Most successful footballer

I'm thinking most "successful" rather than "best". Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Franz Beckenbauer. Selected stats:

6 * Bundesliga (4 with Bayern, 1 with Hamburg, 1 with Bayern as manager)
3 * European Cups
1 * Cup winners cup
1 * Uefa cup
World Cup as player and manager
Euro Championship
2*Ballon d'or, 2 runners-up

I can't think of anyone even near him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Redfearn

Shame for Giggsy he's Welsh or he'd maybe have a couple of World Cup Quarter Final defeats to add to

Premier League (11): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
FA Cup (4): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04
Football League Cup (4): 1991–92, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10
UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08
UEFA Super Cup (1): 1991
Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999
FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008

Johan Cruyff

9* Eredivisie
5* La Liga (inc 4 as manager)
4* European Cups (inc 1 as manager)
2* Cup Winners' Cups (both as manager)
4* European Player of the Year
loads* other playing baubles
0* international honours, because hey

fuck this "as manager" shit

Oh look Alex Ferguson is the most successful footballer of all time with 48 trophies including
2* Scottish Football League Division 2 (as player)

Alan Shearer

Southampton: Full Members Cup finalist: 1992
Blackburn Rovers: Premier League winner: 1994–95
England: Tournoi de France: 1997

I'd already typed out his managerial achievements before you went and ruined it

Dimitar Berbatov:

Escaped the Mafia hold over him

beckham, giggs, scholesy, gneville all honouranle mentions domestically.

Maldini must have a few europea cups stowed away somewhere to add to league and cup titles.

Clarence Seedorf

4 Champions Leagues
1 Serie A
1 La Liga
2 Eredivisie
1 Spanish Cup
1 Italian Cup
2 UEFA Super Cups

Alfredo Di Stefano

2 Primera Division, Argentina
3 Colombian Championships
1 Copa Colombia
2 Pequeña Copa del Mundo de Clubes
8 Primera Division, Spain
1 Copa del Rey
5 European Cups
1 Intercontinental Cup
2 Latin Cups

no premier league title tho, gotta count against him

not the best, but impressive nonetheless:

Franco Baresi

6x Serie A
3x European Cup
3x European Super Cup
4x Italian Super Cup
2x Intercontinental Cup
1x World Cup
+AC Milan 'Player of the Century' and a bunch of other stuff

(Maldini is more impressive at club level, but I can't help but buy into that 'World Cup' being key.)

(even though I'm not sure if he played at all.)

love this guy
Ferenc Puskás
5x Hungarian League
5x La Liga
3x European Cup
1x Intercontinental Cup
1x Olympic Champion
top international goalscorer of the 20th Century (84 goals in 85 internationals)

xp Yeh, world cup feels as if it has a heavier weighting. Biggest stage etc.

reading his wiki it seems like the world conspired against di stefano on that point

World Cup absence

The first World Cup in which he would have been able to participate was the 1950 tournament. As Argentina refused to participate, Di Stéfano (aged 24) missed his first chance at playing in the World Cup.

For the 1954 World Cup, Argentina did not enter and FIFA declared Di Stéfano was not eligible to play because he had previously been capped by both Argentina and Colombia.[citation needed]

He acquired Spanish citizenship in 1956, and played four World Cup qualifying matches for Spain in 1957, but the team failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup.

In 1961, Di Stéfano (36) who had already won 5 European Cups, helped Spain qualify for the World Cup of 1962. A muscular injury just before the competition prevented him from playing in the finals.[9] He retired from international football afterwards.

seems like he went around collecting everything otherwise

Humood Sultan

Bahraini Premier League: 1974, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995,
Bahraini King's Cup: 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997

On the flipside, some sort of appreciation for Gholam Hossein Peyrovani, who played for Iran's Bargh Shiraz for 23 seasons, during which time they didn't win a single trophy.

Pretty impressive for a footballer that's never been capped and played most of his career as a semi-professional:

Noel Bailie

Irish Premier League: 1992/93, 1993/94, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2009/10
Irish Cup: 1993/94, 1994/95, 2001/02, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2009/10

yeah but otoh i got an irish league title on a scratchcard once, yknow?