How do you come up with a list of the best 25 male players the US has ever produced? You ask the experts.
“Guardian US is polling a group of brilliant soccer minds to determine the greatest American soccer players in history. Thanks in advance for your participation.”
So went the email. Deputy US sports editor Bryan Graham contacted 20 of the finest soccer writers, journalists and analysts from across America, asked them if they’d like to help out, and provided a little voting slip with the following instructions: simply fill in the names from 1-20, and let the fun begin.
“Greatest soccer players in history.” It’s an open question. It wasn’t designed specifically to ask who was the best player for the US men’s national team, or who enjoyed the most storied club exploits, or which player had won the most silverware. It was merely a personal list of your 20 greatest players. Interpret it as you wish. And our panel sure did.
The voting panel
Bryan Graham, Guardian US deputy sports editor
Josie Becker, columnist, MLSSoccer.com
Tom Gottlieb, writer/editor, Guardian US
David Kilpatrick, New York Cosmos club historian
Caitlin Murray, soccer writer and Guardian contributor
Jeff Bradley, soccer writer and Guardian contributor
Jack Bell, senior media specialist, North American Soccer League
Matthew Doyle, analyst, MLSSoccer.com
Ty Duffy, senior writer, The Big Lead
Jason Davis, ESPN FC columnist and talk radio host
Cristian Nyari, media manager, Bayern Munich
David Lengel, Guardian sports writer
Miles Kohrman, editor, Eight by Eight magazine
Andrew Helms, senior editor, Eight by Eight magazine
Michael Lewis, US soccer historian and Guardian contributor
Paolo Bandini, Guardian US soccer writer
Graham Parker, Guardian US soccer writer
Terrance F Ross, freelance soccer writer and Guardian contributor
James Tyler, general editor, ESPN FC
How our judges made their choices
- Our judges were asked one reasonably straightforward question: who are the best male players in US soccer history?
- They were free to choose whichever male players they wished, from any era. No limits.
- Our judges chose 20 names each, and ranked their selection in order from 1-20, No 1 being the best, No 2 second, and so on.
How the voting worked
- The No 1 choice of each judge was awarded 20pts, No 2 given 19pts, down to 1pt for their No 20 choice.
- All the votes were added together to give a final score.
- The full voting statistics are published here.
Voting disclosure
- We are hugely grateful to our judges for taking part, and none were paid for participating.
- To allow our judges the freedom to express their opinions without fear or favour, individual voting records are anonymised on the full breakdown of scores.
