Best Right Wingers of All Time

What counts as a right winger?

Garrincha wanted to face the full-back with space to run into. Robben often wanted the ball in the same area so he could come inside; Messi could start there and become the attack’s main passer. Which of those jobs do we count? That decision shapes the ranking.

We include classic right wingers, right-sided wide forwards and wide playmakers with a sustained elite contribution from that side. A few appearances will not do. Playing on both wings does not rule anyone out, though work elsewhere cannot be added to an argument about the right.

UEFA traces Messi’s changes of role from Frank Rijkaard’s right wing to Pep Guardiola’s centre, then back to the right under Luis Enrique. Those wide periods earn his inclusion here. His entire false-nine career does not.

How we ranked the best right wingers

We begin with a player’s peak on the right, then consider how long he kept performing there at an elite level. Dribbling and delivery count alongside passing, finishing and movement. Who he faced matters, too. A repeatable advantage in difficult matches outweighs a few spectacular moments.

Historical assist records are uneven, and medals do not settle an individual comparison. The order is an editorial judgment. Beckham could make a chance without winning the same sort of duel as Garrincha; both kinds of creation count.

Our overall winger ranking gives more weight to the classic winger’s role across both flanks and leaves Messi outside its ten. Here, sustained right-sided wide-forward and playmaking spells count. That broader eligibility and the focus on one side explain the different order. The left-winger ranking applies its own left-sided comparison.

The 15 greatest right wingers, ranked

1. Lionel Messi

Once Messi received on the right, a defence had several problems to deal with. He could shoot, dribble through the next line or pass behind it. That threat took different forms in his early Barcelona years and later alongside Suárez and Neymar. His profile takes in the rest of his career.

Those spells on the right give us the combination of invention and scoring that puts him first. Restrict the comparison to a classic winger on the touchline, however, and we would choose Garrincha.

2. Garrincha

Garrincha made the outside route dangerous even when everyone expected it. He could pause, draw the defender towards him and escape with the next change of balance. His Botafogo career established that identity; Brazil’s 1962 World Cup gave it its strongest competitive setting.

Messi had more ways to score and make the pass. Garrincha gets our vote over Best because his work belonged more clearly to the right wing and had such influence on an attack that won the World Cup.

3. George Best

Best’s control let him change direction without first slowing the attack to walking pace. He could beat a defender outside or carry the ball into a shooting position. The National Football Museum documents his work on either wing and centrally, so this placement needs that qualification.

We credit the substantial right-sided work within his Manchester United career. At his best, he offered just enough as an individual attacker to finish above Robben. Garrincha has the stronger specialist claim.

4. Arjen Robben

A defender could know Robben wanted his left foot and still lose the race to close the shot. The outside run and short exchange remained available, which made blocking the inside lane harder than it looked. His 2013 Champions League final winner supplies a clear example of the threat under pressure.

Robben gets our slight vote over Figo for his sustained peak in the inverted role on the right. Injuries weakened his claim for longevity, so there is little between them.

5. Luís Figo

Figo could hold the ball near the right touchline until the defender committed, then escape or deliver. His strength and changes of pace gave an attack time to bring others forward. The Madrid legend profile describes the dribbling and supply that helped its European Cup-winning side.

Figo’s career across elite clubs gives him the broader creative record. Robben takes fourth for the more concentrated scoring threat from this starting position. Figo follows, with more ways to create than Matthews.

6. Stanley Matthews

Matthews could let the full-back approach and still make the next touch his own. The attraction was the duel itself: timing, balance and close control opened a route to the cross. His profile explains the unusually long career behind that familiar image.

Figo could direct the attack in more ways. Matthews takes sixth for the quality of his wing play and its extraordinary longevity, narrowly ahead of Salah’s more scoring-led role. Among specialists, he is the benchmark immediately after Garrincha.

7. Mohamed Salah

Salah’s right-wing starting position gives him a diagonal route towards goal. He can run beyond the full-back, receive inside him or draw pressure before releasing a teammate. The Liverpool chapter is the centre of this case, rather than every appearance in a different role.

