What defines greatness in football? Records? Trophies? Or simply having your name chanted by thousands at the stadium and millions around the world?
Over the last century, we have seen numerous players achieve greatness in football. Fans thronged stadiums on weekends to catch their heroes in action but nothing compared to the emotions when we saw them swap their club jerseys for that of the national team.
And watching them strut their stuff in a quadrennial tournament made it even more special. Players wait four years to make their mark in the World Cup. Some fail to do so, some don't even qualify.
But for those that did, they enthralled audiences far and wide. The World Cup is a tournament followed by billions - even if they don't follow club football in their daily lives. 32 nations in one country vying for that single 18-carat gold trophy that weighs 5 kgs.
The best of the best have lifted that trophy aloft as teammates carried them on their shoulders. Yet, there are those who put in memorable performances that simply became footnotes in the history books and world Cup almanacs.
Therefore, we at Sportskeeda decided to bring to the limelight not only the world's best players to ever step foot on the pitch but also those who deserve the limelight for their extraordinary performances in World Cups - be it from the 1930s or the 21st century.
This is why we bring to you the 50 Greatest Players in FIFA World Cup History. Every day in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, we will bring to you one player as we make our way down from 50 to 1.
The list includes players past and present. From the days of listening to their exploits over the radio, to watching them on black-and-white television sets, to now watching them in high definition...
The list contains players from all various positions that have evolved over the decades. Goalkeepers, sweepers, defenders, midfielders, forwards, strikers... You name it, we've got it covered.
Picking 50 players from 20 different World Cups was no easy task, though. Ranking them all took even longer as we argued each player's merits back and forth for days. Some may say we are not worthy of the task once they see the final list but who really is? Who?
Does your favorite player make the list? There's only one way to find out.
