Lionel Messi has only been voted the third-best athlete of the 21st century in a huge poll has only been voted the third-best athlete of the 21st century in a huge poll.
To a football-centred audience it almost seems sacrilege that he is not in the top two – but wait until you hear where Cristiano Ronaldo has been placed.Meanwhile, Great Britain has only been able to contribute one athlete to the top 25 – well, to the top 100, actually.
A poll by American outlet ESPN received more than 70,000 votes as readers ranked their heroes based on their achievements since 2000 – and 56 athletes from the United States made the cut.
You can find the top 25 at the bottom of this article.
A grand total of 24 basketballers were granted access to the top 100, while there were 17 baseball players and 15 ‘soccer’ stars.
Messi, who has won a World Cup, two Copa Americas, a record eight Ballon d’Ors, four Champions Leagues, and 12 league titles with Barcelona and PSG, had to settle behind two other names.
In second place came Serena Williams, who won 23 Grand Slam titles, a record only bettered by Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic.
Out on top was Michael Phelps, who won a record 28 Olympic medals – 23 of which were gold – across five Games as a swimmer.
Ronaldo has been forced to settle for 13th place on the list behind the likes of Tiger Woods, Simone Biles, and Usain Bolt.
That’s despite hordes of fans believing he is the greatest player of all time with five Ballon d’Or trophies, five Champions League titles, seven leagues and a European Championship under his belt.
Only one boxer manages to sneak his way into the top 25 and that is Floyd Mayweather Jr., who had a 50-0 record between 1996 and 2017, and he placed 25th.
The only British athlete to crack the top 100 is Lewis Hamilton, who for his joint-record seven Formula One titles places 19th.
That gets him 10 places ahead of Michael Schumacher, who also won seven titles but whose 91 race victories cannot match Hamilton’s record of 104.
Rounding out the top five athletes beneath Phelps, Williams, and Messi are LeBron James and Tom Brady.In football, the next-highest star behind Messi and Ronaldo is Marta (32nd), the Brazilian women’s player who was voted FIFA World Player of the Year six times during her career.
That puts her ahead of Thierry Henry (48th), Aitana Bonmati (49th), Zinedine Zidane (50th), Luka Modric (55th), Alexia Putellas (56th), Mia Hamm (64th), and Kylian Mbappe (65th).Lower down the rankings are Andres Iniesta (70th), Xavi (75th), Ronaldo Nazario (87th), Ronaldinho (94th), and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (95th).That means there is no place for the likes of Kaka, Iker Casillas, and Neal Maupay.
ESPN readers’ top 25 athletes
1) Michael Phelps2) Serena Williams3) Lionel Messi4) LeBron James5) Tom Brady6) Roger Federer7) Simone Biles8) Tiger Woods9) Usain Bolt10) Kobe Bryant11) Novak Djokovic12) Rafael Nadal13) Cristiano Ronaldo14) Steph Curry15) Katie Ledecky16) Tim Duncan17) Shaquille O’Neal18) Patrick Mahomes19) Lewis Hamilton20) Aaron Donald21) Diana Taurasi22) Sidney Crosby23) Kevin Garnett24) Albert Pujols25) Floyd Mayweather Jr
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