The 12 greatest one-footed players in football history | OneFootball

From the moment you start kicking a ball around as a child, the golden rule is to be able to play with both feet.

Be it for getting out of danger and turning onto your opposite side or spotting a pass that requires the opposite foot, you’d think having a weaker foot was illegal in your youth. Seriously.

Unfortunately, though, kicking a ball against a wall with your weaker left peg 100 times a day and driving your mum insane does not actually guarantee a career as a pro footballer. Shambolic, we know.

Truth is, this whole needing to be well balanced and good on both feet idea is actually a big myth. Well, sort of. Let us elaborate.

The beautiful game we know and love hasn’t become so endlessly enjoyable through the years by way of watching the very best players perform like robots without weakness. Far from it. The best players are the ones who know their strengths and weaknesses, and play to them as best they can.

Simply put, not everyone can be flawless on both feet. Sure, it would be nice to be a tricky midfielder that can create an angle out of anywhere and ping passes effortlessly off either boot, but it’s just not realistic. Same goes for the wide players of the world; sometimes constantly cutting inside is the only option.

While you absolutely do need to have some use of your weaker boot to make it to any respectable level in football, there is a category of severely one-footed players who have still managed to reach exceptional heights despite having a notoriously weaker foot.

And today, GIVEMESPORT is listing 12 of the best one-footed players in celebration of us who have to make do with only one half decent foot at grassroots level, in faint hope of still somehow making it pro.

Some of the players in this list are absolutely sublime footballers. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

12. Andy Robertson

Nobody can deny just how magnificent a footballer Robertson is, and just how tirelessly he has worked to transform himself into a world class full back despite once being a relegated minnow at Hull City.

Having said that, it’s a good thing the Scotland international’s left foot is as scrumptious as it is, because he’s miles off it when tasked with repeating similar feats on his right.

11. Martin Odegaard

Now, he might not be there yet in many people’s eyes, but Odegaard can absolutely end up being one of the best one-footed players ever over the course of the next few years, so we’ve included him.

Arsenal‘s Norwegian creator can look a little clunky by avoiding his right foot, but with how endlessly silky his left is, we can’t exactly have a go at him. Odegaard is a delightful player to watch, and glides through the lines at the top level. We back him to fulfil his one-footed potential.

10. Giorgio Chiellini

In an era where defenders are required to be more progressive, composed and all of that boring stuff about no longer being a throwback defender, Chiellini has somehow massively outstayed his welcome.

Despite rather obviously having no right foot, the veteran Italian has forged a tremendous legacy for himself as one of Italy’s greatest defenders. Combining the dark arts with a blend of modernity, his career at the top has been a joy to watch.

9. Antonio Valencia

Before his leg break against Rangers in 2010, Valencia looked like yet another world class piece of recruitment from Sir Alex Ferguson, blazing down the right wing for United and turning defenders inside out.

However, he was never quite the same following his return. While he enjoyed an illustrious career at United, he lost that ability to beat a marker on either side, and would always do everything he could to fashion angles on his right foot only. Endlessly frustrating to watch.

8. Paulo Dybala

When in full stride, Dybala and his wand of a left foot can cause havoc for any defence in world football.

Be it threading through a killer ball, bamboozling a marker one vs one, or letting one rip into the top bins with all the finesse in the world, ‘La Joya’ has a wonderful left peg. Show him onto his right, though, and he looks half the player, unfortunately.

7. Christian Vieri

Ah, Vieri. The Italian powerhouse who bulldozed his way to goals no matter the conditions or the club.

An unrelenting eye for goal and a physicality that does not wilt meant that Vieri was always good for a goal, with 23 in 49 caps for Italy. However, it was only his left foot that was capable of finding those world class levels; never the right.

6. David Beckham

When your right foot is as good as Beckham’s was – and probably still is – you can absolutely get away with not having much to offer from the left peg.

In fact, Beckham’s left foot was very good; very good at planting into the floor and making room for his right foot to do something outrageous. A viciously one-footed technician that goes under the radar. Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy – it was on display worldwide.

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5. Angel Di Maria

Di Maria simply should not have worked as a world class right winger for Real Madrid, with just how often he’d shift the ball back onto his left. But alas, he did work, and he made defenders’ lives hell in his best years.

While he evolved into a much more refined player in his later years, the younger iteration of the Argentine was unleashing crosses from deep in the right flank from near enough exclusively his left peg. Defenders knew what was coming, but they couldn’t stop that vicious whip. Neither could goalkeepers.

4. Ricardo Quaresma

The man so one-footed that it nearly won him a Puskas Award.

Was Quaresma so good with his right foot that he simply didn’t need his left, or so bad with his left that he had to make his right foot so unstoppable to even things out? We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is that he had it all. Rabona or outside of the boot, Quaresma’s right foot is a menace, and he’s proof that one-footed players are just as exciting as two-footed players.

3. Hristo Stoichkov

Another with a left foot that was near unstoppable, the general consensus here is that if you’ve got an absolute wand of a left peg, you’ll do alright.

Stoichkov winning the 1994 Ballon d’Or is a win for all of us who didn’t put in the reps against the wall as kids. Skills or goals, ‘El Pistolero’ could do it all with his left boot, thus he needn’t try with his right.

2. Arjen Robben

We all knew what he was going to do, every single time. But could any defenders stop him when he was on it? No chance. Robben was a killer, and his left foot was the poison.

Think Di Maria at Real Madrid, but multiply it by ten. Peak Robben was a complete cheat code. Marking him? Good luck. He’ll run you wide, square you up and send you packing. Every time. Football heritage.

1. Diego Maradona

In the eyes of many, Maradona is the greatest footballer of all time. And you cannot rubbish that opinion. The majestic Argentine really was that incredible.

What makes that feat even more staggering is the fact that he wasn’t all that well balanced. In fact, Maradona was heavily left-footed, but that didn’t stop him from turning defenders inside out and pulling off moves that very few footballers are capable of repeating. The man was a magician in every sense of the word.

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