The best centre-backs ever

They say that defences win titles – and great defences need great centre-backs at the heart of them.

Whether they played in a back four, a back three or some other, much less common configuration, this lot rank as the finest centre-halves the game has ever seen.

Let's get straight down to business, shall we...?

Dubbed ‘God’ by Aston Villa fans for his legendary exploits in claret and blue, Paul McGrath was a warrior of a centre-back who played some of his best football while battling recurrent knee problems.

Previously an FA Cup winner with Manchester United, McGrath starred in the Republic of Ireland’s run to the quarter-finals at their debut World Cup of 1990 and helped Villa to two League Cup triumphs.

Brazil’s finest central defender, Domingos da Guia earned 30 caps for his nation during the 1930s and 1940s, playing a key role in their third-placed finish at the 1938 World Cup.

A league champion in Uruguay and Argentina with Nacional and Boca Juniors respectively, Da Guia helped Brazil to successive Copa America finals at the end of his international career.

One of Mexico’s very best players of all time, Rafael Marquez represented his country at five World Cups from 2002 to 2018 – becoming just the fourth player to do so, and the first to wear the captain’s armband at all five.

A technically adept centre-half also more than capable of operating as a defensive midfielder, Marquez won the 2008/09 treble with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

A mainstay of the German national team for a good decade, Jurgen Kohler racked up 105 caps, winning the 1990 World Cup with West Germany and Euro 96 post-unification.

An elite, physically imposing stopper with strong ball-playing abilities, Kohler won league titles with Bayern Munich, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund – spending the last seven years of his career with the latter and starring in their 1996/97 Champions League victory.

Born in Uruguay, Jose Santamaria won caps for his birthland and Spain – who he represented at the 1962 World Cup and where he gained legendary status as a member of the Real Madrid teams who dominated the early years of the European Cup, which he won four times.

As such, the man nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his consistently rock-solid displays goes down as one of the finest defenders in the history of both nations.

Among the greatest South American players of the 20th century, Chile’s Elias Figueroa drew comparisons with Franz Beckenbauer for his graceful style as a sweeper.

Technically proficient and physically strong in equal measure, Figueroa – who starred for clubs in his homeland, Uruguay and Brazil – played at the 1966, 1974 and 1982 World Cups, as well as helping his nation to the final of the 1979 Copa America.

Right up there with the game’s ultimate goalscoring defenders, Fernando Hierro is a true icon in the history of both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team – both of whom he captained.

And when he wasn’t scoring from penalties, free-kicks or through other means, the three-time Champions League winner combined robust centre-half play with an extraordinary passing range.

Younger readers might know him better as the Match of the Day pundit disposed to delivering scathing assessments of “diabolical” defending – and he would know: Alan Hansen was one of the standout centre-halves of the 80s.

A robust yet elegant player, the Liverpool legend won eight First Division titles and three European Cups with the Reds – among numerous other honours – and featured for Scotland at the 1982 World Cup.

Integral to Manchester City’s early success of the Abu Dhabi ownership era, Vincent Kompany established himself as one of the top centre-backs in world football during the 2010s.

A wonderfully well-rounded exponent of the role, the classy Belgian – who helped his country to third place at the 2018 World Cup – captained City to four Premier League titles, including their first in 2011/12.

Undoubtedly one of Chelsea’s very best players of all time and one of the Premier League’s greatest centre-backs, John Terry enjoyed a glittering career which yielded five top-flight titles and a Champions League victory.

Blues skipper for all of those successes and more, Terry – a commanding defensive enforcer who carried a huge threat from set-pieces, as evidenced by his 84 career goals – also captained England for a short time.

At a time when English centre-halves were still predominantly rather industrial and no-nonsense, Rio Ferdinand broke the mould with his considerably more ‘continental’ approach to the art of defending.

Twice the most expensive defender in the world, Ferdinand – a truly two-footed player who brought great flair to the role of stopper – won it all with Manchester United and earned 81 England caps, appearing at multiple World Cups and Euros.

