When players arrived into Fort Lauderdale for the start of the 2016 adidas MLS Player Combine, they were met with an anonymous, super-scientific MLSsoccer.com survey to gauge how they felt about soccer in general and MLS specifically.
We already saw who they voted as their favorite MLS players and their list of favorite MLS stadiums—so how about their top soccer idols of all time? As on the MLS player list, there were some big names and some less-obvious choices.
Here are the players who the kids are idolizing the most:
- 1st: Ronaldinho (7 votes)
- 2nd: Lionel Messi (5 votes)
- 3rd: Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane (4 votes each)
- 4th: Wayne Rooney (3 votes)
- 5th: Fabio Cannavaro, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Paolo Maldini, Paul Scholes (2 votes each)
So who else made the list with at least one vote? Well, at least one semi-joker cheekily wrote “Fat Ronaldo.” Here’s who else got a nod. Perhaps the Patrick Vieira voter is gunning to be a NYCFC draft pick?
David Beckham
Dennis Bergkamp
Roberto Carlos
Landon Donovan
Michael Essien
Rio Ferdinand
Luis Figo
Thierry Henry
Andrés Iniesta
Oliver Kahn
Claude Makélélé
Javier Mascherano
Lothar Matthaus
James Milner
Ramon Morales
Manuel Neuer
Pelé
Carles Puyol
Sergio Ramos
Tony Sanneh
Peter Schmeichel
Thiago Silva
Edwin Van Der Sar
Patrick Vieira
