Ranking the 5 best passers in football history

#3 Juan Roman Riquelme

Juan Roman Riquelme acknowledging the Boca Juniors fans.

Juan Roman Riquelme was one of the best midfielders and most underrated footballers of all time. He had some of the best passing and ball-playing abilities one may come across.

Riquelme notably played for Barcelona, Villarreal and Boca Juniors, among others. The Argentine midfielder made over 400 appearances at club level, scoring 106 goals and registering 71 assists.

The former Boca man was known as a classic number 10. A tall and strong presence in midfield, Riquelme held his own in the center of the park. He used his physical and technical abilities such as passing, dribbling and long-range shooting for the team's benefit.

Riquelme made 51 appearances for Argentina, scoring 17 goals and making 20 assists in the process.

He retired from the sport in 2014.

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#2 Andres Iniesta

Andres Iniesta celebrates after scoring against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League.

Andres Iniesta is an absolute joy to watch on the pitch. He combines his agility, passing abilities, dribbling skills and spatial awareness to control the midfield. Along with Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets, Iniesta formed one of the sport's greatest ever midfield trios at Barcelona.

Iniesta began his career as a defensive midfielder. However, he exhibited great attacking awareness, decision-making in tight spaces and made darting runs forward. That helped him establish himself as an attacking midfielder later in his career.

He spent 22 years at Barcelona, winning a total of 35 trophies. Iniesta also won two Euro Championships and one World Cup with Spain.

Iniesta has made a whopping 783 club appearances in his career, scoring 82 goals and providing 160 assists. For Spain, he played 131 games, scoring 13 and providing 30 assists.

The Spaniard has been with Vissel Kobe in Japan since 2018.

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#1 Xavi Hernandez

Xavi Hernandez is one of the few players to have both played for and managed Barcelona.

Xavi Hernandez is arguably the best passer to have played the beautiful game. Deployed mainly as a 'number 6', Xavi controlled the tempo of the game exceptionally well. Such was his passing accuracy that the man could probably thread a needle with his eyes closed.

The Spaniard is one of the few players in the history of the game to finish an entire game with a 100% passing accuracy. However, he is highest on the list for the number of passes made. He did so against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in 2013 as he made 92 passes.

The Spaniard is also among a list of a handful of players to have played in over 1000 professional football matches.

His role was to play as a deep-lying playmaker, carefully stitching a move together for Barca by connecting defense with offense. He rarely stopped moving or creating space for his teammates during a game. With a low center of gravity, agility, exceptional ball control and near perfect vision, Xavi could pick a pass from any range.

Having retired as a player in 2019, Xavi has now returned to Spain and is Barcelona's manager.