The art form of passing is what makes the game cohesive. The distinction between the great and the legendary is the ability to execute a pass with exquisite vision, timing, and pinpoint accuracy. A few of players have improved this ability to an unmatched degree throughout football’s history, permanently altering the game. Regretfully, we are unable to produce comprehensive information about many players from the 1990s, so they are not included. 21st-century players make up the majority of the players profiled.
We examine what qualities make a passer great, from the brilliant through passes of Lionel Messi to the inventive assists of Xavi Hernandez and the amazing through balls of Andrea Pirlo. These players create opportunities that frequently defy expectations because of their exceptional ability to understand the game, predict movements, and throw the ball precisely.
These are the ten greatest football passers of all time as of 2024.
10. Luka Modric
Master passer Luka Modric is well-known for his extraordinary skill, vision, and control. He can make precise, accurate short- and long-range passes with ease, and his passing range is unmatched.
Modric can pick out teammates with accuracy thanks to his ability to understand the game and spot gaps. He can frequently break defenses with a single thread of passes. He is a headache for opponents to mark because of his technical skill and on-field understanding.
With 283 assists over his career, Modric’s passing stats are astounding. He is one of the best passers in history because of his inventiveness, control, and passing range. Modric can set the pace of the game thanks to his vision and judgment, and he frequently uses his passes to dominate the play.
He has won multiple awards, including the Ballon d’Or in 2018, for his ability to make critical passes under duress. A new generation of midfielders is still motivated by Modric’s legacy, solidifying his place among the greatest of all time.
9. Fàbregas Cesc
As a key member of La Roja, Cesc Fàbregas solidified his place among the best midfielders and passers of his generation.
He excelled at Arsenal and Chelsea at the club level, setting incredible records there. He became the first player to record more than 15 assists in two consecutive seasons and the fastest player to earn 100 assists in the English Premier League.
8. Kroos, Toni
Kroos, who is regarded as one of the greatest passers with the best vision, did not arrive here by accident. He produced a genuine recitation against Scotland in the UEFA Euro 2024, which was praised by more than just the onlookers. Kroos is a real precision machine, as seen by the data and statistics following the game. He completed 8 of 8 long passes, 23 of 23 short passes, and 71 of 72 medium passes, and he only failed one pass out of 103, which is the number of passes required for the European Championship. His success percentage was 99 since he only had one failure.
It is challenging to surpass Kroos’ record as the player with the most touches and passes during the European Championship group stage.
Four Champions Leagues, five Club World Cups, four European Super Cups, four Spanish Leagues, one Copa del Rey, and four Spanish Super Cups are among the 22 titles that Toni Kroos has already won in his ten years at Real Madrid. As a Real Madrid player, he participated in 463 games, contributing 98 assists and 28 goals.
7. Iniesta
In contrast, Iniesta was very skilled at another facet of playmaking. Iniesta was a virtuoso at short-range passing but was not known for his long-range skills.
He was able to create beautiful through-balls and lobbed passes that could break down even the strongest defenses thanks to his extraordinary dribbling abilities and vision.
Iniesta was a problem for opposition teams because of his distinct style, which flourished in confined places.
6. Zidane Zinedine
Zinedine Zidane was a brilliant football player whose remarkable passing talents frequently took a backseat to his amazing skill set. Zidane, a big-game player who regularly performed well under pressure and scored important goals in World Cup and Champions League finals, has what is perhaps the best first touch in football history. Zidane was a brilliant goal scorer, but he was also a master passer.
Zidane’s inventiveness and passing range were unmatched. He was essentially four-footed since he could use both the instep and the outside edge of both feet. Even in the presence of opponents, his adaptability enabled him to come up with inventive passing alternatives.
“When we don’t know what to do, we just give the ball to Zizou and he works something out,” his France teammate Bixente Lizarazu once remarked. This demonstrates Zidane’s vision and passing prowess and highlights his genuine brilliance on the field. Zidane is a great icon of the game because, in spite of the pressure around him, he constantly managed to pass the ball to his colleagues in an efficient manner.
