In football nowadays, even though the right back position may have changed greatly over the past years but the best right backs of all time all have some similar qualities in common and are probably they still remain legends of the game of football.
The position of a right back is more helping your team both in the attack and defensively so you must that stamina to run up and down the pitch without being late on any ball.
Here is the brief ranking of the best Right backs of all time in the history of football
- Cafu
- Philip Lahm
- Javier Zanetti
- Dani Alves
- Djalma Santos
- Berti Vogts
- Phil Neal
- Gianluca Zambrotta
- Lilliam Thuram
- Giusseppe Bergomi
Ranking the Best Right Backs of All Time
Many great football players have passed through that right back position during their career so it was not quite an easy task to sort out the best cause all performed really good so stick on to your reading and discover the legendary players that made their way into this list.
1. Cafu
For every football that have really been following up and watching many football games, anytime they hear term of a right back its sure that the first name that comes to their mind is the legendary Brazilian player Cafu.
He played for the Brazilian national team in 4 successive World Cup tournaments from the year 1994 to the year 2006 and along side his country mate Ronaldo, he is one of the only 2 players that have appeared in as much as 3 World Cup finals and winning the majority 2 of them in the years 1994 and 2002 and so it is of no doubt that he the first choice and makes it as the best right back ever.
Even though Cafu played as a right back, he was a great tabu for the opponents both in the defence and in their attack line as he could as he could also dribble on the ball upfront just like any Brazilian winger and also constantly running on the ball and putting pressure to his opponents.
Coming to the level of trophies, Cafu won a quite good number of trophies and he can be described as a complete player by looking at the trophies he won which include 2 Serie A title, a Champions League and with up to 3 World Cups.
2. Philipp Lahm
The Bayern Munich and Geman Legend also widely as the "magic Dwarf" because of his short height and structure. Philipp is the first German on this list and is probably the best right ever in Germany's history. Lahm won it all with club and country and so can be also be called a complete player just like the first on this list.
At Bayern Munich where he spent the greatest part of his career, he won as many as 8 Bundesliga titles and 6 DFB Pokal and most especially he won a Champions League in the year 2012-2013.
At international level, he represented Germany in 3 World Cups and winning one of them which was in the year 2014. we will just brief it short and end there cause if we want to name all his team and individual honors we will surely cover a whole book.
Lahm had all the good qualities of a quality left back as he was quick, made good and precise tackles on the ball , had a great stamina and also could be used as a midfielder.
3. Javier Zanetti
Javier Zanetti is one of the players who had that ability to play both as a right back or a left back and still performed amazingly. Just like the 2 other players already on the list, Javier Zanetti had most of their qualities and could also play as a midfielder just like Lahm.
Just like the star attackers Neymar and Messi, Zanetti has the record of 16 dribbles completed in a single match of Champions League and this is just incredible for a right back player.
Even though he played many games for his country, 140 games, most of his accomplishments came at club level with Inter Milan.
During his career at Inter Milan, he won up to 16 major trophies with the club including 5 Serie A titles, 4 Coppa Italia and 1 Champions League title. So looking at his achievments and quality of play, he definitely deserves his spot as one of the best right backs of all time.
4. Dani Alves
Yes another Brazilian on the list but this time around from the present era. Dani Alves does not only stands as one of the most decorated players in football history, he is also among the best right backs of all time.
Dani Alves is one of the players that helped Barcelona experience its glorious years especially under Pep Guardiola. He helped Barcelona to win 3 Champions League titles , 6 La Liga and 4 Copa del Reys.
After for the Spanish giants Barcelona, he later on moved to Juventus and PSG where he also won a Serie A title and a Ligue 1 respectively.
Dani Alves just needed intelligent midfielders liek Iniesta, Xavi or Marco Veratti who could really understand his play and always make him good passes any time he makes the run so that he can just cut back the bal in to create more touble in the box of the opponent.
Dani Alves has many skills like dribbling, skills, Speed, stamina and tackle on the ball makes not to miss out on this our list of the best right backs of all time in the history of football.
5. Djalma Santos
Still another Brazilian on this list. Djalma Santos is one of the names that can no be ommited out of this list cause he represented his country in 4 consecutive World Cups from the year 1954 to the World Cup played in 1966.
Djalma Santos together with Philipp Lahm and Franz Beckenbauer, are the only three players to have been named in the World Cup team of the tournament for up to 3 World Cup tournaments.
He spend his club career at 3 different clubs but played a greater part of his club career at Purtuguesa and Palmeiras and playing more than 400 games for each club.
Djalma Santos was very great on the ball and also possessed great technic just like the others in the list even though he played as a left back.
6. Berti Vogts
On this list, he stands as one the most defensive right back. He is a German player and played for the German club Borussia Monchengladbach for all of his career and aside from winning the World Cup with West Germany, he was also part and contributed greatly to the glorious years of his club as they won 5 Bundesiga trophies, 1 DFB Pokal and 2 UEFA Cups.
In total, he played 526 games in all competitions for the club and scored 42 goals which is not bad for a player like him who played more of defensive roles on the pitch.
Considering his achievements and consistent performance in his career as well as his individual honors, he earns the 6th spot of our list of the Best right backs of all time in the history of football.
7. Phil Neal
Liverpool is always known as club that has welcomed and habored great right backs and presently they have Alexander Arnold as their right back and he is gradually becoming one of the best right backs ever.
But we are going to base on the Phil Neal who played for the club for 11 years and left as a legend especially in his position.
Even though Phil Neal played as a right back, he was more attack base and this his attack mindedness earned him the nickname of Nico after the legendary Brazilian player. As he was also a great penalty taker, he scored a total of 40 goals for Liverpool in the League.
Phil Neal will forever remain a good example of a right back that creates or score goals by any way they can so as to help their clubs quench their thirst for victory.
8. Gianluca Zambrotta
ever in the history of football and he during his career , he played for many clubs but the most prominent being Juventus AC Milan and Barcelona. Zambrotta was a right footed player but he was versatile that he could play with both foot just as easily.
Zambrota's main qualities where his pace, stamina and also his ability to man mark an attacker and retrieve the ball with great speed.
Probably his greatest accomplishment in his career came in the year 2006 when they defeated France in the World Cup final.
He has also featured in the team of the tournament of the World Cup and all these qualities and honors of his earns him a spot in the ranking of the best right backs ever in the history of football.
9. Lilian Thuram
Here comes the only French player who succeeds making his way into this list and he deserves it. Coming to France he is best right ever and was part of the France Golden generation that won the World Cup 1998 and the Euro 2000.
He played for many different clubs his career mostly was based in Italy as he played for Juventus and Parma. Thuram is surely the most aggressive player on this list.
10. Giuseppe Bergomi
Still another Inter Milan legend, Giuseppe Bergomi is also one the Versatile players on this list and does it pretty good. During his career, he played both in the position of Left Back and Right back due to his versatility.
Going to international level, he was among the players that won the 1982 World Cup for Italy in that era and he also greatly contributed to that.
The most prominent of his qualities were his crossing abilities, speed, and his right foot that was capable of powerful long distance shots and all these makes him one the best strikers ever in the game of football.