innovation and success on the pitch , " The Kaiser " is clearly in a class all his own .
No . 2 : Diego Maradona Born in 1960 in a shack so rickety that when it rained it was wetter inside than out , raised in one room with seven siblings , Maradona became the only man to win a World Cup virtually by himself . More than that : his skill and personality dominated a generation of World Cups . Everyone saw the tiny left-footer coming . Maradona was ten when an Argentine newspaper ran a story about a prodigy named “ Caradona .” He made his professional debut at fifteen , travelling to the game in his only pair of trousers : turquoise corduroys . He used the match fee to buy another pair . At only 17 , in 1978 , he was very nearly picked for the World Cup in his own country .
His first World Cup came in 1982 , but ended in disgrace when he was sent off for kicking the Brazilian Batista in the testicles . Mexico in 1986 was to be his zenith . Pele ’ s great Brazilian generation won the World Cup of 1962 without him , Johan Cruijff ’ s fellow Dutchmen reached the final of 1978 without him , but Maradona ’ s mostly mediocre