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Klinsmann vs van Basten

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
van BastenWinner
86.7

van Basten wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics

Klinsmann
84.0

Klinsmann wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Football

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇳🇱 Marco van Basten
86.7

van Basten leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Three Ballons d'Or and the volley that won Euro 88 — retired at 28 through injury.

1. Marco van Basten
86.7
2. Jürgen Klinsmann
84.0

Category breakdown

Season form · Goals per season

Career timeline · Goals per season

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through season 5 · Goals per season
1. 🇳🇱 Marco van Basten5 seasons played · career day 2,190127 goals
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇩🇪 Jürgen Klinsmann5 seasons played · career day 2,92178 goals
-38.6% vs van Basten at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇩🇪 Klinsmann00003192
🇳🇱 van Basten000996168

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricKlinsmannRetiredvan BastenRetired
World Cup titles1
European Championship titles1
UEFA Cup titles2
Germany goals47
Career club goals244
Ballon d'Or3
European Cups2
European Championships1
Career goals300
Serie A titles4
Eredivisie top scorer4
Dominance w25%7888
Peak w20%8894
Longevity w20%8472
Honours w20%8690
Statistics w15%8690

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
van Basten86.7
Klinsmann84.0
The people
Klinsmann
van Basten

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Make your case for Klinsmann vs van Basten. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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