gianni Rivera
Rivera played more than 500 Serie A matches and scored 122 league goals.
He became one of AC Milan’s great creative players.
Andrea Pirlo
Pirlo won titles with AC Milan and Juventus.
His passing helped shape several successful Serie A teams.
Lothar Matthäus
Matthäus produced a brilliant peak with Inter and helped the club win the 1988-89 Scudetto.
Zinedine Zidane
Zidane won two league championships with Juventus.
His Serie A peak was outstanding, though his Italian career was shorter than several players above him.
For competition-specific production, Platini takes our highest midfield position.
Why Isn’t Roberto Baggio in the Top 10?
Roberto Baggio was one of the most gifted footballers ever to play in Serie A.
He also has strong league numbers.
Baggio made 452 Serie A appearances and scored 205 goals.
He won Scudetti with Juventus in 1994-95 and AC Milan in 1995-96.
He also won the Ballon d’Or while playing for Juventus.
Why is he outside the Top 10?
The final places are extremely competitive.
Piola and Nordahl have larger scoring records.
Platini has three consecutive scoring titles.
Del Piero combines 188 goals with much more league-title success.
Baggio is therefore one of our closest omissions.
Great Serie A Players Who Missed the Top 10
Roberto Baggio
Baggio scored 205 Serie A goals across spells with Fiorentina, Juventus, AC Milan, Bologna, Inter and Brescia.
His technical peak was elite.
He narrowly misses the final ranking.
Gianni Rivera
Rivera made 501 Serie A appearances for Milan and scored 122 league goals.
He won three Scudetti during a long creative midfield career.
Marco van Basten
Van Basten scored 90 Serie A goals in 147 appearances for Milan.
He won three league titles and two Capocannoniere awards.
Injuries kept his Serie A career much shorter than those of most Top 10 players.
Gaetano Scirea
Scirea became one of Juventus’ greatest defenders.
He won several Italian league titles and helped define the libero position.
Javier Zanetti
Zanetti built one of the longest careers in Inter history.
His consistency, versatility and leadership made him one of Serie A’s great modern defenders.
Ronaldo Nazário
Ronaldo produced an extraordinary individual peak with Inter.
Injuries prevented him from creating the longevity needed for this Top 10.
Zinedine Zidane
Zidane won two Scudetti with Juventus and became one of Serie A’s leading creative midfielders in the late 1990s.
His five-season Italian career was relatively short.
Andriy Shevchenko
Shevchenko won the Serie A scoring title in his first Milan season.
He later won another Capocannoniere and helped Milan win the 2003-04 Scudetto.
Gabriel Batistuta
Batistuta became Fiorentina’s great striker before helping Roma win the 2000-01 Serie A title.
His 1990s scoring record gives him a strong longer-list case.
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Ibrahimović won Serie A titles with several clubs and remained an effective scorer into his late 30s.
His longevity and championships place him close to the Top 10.
Where Do Current Serie A Stars Rank?
No active Serie A player has yet built a career strong enough for our historical Top 10.
Lautaro Martínez has the clearest modern case.
He helped Inter win league titles in 2020-21, 2023-24 and 2025-26.
He also became Inter’s fourth-highest Serie A scorer with 132 league goals by the end of 2025-26.
Lautaro won the 2025-26 Capocannoniere with 17 goals.
Federico Dimarco also produced a record season in 2025-26.
He recorded 18 assists, setting a new Serie A single-season assist record in the modern data era.
Both remain active and can move higher with more elite seasons.
Which Serie A Era Had the Greatest Players?
Several periods have strong cases.
The 1930s
Giuseppe Meazza and Silvio Piola helped define the early unified Serie A.
Their scoring records remain part of the league’s history today.
The 1950s and 1960s
Gunnar Nordahl, Gianni Rivera and several other international stars became central figures.
Milan, Inter and Juventus developed stronger European reputations.
The Late 1980s and 1990s
This is often viewed as Serie A’s strongest star era.
The league included players such as:
- Diego Maradona
- Franco Baresi
- Paolo Maldini
- Marco van Basten
- Ruud Gullit
- Lothar Matthäus
- Roberto Baggio
- Gabriel Batistuta
- Ronaldo
- Zinedine Zidane
- Alessandro Del Piero
For overall concentration of elite players, the late 1980s and 1990s have the strongest case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best Serie A player of all time?
Paolo Maldini ranks as the best Serie A player of all time in our list. He made 647 league appearances and won seven Scudetti with AC Milan.
Who are the Top 5 Serie A players ever?
Our Top 5 are Paolo Maldini, Gianluigi Buffon, Giuseppe Meazza, Franco Baresi and Diego Maradona.
Who has scored the most goals in Serie A?
Silvio Piola holds the all-time record with 274 goals.
How many Serie A goals did Francesco Totti score?
Totti scored 250 Serie A goals in 619 appearances for Roma.
Who has played the most Serie A matches?
Gianluigi Buffon holds the record with 657 league appearances.
How many Serie A appearances did Paolo Maldini make?
Maldini played 647 Serie A matches for AC Milan.
Who has won the most Serie A titles as a player?
Buffon holds the officially recognized record with ten Serie A championships.
Who has won the most Serie A Capocannoniere awards?
Gunnar Nordahl won the scoring title five times.
How many Serie A titles did Maradona win?
Maradona helped Napoli win two Scudetti, in 1986-87 and 1989-90.
Who is the greatest Serie A defender?
Paolo Maldini ranks first among defenders, followed closely by Franco Baresi.
Who is the greatest Serie A goalkeeper?
Gianluigi Buffon ranks as the greatest goalkeeper in our Serie A list.
Why isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo in the Top 10?
Cristiano Ronaldo had an excellent three-season Serie A career with Juventus, winning two league titles and one scoring crown. His Italian league career was much shorter than the players in our Top 10.
Why isn’t Marco van Basten in the Top 10?
Van Basten had an exceptional peak, with 90 goals, three titles and two scoring crowns at Milan. Injuries limited him to 147 Serie A appearances, which hurts his longevity score.
Does this ranking count European trophies?
No. This page ranks Serie A performance only. Champions League, European Cup and UEFA Cup achievements do not directly improve a player’s position.
Conclusion
Paolo Maldini ranks first among the best Serie A players of all time, followed by Gianluigi Buffon and Giuseppe Meazza. FootballerRank reached this order by judging Serie A performance only, using peak level, league titles, goals, appearances, Capocannoniere awards, longevity and historical influence rather than complete career reputation. Franco Baresi, Diego Maradona, Francesco Totti, Silvio Piola, Michel Platini, Gunnar Nordahl and Alessandro Del Piero complete a Top 10 that covers almost a century of Italian league history.