The standout member of three-man defence which secured 1980 European Championship success for West Germany, Karlheinz Forster was an exceptional man-marker who stuck to his opponent like glue.

A league champion in his homeland and France with Stuttgart and Marseille respectively, Forster was named 1982 German Footballer of the Year and made the team of the tournament at two World Cups and two Euros.

A supremely well-rounded centre-back who was among the world’s best during the late 90s and early 00s, Jaap Stam combined strength, pace and technical ability to stunning effect.

Capped 67 times by the Netherlands, Stam became the most expensive defender of all time when he joined Manchester United from PSV for £10.6m in 1998 – and he went on to feature prominently in United’s historic 1998/99 treble under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Another all-time Manchester United defensive great, Nemanja Vidic blunted many an attack with the intimidatingly tough brand of centre-back play he brought to the Premier League.

An archetypal hardman, the superstar Serbian enforcer’s Old Trafford honours included the Champions League and five Premier League titles – two of which he won as skipper.

Vidic is also one of a handful of players to claim the Premier League Player of the Season award twice.

The most smiley centre-back in the history of the game? Italian icon Giorgio Chiellini is certainly a contender, never leaving any doubt as to how much he loved being out there on the pitch.

An aggressive defender who excelled in a back four or back three, Chiellini captained Italy to Euro 2020 glory and racked up 561 appearances for Juventus, winning nine Serie A titles and being named the league’s Defender of the Year on five occasions.

Arguably the best defender in the world in his prime, Virgil van Dijk progressed from Dutch side Groningen to Liverpool via Celtic and Southampton, quickly becoming an Anfield legend.

During Jurgen Klopp’s trophy-laden Reds tenure, the towering Van Dijk got his hands on every major trophy available – also scooping 2018/19 PFA Players’ Player of the Year – regularly dominating with his world-class blend of physicality, positional awareness and skill in possession.

Perhaps the finest defender of the pre-war era, Jose Nasazzi sealed footballing immortality by captaining Uruguay to glory at the inaugural World Cup in 1930.

A gold medallist at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, Nasazzi was known as ‘El Gran Mariscal’ (‘The Great Marshal’) for his utterly inspirational performances at the back.

An absolute legend of the English game, Billy Wright was the first footballer in the world to reach 100 international caps – and he won 90 of his 105 as skipper, a record later equalled by Bobby Moore.

Wright was an exceptional anticipator of danger who possessed superb tackling and heading abilities; he spent his entire career at Wolves, captaining the West Midlands club to three First Division titles and an FA Cup – as well as finishing as 1957 Ballon d’Or runner-up behind Alfredo Di Stefano.

Primarily a sweeper, Ruud Krol was an integral member of the Dutch national team during the era of Total Football – so he was adept pretty much anywhere.

A tactically intelligent player capable of picking out a pinpoint pass with either foot, Krol starred in the Netherlands’ runs to the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals – having helped Ajax to three straight European Cups between 1971 and 1973.

Leading by example as he captained Italy to 2006 World Cup glory, Fabio Cannavaro became just the second defender to win the Ballon d’Or – after Franz Beckenbauer 30 years earlier.

A dynamic and dominant centre-back who excelled in the position despite his relatively short five-foot-nine stature, Cannavaro struck up one of the greatest defensive partnerships of all time with Alessandro Nesta for the Azzurri.

Marcel Desailly’s nickname, ‘The Rock’, does him something of a disservice: the French great did much, much more than simply blunt attacks (although he did do that with world-class distinction).

A fantastic organiser who excelled in pretty much all physical and technical aspects of defending, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winner could operate across the back line or in a defensive midfield capacity – and he brought such versatility to club football, where he won major silverware with Marseille, Milan and Chelsea.

Teammate of Desailly for those two great French successes around the turn of the century, Lilian Thuram was an immensely dominant and athletic centre-half renowned for his studious attitude to the game.

A two-time Serie A champion with Juventus, Thuram didn’t score many goals – but he did score two extremely important ones: both in his country’s 1998 World Cup semi-final victory over Croatia, the only time he ever found the net in international football.

