Five players from previous eras who could have broken the Messi-Ronaldo dominance

1950s Pele

Pele is the only player in history to have won the World Cup three times

The first name that popped into everybody's mind, you know you need no introduction when the President of the United States concedes that you're more popular than him, with Ronald Reagan stating at a 1982 meeting that: "My name is Ronald Reagan, I’m the President of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pele is”.

Pele is widely considered by many to be the greatest player in history, and is the only player to have won the World Cup on three occasions, being part of the victorious Brazil teams at the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups.

He burst onto the scene at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden as a 17-year-old, putting in a spectacular performance which courted world attention and was also instrumental in the 1970 World Cup triumph.

He was a prolific goalscorer during his prime, and achieved distinct success with Santos, leading them to numerous domestic and international success and was voted the joint Player of The Century alongside Diego Maradona by FIFA in 2000.

There is no doubt that if Pele were present in this generation, Messi and Ronaldo could not have duopolized the discussions of the best player in the world.