Nigeria Legend Austin Okocha Faces Zidane, Messi, Pele, Maradona, Ronaldinho In Race For RMC’s Greatest Ever Dribbler

The former Paris Saint Germain star has been selected alongside 31 other legends of the game to determine who is the master dazzler with the ball at his feet.

Top French publication RMC Sports has named former Super Eagles hero, Austin Okocha, among its greatest ever football dribblers. This is ahead of the release of RMC’s football-focused film tagged ‘Dribbleurs’ later this month.

The 32 present and past renowned dribblers of the beautiful game include Brazilian greats Pele, Garrincha, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo. Argentina’s living legend Lionel Messi is up there with compatriot Diego Maradona.

Former Dutch stars Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp, as well as England’s George Best, also feature on the list.

Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard, Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo, and Liverpool’s duo of Sadio Mane and Mo Salah bear the lights for players still at the peak of their careers.

Fans are the ultimate judge in the contest with votes expected to be cast and results displayed on social media site, Twitter.

In the first round of the contest, each player is paired with another, and the player with the highest votes advance to the next round.

Okocha is in a tough match-up with France’s 1998 World Cup-winning hero, Zinedine Zidane.

So good they named him twice, Jay Jay Okocha is often regarded as one of the best African players in history. But fans will have to decide if he was a better dribbler than the Real Madrid manager.

Already decided is the tie between ex-Barcelona ace Ronaldinho and Ajax midfielder Hakim Ziyech, with the Brazilian legend claiming 90% of all votes cast.

Dutchman Arjen Robben has also floored Juventus attacker Douglas Costa.

Cruyff is currently edging the match-up against Mane.

Two-time BBC Player of the Year, Okocha featured at three different World Cup finals and even made the Squad of the Tournament at the 1998 Finals despite Nigeria getting knocked out at the round of 16.