Who is better, Maradona or Zico?
Diego Maradona leads with a GOAT score of 92.0 against 90.9 for Zico — a gap of 1.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Maradona vs Zico
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Diego Maradona above Zico: 92.0 vs 90.9. Diego Maradona leads on Dominance, Honours, Peak. Zico leads on Longevity, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MaradonaWinner
92.0Maradona wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours
Zico
90.9Zico wins: Longevity, Statistics
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇷 Diego Maradona
92.0
Maradona leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Diego Maradona
2. Zico
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇦🇷 Diego Maradona114 goals
5 seasons by age 21 · 22.8 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Zico — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | MaradonaRetired · Napoli | ZicoRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Career goals | 353 | 527 |
| Career assists | 213 | — |
| Ballon d'Or | 0 | — |
| World Cups | 1 | — |
| Champions League titles | 0 | — |
| League titles | 3 | — |
| Goals per 90 | 0.51 | — |
| South American Footballer of the Year awards | — | 3 |
| Intercontinental Cup titles | — | 1 |
| Copa Libertadores titles | — | 1 |
| Brazil goals | — | 48 |
| Dominance w25% | 95 | 88 |
| Peak w20% | 98 | 96 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 93 | 90 |
| Statistics w15% | 91 | 94 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Maradona92.0
Zico90.9
FAQ
Where does Zico beat Maradona?
Zico scores higher on statistics, longevity. Maradona leads on peak, dominance, honours.
How is the Maradona vs Zico score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Maradona: 92.0, Zico: 90.9.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Maradona vs Zico. 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.