I personally think it was maradona. He was absolutely mad. Nobody could stop his kicks when he was on his peak form.

Sinisa Mihajlovic for me

really? better than pele, maradona, rivelinho, becks, carlos etc.?
I don't think so.

Why is Roberto Carlos supposedly a better free-kick taker than Mihajlovic? Sinisa was by far better, and I certainly would have him up there as one of, if not the, best

Mihajlovic was class with free kicks. Scored a hat trick in one game from free kicks I read earlier on today.

Carlos, when he scores, they are usually spectacular, but doesnt he have an awful average for actually scoring them, as in goals per free kick?

you know what? i think he does.

does anyone have clips of mihajlovic score some free-kicks? i'm intrigued but have never seen him play.

and what about all the other legendary free kick takers i've listed?
some people say platini was the best free kick taker ever. i've never seen him curl the ball tho, he just places it and it goes in.

Yeah his average isnt upto much, hence why I rate Sinisa ahead of him and many others. Of course, when Robbie does score, its an amazing sight..but it doesnt happen as often as it should to be considered one of the best freekick takers in the world, in my opinion at least

Jorge Albertz was awesome, although not in the class of greatest ever. So much power in the shots and a great average of goals per shot. Played for Hamburg and Rangers if anyone hasn't heard of him. Sheddy will remember him I am sure.

I loved Albertz man..As much as I hate Celtic and Rangers, every now and again one of their players would come along that you just couldnt help liking. Big Jorg was fantastic, and was the best interview in the business!

Hooijdank is pretty good too. Carlos is shit, he blasts 20 to row z for every 1 he scores.

of cours it's becks

I would like to say Rivelino, platini, but the technique in kicking the ball has improved. So i go for Beckham, and lets not forget about Assuscao (sp?)

rivelino was a madman with free kicks. Can't forget Puskas either. He scored themn from all over the field.

Agreed, Assuncao was amazing too. Also nowadays Pirlo is great, and so is Totti.

who care?? as long as the ball is in the net hes the best so whoever put it in the most is the best

Platini!

How come Carlos be in this poll ?

my knowledge of football may not be as wide as you guys, but i still say becks free kicks are amazing, i remember an fa cup match, on the right side of the goal, he curled it in at the near post, which so much curl, and not only that, i feel his the gratest free kick taker in the 90's.

carlos is shite at free kicks lol, he just scores the rare few n when he does they kick ass.. its gotta be becks though, although i can adit i havent seem some ppl on the list take them but beckhams the man of the century at free kicks

i would say becks. r.carlos is a crap freekick taker totti is also good.

prob becks , like platini's too , wot bout little Zolas free kicks , one of the best i ever seen at any set piece . and hows carlos on here , ian harte takes better than him .

holy crap have you seen some or roberto carlos' goals?, those free kicks are amazing

yea hes scored a couple of cracker (le tournoi ....) but scores about 1 in 100 he takes , theres lots of players who are a lot better , half the brazil team is better than him at free kicks

oh well then if it aint him then its puskas or beckham

I THINK DEL PIERO
R.CARLOS CANT HIT SHIT............

Adriano.....

totally forgot .... RECOBA! gotta be on the list

Gianfranco Zola at his peak he apparently scored 1 in every 3 freekicks!

i like Carlos's freekick the best, he can bend it, he can hit high long range and also the low long range power but he is not so conistent, Becks gets my vote on this because he is more consistent. Van Hoijdonk is a great free kick taker as well.

can i just ask to whoever voted for pele.. have you even seen a lot fo his free kicks? dotn see how you can rate him as best in the world when im 98% sure u aint even seen his free kicks.

Puskas wasn't that good at free-kicks, i wouldn't put him on the list, and definately not above maradona, Rivelino ect.

pele's free-kicks were sort of blasts. Not much curl really, he wasn't as good as Maradona, Beckham, Totti, Assunscao ect.

yeah true, theres not much footage around for people to see of him, even last time they werent telecasted.

everybody seems to not understand what maradona can do on free kicks!!! come on, he's amazing.

It's very hard to choose the best free-kick taker but here are some of them:
Ronaldinho
Roberto Carlos
David Beckham
van Hoijdoonk
Platini

does anybody share my opinions of maradona?

I watched a five minute video of Maradona, showcasing some of his best goals, and at least 50% of them were free kicks. I feel Beckham has revolutionised the way a free kick is to be taken though and has made it alot more technical so my vote is for him.

no one is voting for maradona because there are other areas in his game which were far better

In my opinion it has to be Pierre Van Hooijdink or Ronald Koeman. If forced to choose I'd pick Koeman.

it doesn't mean he was bad at free kicks just because he did a lot of other things better. i think he's better than most if not all free kick takers today.

Diego for me boss! But you left out Ronald Koeman. Never mind about placing it.....BANG!

i've never seen koeman's free kicks and i don't really know about van hooijdink either.

and most of you seem to disagree with my inclusion of carlos on this list. it's true that maybe he doesn't belong here but i've met many brazilians who consider him to be better than becks at freekicks. it's not my opinion but i thought maybe you ppl thought the same as well. (sry)

carlo srarely ever scores free kicks.. even ronaldinho is better

ronaldinho and beckham are quality free kick takers
beckam is what he is today due to his numerous free kicks for man utd and england

did anyone see adriano's free kick last week

it was miles out and he jsut hammered it wid his left foot

that guy can do anything!!!!!!!!!!! he's magic

If anyone has ANY sense about the game, they will ignore the hype and choose Platini.

I didn't see much of Pele, Maradona etc except from tapes.
So I'm just gonna pick one that are playing now and I still think that van Hooijdonk is the best right now.

And as much as it kills, I also have to say Benfica's Simao. He always gets on target.

I would say Beckham for the reason's JillyBo alluded to. I would like to see some stats for goals per free kick, if anyone can find any. Admittedly I haven't seen some of the players listed, but one of my favorite goals ever was Beckham's free kick against Everton the last day he wore a United strip. Maradona is a close second.

yeah i saw that goal too. pure class and a classic becks kick.

and about platini, i've never seen him curl the ball. he just placed or blasted it and it just went in.

You say even Ronaldinho is better as if Ronaldinho is not so great himself at freekicks

Diego Maradona,Mihaljovic and Koeman
I also dunno why Carlos is in the list
For real,i would prefer beckham,figo and zidane
For Brasil, i'd rather ronaldinho

I think Beckham is the best freekick scorer. I know that quite a number of world class players can do the same. But, I think Becks edge Zidane, Figo, R.Carlos, Rivaldo and Giggs etc when it comes to freekick. He is amazing....

Benni McCarthy is up there as well.