His ‘gamesmanship’ could make him hard to warm to, but even Sergio Ramos’ most vocal dissenters would struggle to kid themselves that he’s not one of the very best centre-backs in the history of the game.

Able to do it all (including score Panenka penalties), the enduring Spaniard earned a national-record 180 caps for his country, playing a starring role in their 2010 World Cup triumph and the two Euros victories either side – in addition to winning 11 major honours at Real Madrid, a good chunk of them as skipper.

Starring alongside Italian compatriots Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Mauro Tassotti in one of the finest rearguards of all time – Arrigo Sacchi’s back-to-back European Cup-winning back four of the late 80s and early 90s – Alessandro Costacurta was an undeniably elite defender.

A complete centre-half with excellent distribution and unusually good crossing ability for the position, Costacurta (save for a loan spell at Monza as a youngster) spent his whole career with the Rossoneri, racking up 663 appearances over the course of almost two decades.

The best South American centre-back of all time, Daniel Passarella was an imperious defensive enforcer and much more besides.

Captain as Argentina lifted their first World Cup, as hosts in 1978, the River Plate and Fiorentina legend tackled utterly ferociously, possessed astonishing aerial ability given his five-foot-eight height, and scored almost 200 goals for club and country.

Regarded as one of the hardest players in the history of the game, Claudio Gentile defended with class and defended with force.

A versatile stopper who could also be deployed as a full-back, the iconic Italian made the team of the tournament at Euro 1980 and the 1982 World Cup – helping his nation to victory at the latter – and claimed numerous major honours with Juventus, including the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup.

The ultimate goalscoring defender, Ronald Koeman’s career goals record needs a couple of reads to sink in: the devastating Dutchman found the net 252 times for club and country, often from penalties and free-kicks – which he struck with the power of a horse on steroids.

And he did all that while etching his name into football history as one of the finest sweepers of all time, helping his country to victory at Euro 1988 and scoring the goal (from a free-kick, naturally) which clinched Barcelona’s maiden European Cup in 1992.

An extraordinarily graceful defender who was as good as impossible to play against at his peak, Alessandro Nesta stands out as the finest centre-back of the early 21st century.

A 2006 World Cup winner with Italy (although injury ruled him out of the latter stages of the tournament), Nesta partnered to mesmerising effect with Fabio Cannavaro for the Azzurri, and starred in two Champions League triumphs for Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan.

Simply outstanding whether deployed as a sweeper or a more traditional centre-back, Franco Baresi won the 1982 World Cup with Italy and all of the biggest club honours with Milan – where he spent his entire career, amassing 719 appearances between 1978 and 1997.

Starring alongside the likes of Paolo Maldini, Mauro Tassotti and the aforementioned Alessandro Costacurta, Baresi was voted the Rossoneri’s Player of the Century in 1999 – high praise for a highly gifted defender who had few equals.

The greatest Italian defender of all time, Gaetano Scirea was ahead of time with his technical ability as a centre-half, excelling in and out of possession.

Captain of Juventus and later his country – winning the 1984/85 European Cup and 1982 World Cup – Scirea was an utterly revered player whose tragic death in a car crash at the age of just 36 was met with nationwide grief.

We’ll let Pele take this one: “He was my friend as well as the greatest defender I ever played against” – said O Rei upon the inimitable England and West Ham icon’s death from cancer in 1993.

And England’s 1966 World Cup-winning captain really was one of the greats, an ever-composed centre-half who read the game better than possibly anyone else in the position ever has – and a player who set the ultimate example for his teammates with his all-round excellence as both a footballer and a person.

The first great sweeper and undoubtedly one of the finest players to grace the pitch in any position, the legendary Franz Beckenbauer was one of a kind.

A two-time Ballon d’Or recipient – the only defender to achieve that remarkable feat – Der Kaiser regularly took games by the scruff of the neck, inspiring West Germany to 1972 European Championship and 1974 World Cup glory, and Bayern Munich to three successive European Cups – all as skipper.