The best footballers ever to play in the United States MLS

Okay, we’re not actually going to rank all of them, but this list of the greatest players in United States MLS history is quite a thing. Thierry Henry? Zlatan? Drogba? Pirlo? Who takes your fancy?

Some serious ballers in here. Let’s check it out.

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The best footballers to play in the United States MLS

For ease of reference, I’ve separated them into the continents from which they hail.

Europeans in the MLS

• 🇫🇷 Thierry Henry
• 🇮🇹 Andrea Pirlo
• 🇪🇸 David Villa
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wayne Rooney
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Beckham
• 🇸🇪 Zlatan Ibrahimović
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steven Gerrard
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard
• 🇮🇪 Robbie Keane
• 🇩🇪 Bastian Schweinsteiger
• 🇮🇹 Giorgio Chiellini
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gareth Bale
• 🇮🇹 Sebastian Giovinco

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South & Central America

Brazilian great Romário played professional club football on five separate continents. He’s the only player ever to do that.

• 🇧🇷 Pelé
• 🇧🇷 Romário
• 🇧🇷 Kaká
• 🇨🇴 Carlos Valderrama
• 🇲🇽 Carlos Vela
• 🇦🇷 Gonzalo Higuaín
• 🇲🇽 Javier Hernández
• 🇵🇾 Miguel Almirón

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North America

• 🇺🇸 Landon Donovan
• 🇨🇦 Alphonso Davies
• 🇺🇸 Clint Dempsey
• 🇺🇸 Carlos Bocanegra

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Africa

• 🇿🇦 Doctor Khumalo
• 🇿🇦 Jomo Sono
• 🇨🇮 Didier Drogba
• 🇰🇪 Victor Wanyama
• 🇳🇬 Obafemi Martins

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Australia

• 🇦🇺 Tim Cahill

Njabulo Blom is the latest in a string of South Africans to sign for an MLS club and we wish him everything of the best!

Who are the top five MLS players in the competition’s history? Is it Thierry Henry? Didier Drogba? The late, great Pele? Hit me up in the comments, let’s have a convo.

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Meanwhile, you can get more insights, analysis and love for the beautiful game from James Freemantle

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