We give traditional creation from the flank substantial weight alongside finishing, and that is what keeps Matthews just in front. Salah takes seventh for his sustained influence at club level. Jairzinho, next in the order, owes more of his position to one concentrated tournament peak.

8. Jairzinho

Jairzinho attacked the space beyond the winger’s first duel. Once Brazil moved a defence towards one side, he could arrive inside it with the strength and speed of a forward. His 1970 World Cup contribution shows how scoring runs can belong in a right-wing comparison.

Salah has the stronger long club case from the right. Jairzinho’s role in that outstanding international attack gives him the more concentrated right-sided peak, and the edge over Bale.

9. Gareth Bale

Bale could turn a small gap on the right into a run towards the box before a defence recovered. At Madrid, that direct threat complemented creators who wanted more touches. The club’s account of his career includes five Champions League titles and his decisive 2018 final contribution.

There is useful context in his left-sided and central work, but we cannot simply credit it to the right wing. With that distinction made, Jairzinho stays above him. We put Bale ahead of Finney for the level he reached at his attacking best.

10. Tom Finney

Finney could create and finish from more than one forward position. The museum’s account explicitly places him on both wings as well as through the middle. He qualifies because of substantial right-sided work, without becoming an exclusively right-wing player on this page.

Bale reached the higher peak from that side. We narrowly favour Finney’s wider attacking range over Beckham’s more specialised way of creating danger.

11. David Beckham

Beckham did not need to reach the byline before making the right flank dangerous. He could deliver early, switch the attack or find a runner from deeper ground. His profile treats that right-midfield role on its own terms, including the running that supported it.

Finney had more to offer as a dribbler and an individual scorer. It is the length of time Beckham kept delivering from the right that earns him the place immediately above Di María.

12. Ángel Di María

Di María could receive on the right and bring his left foot into the passing lane, with a dribble or a cross still available. UEFA’s analysis of a 2022 meeting with Madrid places him on the right, with freedom to move inside.

His central Madrid and left-sided Argentina work cannot all be counted towards this place. Beckham’s more continuous right-sided identity wins the close call; Di María’s range of creation keeps him above Julinho.

13. Julinho

Julinho offered a specialist’s answer to the flank: control the reception, beat the defender and supply the next attacker. His part in Fiorentina’s first league title in 1955/56 gives that reputation a firm club setting. Palmeiras records his position as right winger.

Di María has the broader record as a creator at the highest level. In the next comparison, Julinho’s sustained work in the position gets our narrow vote over Hamrin. Finishing carries more of Hamrin’s claim.

14. Kurt Hamrin

Hamrin made dribbling and scoring parts of the same right-sided job. He could escape a challenge with close touches, then keep moving towards the next opening. The Swedish FA’s account places his speed and dribbling on the right flank and recalls Sweden’s 1958 World Cup final.

Hamrin’s long Italian club career puts him ahead of Amancio. Julinho gets the place above him for a greater emphasis on supplying the attack, though it is a close call.

15. Amancio

Amancio could invite a challenge, move the ball just beyond it and continue into the space the defender had left. Madrid’s legend profile identifies the right wing as his territory and records his goal in the 1966 European Cup final.

We rank Amancio fifteenth for his Madrid and Spain career. Hamrin offered a scoring contribution for longer. The gap to the closest players outside the list is narrow.

Close omissions and different roles

Bruno Conti, Jimmy Johnstone, Pierre Littbarski and Riyad Mahrez are eligible alternatives. We favour Amancio’s combination of a sustained specialist role and a decisive European Cup final contribution for the final place; a different weighting could reasonably change that choice.

Cristiano Ronaldo played on the right for Manchester United, but his defining sustained wide-forward peak belongs to the left. He therefore has a stronger case in our left-wing comparison. Bukayo Saka and Lamine Yamal qualify by role; this order favours the longer established bodies of work above them. It is not a prediction about their future careers.