The 2024 Paris Olympics football schedule is set to get underway next week, and in anticipation of it, we have decided to rank the top five best Team GB football players of all time.
Unfortunately, there will be no Team GB competing this year, given ongoing constraints over submitting a men's team consisting of the countries making up Great Britain, while the women's team failed to qualify. Nonetheless, here is our ranking of the top five best Team GB football players of all time:
Best Team GB football players – Our top five
5. Fara Williams
Kicking off our list is the most capped England player of all time for men's and women's, Fara Williams. She earned a whopping 172 senior caps for her country between 2001 and 2019, and is also joint-fourth on the women's all time top goal scorers list with 40.
In her illustrious career at club level, Williams won the Women's Premier League with Everton in the 2007/08 season, before winning the Women's Super League title with Merseyside rivals Liverpool in 2013 and 2014. Her service to women's football saw her inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame in 2021.
Williams played four times for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, making her debut in a 0-0 draw against Sweden. The women's team were knocked out by Canada at the quarter-final stage.
4. Daniel Sturridge
Our first of two men's players sees Daniel Sturridge make our list in fourth place. The former England international striker played for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, where he scored two goals before they were knocked out by South Korea 5-4 on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Sturridge was also prolific for England at youth level, and for the senior team, he scored eight goals in 26 caps. He also won plenty of silverware at club level, winning the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea and Liverpool respectively, as well as the Premier League with the Blues in the 2009/10 season.
Sturridge almost won the Premier League with Liverpool as well in the 2013/14 campaign, forming a formidable partnership with Luis Suarez. The forward boasted plenty of fair and finesse, as well as an iconic goal celebration.
3. Ellen White
Team GB women's all time top scorer Ellen White features third on our list, with six goals in eight appearances at the Olympics. She is also England women's all time record goalscorer with 52 goals in 113 senior caps.
White was also part of the Lionesses team that won the UEFA European Championship in 2022, as well as playing for Team GB at both the London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At club level, she was just as successful.
Indeed, White won the Women's Super League twice with Arsenal, as well as lifting the Women's FA Cup and League Cup trophies with both the Gunners and Manchester City. The striker scored a total of 98 goals in 217 senior appearances at club level.
2. Kelly Smith
Perhaps the greatest English women's player of all time, Kelly Smith features as our runner-up. She featured in Team GB's women's team at the London 2012 Olympics at the age of 33, but an injury unfortunately prevented her from playing any part in their quarter-final defeat to Canada.
Nonetheless, Smith still boasted an impressive record at international level, scoring 46 goals 117 senior caps for England over a spell of two decades between 1995 and 2015. She is England women's second-highest all time top goalscorer, and 10th in terms of most senior international caps.
Smith was part of the famous quadruple-winning Arsenal women's team in the 2006/07 season, and also won many other major accolades with the Gunners. She was officially inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame in 2021.
1. Ryan Giggs
Our best Team GB football player of all time has to be Ryan Giggs. The Welshman captained the men's Team GB side at the London 2012 Olympics at the age of 38, scoring one goal in four appearances.
For his country, Giggs earned 64 senior caps, scoring 12 goals. He was named Wales' Footballer of the Year in both 1996 and 2006, and also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009.
Giggs is most remembered for his illustrious career at Manchester United, where he won 13 Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles among many other pieces of silverware. He also holds the record for the most Premier League appearances with 632, and the most assists in the English top flight with 162.
