The Greatest Left-Footed Footballers of All Time

The footballers with wands for left feet!

Among the greatest left-footed footballers of all time, you will find some of the world’s best stars to ever play the game!

In football, a player blessed with left-footed ability is a luxury.

The natural control, body positioning and touch of a left-footer can make life much more difficult for defenders.

In addition, a natural left foot is not easily coached to naturally right-footed players.

Right-footers generally dominate the sport, which is unsurprising as only around 8% of the world’s population is naturally left-footed.

As a result, few world-class, left-footed players emerge in world football and the most elite are once-in-a-generation talents.

In this article, we will look back at some of the footballing stars that produced pure magic with their left foot.  

Diego Maradona

Argentinian icon Diego Maradona played in a footballing age where bumpy, muddy, soaked pitches were the norm.

Knee-high tackles from committed opposition regularly threatened skilful players in the 1980s, but Maradona took it all in his stride.

As part of his eccentric persona, Maradona would do kick-ups with both feet during pre-match warm-ups.

In addition, the former Napoli man regularly showed incredible control by balancing the ball on his head and shoulders.

Yet, for all his flair, Maradona was mostly reliant on his left-footed ability.

The Argentinian could cut inside and out on his left foot, and his air of unpredictability kept some of the world’s best defenders guessing.

In particular, Maradona’s infamous 1986 World Cup solo goal in the quarter-finals against England displayed his left-footed class.

All 11 touches, starting from his own half to finishing into the net after rounding Peter Shilton, were all with his left foot.

It wasn’t just Maradona’s electric dribbling ability that puts him in the elite left-footed category.

The forward was also a prolific set-piece taker and scored over 60 direct free-kicks in his 21-year career.

Lionel Messi

Comparisons between Maradona and Lionel Messi are regularly discussed among football fans and pundits.

Both left-footed players have a similar playing style, especially when dribbling the ball and fainting to ghost past the opposition.

The pair have also scored eerily similar goals to make the comparison even stronger.

Undoubtedly, Messi is one of the greatest players in world football, Barcelona’s greatest ever player, and he has a range of left-footed threats.

The Argentinian can score from range, take players on, provide inch-perfect assists and dictate the tempo of play.

Also, similarly to Maradona, Messi has largely relied on his left foot when scoring throughout his career. In his 17 years at Barcelona, only 81 of Messi’s 672 goals were scored with his right foot.

Now in the later stages of his career, Messi has taken on a more withdrawn attacking role.

Often, the Argentinean superstar displays an expert range of passing ability rather than drawing in opponents and drifting past them with left-footed skill.

Johan Cruyff

Dutch great Johan Cruyff was a rare footballer who had exceptional ability with both feet. But, the former Ajax legend was naturally left-footed.

A technical expert with a tidy touch and perfect balance, Cruyff was a forward that took positions across the pitch where he could best control the match.

His playing style and philosophy were important for the evolution of Total Football, where players change position and keep the ball on the floor to dictate the match tempo.

Even though he was a gifted two-footed player, Cruyff still favoured his left when possible.

It was this desire to create that led to one of the most famous technical skills in modern football, the Cruyff turn.

Stuck in a wide position with his back to goal in a 1974 World Cup match against Sweden, Cruyff flicked the ball past his opponent with his right foot before crossing with his left.

The passage of play came to nothing, but the unpredictability of Cruyff’s moment of genius epitomised his greatness in the game and his left-footed reliance. He stands alone as Holland’s greatest-ever player.

Ferenc Puskás

Efficient finishing was the aim for left-footed Real Madrid great Ferenc Puskás.

Often underestimated due to his short height and stocky build, Puskás defied perceptions that he was not athletic enough to succeed in professional football.

Technically brilliant and with expert vision and creativity, Puskás was a generational talent that excelled at the elite level.

The Hungarian international was also well known for having a rocket of a left foot and was the chief set-piece taker for the national team and Real Madrid.

Puskás’ ruthlessness in front of the goal has been unrivalled on the international stage.

He was the main man for the Hungary side that won the World Cup in 1954 and gold at the 1952 Olympics.

In 1965, Puskás hung up his boots with more than a goal a game at the international level, striking 84 goals in 85 matches.

Roberto Carlos

Roberto Carlos was an attacking full-back that changed the role of the traditional defender.

Influenced by the creativity of playing samba football on the streets of São Paulo, the Brazilian had a blend of flair and discipline.

Although Carlos has helped modernise the attacking full-back role in football, he is most well-known for his infamous left-footed shot.

The former Inter Milan and Real Madrid player scored some of the greatest left-footed goals of all time.

As a result, he has been referred to as El Hombre Bala, ‘The Bullet Man.’

Carlos’ goal reel includes strikes from physics-defying angles and long-range hits powerful enough to break the net.

But one of the Brazilian's most famous goals came in a 1997 Tournoi de France match against the French national team.

With the free-kick 30 yards from goal, Carlos took a huge run-up and swerved the ball around the French wall, into the bottom corner past a stunned Fabien Barthez.

Ryan Giggs 

Left-footed Welsh winger Ryan Giggs was a central part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s serial winning Man United side in the 1990s and 2000s.

Giggs was a reliable player for Ferguson during a 24-yard career with the Red Devils, often deployed on the left wing.

A fast, intelligent, tricky and direct player, Giggs had all the attributes to excel in the high standards of a competitive Premier League and Champions League winning side.

He could take players on with ease, and unlock defences with an impressive range of passing.

However, Giggs’s success and achievements were sometimes unrecognised.

His consistency has occasionally been overshadowed by sharing the pitch with some of world football’s biggest names, such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Welshman’s consistency was so impressive that he finished his decorated career with many individual accolades.

Today, he has the most-ever Premier League assists (162) and has won the most Premier League titles of any player (13).