Real Madrid All-Time Team for Foreign players

Luka Modric, Cristano Ronaldo and Pepe

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Real Madrid's foreign players only.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid All-Time Team Under Florentina Perez
Real Madrid All-Time Team Under Miguel Munoz
Real Madrid Argentine Best XI
Real Madrid Castilla Greatest All-Time
Real Madrid All-Time Team for Spanish Players
Atletico Madrid All-Time Team for Foreign Players
Ronaldo, Ronald, Ronnie, Ron etc All-Time Team

Real Madrid Top Ten Greatest Goalkeepers

Real Madrid Top Ten Greatest Rightbacks

Real Madrid Top Ten Greatest Leftbacks

Real Madrid Top Ten Greatest Central defenders

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Real Madrid.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.  

Real Madrid is the most successful club in soccer's history.  They have won more titles in Europe than any other clubs. Led by President Santiago Bernabeu, the club began to dominate European football during the 1950's.  They won five straight European Cup between 1956 and 1960.  The team that beat Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 was widely considered to be greatest club in history.  At the time of writing, they won a record of 13 European Cups/Champions' league titles.  They won a record 6 European Cups, and after the European Champions League became the Champions' League, they won 7 more, also a record for the competition.

Di Stefano and Puskas

Team
GK: Keylor Navas (Costa Rica)
After starting out at Saprissa he moved to Albacete, and then to Levante in La Liga.  After a great performance With Levante, he won the La Liga Keeper of the Year award for 2014 with Levante.  Then, he led Costa Rica to the quarter-final of the WC in Brazil.  After the WC Finals, he earned a transfer to Real Madrid.  With Real Madrid, he won 3 Champions League titles as their starting keeper.

GK: Rogelio Dominguez (Argentina)
Rogelio Dominguez played around the same time as Carrizo.  He earned 59 caps.  He missed the 1958 World Cup Finals because he moved to Real Madrid in 1957, and Argentina did not select overseas players.  He was Argentina's 1962 World Cup team. With Real Madrid, he won two European Cups.  Before Real Madrid, he played for Racing Club in Argentina.

GK: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)
Thibaut Courtois joined Chelsea from Genk in 2011, but he was sent away to Atletico Madrid immediately.  He won the Europa League in his first season and then, a Copa del Rey in his second season.  In his final season, Atletico Madrid reached the Final of the Champions' League, but lost to Real Madrid.  He was the starting keeper for Belgium at World Cup 2014 and 2018, and Euro 2016.

RB: Christian Panucci (Italy)
Christian Panucci's breakout season was the season 1993-1994, when he played 19 games for AC Milan and won the 1994 UEFA Champions' League.  The highlight of his career was perhaps his three seasons with Real Madrid.  He helped them to win the UEFA Champions' League in 1998.  His longest stint was, however, with AS Roma.  At the international level, he had 57 caps with Italy, but his career was very rocky.  He never secured a regular place with the team.

CB: Pepe (Portugal)
Born in Brazil, Pepe moved to Portugal playing for Maritimo.  In 2004, he moved to Porto while he established himself as one of the best defender in Portugal.  In 2007, he earned a dream move to Real Madrid.  At the time of writing, he won two Champions' league with them.  Although born in Brazil, he chose to represent Portugal.  At Euro 2016, he emerged as one of Portugal's best player as Portugal won their first ever international trophy.  He earned the Man of the Match in the Final against France.

Pepe

CB: Raphaël Varane (France)
Varane started with Lens. After one season with the French club, as a professional footballer, Varane joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2011. With Real Madrid, he won 3 Champions League in 4 years.  In 2012, he made his international debut.  He went to the World Cup Finals in 2014, where he was nominated as the Young Player of the Tournament.  He missed the 2016 European Championship through an injury.

CB/SW: Ulrich Stielike (Germany)
Ulrich Stielike is one of a small handful of players to have played in all 3 European club finals, the World Cup Final and the European Championship Final.  He was part of the Mönchengladbach team that won three Bundesliga titles, the UEFA Cup in 1975 and gained a runner-up medal in the European Cup in 1977.  He joined Real Madrid in 1977, where he won the UEFA Cup.  He was capped 42 times, winning Euro 1980.  He also played in the 1982 World Cup Finals.

CB: Jose Santamaria (Uruguay)
Jose Santamaria was a member of Real Madrid's all-conquering team of the late 1950's.  He spent his 18-year career with Nacional and Real Madrid, winning 17 major titles the two teams combined, Between 1957 and 1966, Santamaria won four European Cups with Real Madrid playing alongside Alfredo Di Stefano.  He was considered one of the best ever center-backs. He played for Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup Finals, but played for Spain 4 years later in Sweden.

Jose Santamaria 

LB: Roberto Carlos (Brazil)
Roberto Carlos was regarded one of the best leftbacks in history.  He had 125 caps for Brazil playing in three WC Finals. He won 3 Champions League titles with Real Madrid and one WC title with Brazil in 2002.  In 1997 he was runner-up in the World Player of the Year.  He is especially famous for a free kick from 35m out against France in the  Tournoi de France 1997. The goal is considered one of the greatest goals ever scored.

LB: Marcelo (Brazil)
Marcelo started his career with Fluminense before making a dream move to Real Madrid in 2007.  He spent several years in and out of the lineup before establishing himself as one of the star of the team.  With them, he won four Champions' League titles in from 2014 to 2018.  At the time of writing, he has over 50 caps for Brazil and played at the 2014 and 2018 World Cup in Brazil.

DM: Casemiro (Brazil)
Casemiro started with Sao Paulo, where he played for three seasons.  In 2013, he joined Real Madrid B team(Castilla), where he would be eventually called to the first team.  For the 2014-2015, he was sent to Porto on a loan.  After a year, he returned to Real Madrid and quickly established as a major contributor as the club won three straight Champions' League.  At the time of writing, he earned 32 caps.  He played in the 2018 World Cup Finals in Russia.

Casemiro 

CM: Fernando Redondo (Argentina)
Fernando Redondo played his first game in the Primera División at only 16 for Argentinos Juniors, and remained five years with the team before moving abroad to CD Tenerife in Spain.  He joined Real Madrid in 1994, where he would become one of the best central midfielders in Real Madrid's history.  He won two Champions' League with them. For the national team, he only picked up 29 caps because he had issues with various managers.

CM: Toni Kroos (Germany)
A member of Bayern Munich's first team at the age of 17, Kroos played in a 18-month loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen, before going back to Munich and winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles and the 2012–13 Champions League. In 2014, he joined Real Madrid on a six-year contract. In Madrid, he won three straight Champions League titles. He was a key player for Germany since 2010.  He won the World Cup in 2014 as one of Germany's star players.

CM: Gunther Netzer (Germany)
Netzer was the star of the great Borussia Mönchengladbach of the 1970's.  He won the European Championship in 1972 and then, the World Cup in 1974.  His best performance, however, was in 1972, where he was the star at the quarterfinal against England.  He later joined Real Madrid in 1973 and outperformed Johan Cruyff's Barcelona in the early 1970's in a period dominated by Real Madrid.

Gunther Netzer and Paul Breitner 

AM/RW: Raymond Kopa  (France)
Kopa was considered to be "Les Bleus"'s greatest player before the emerge of Michel Platini. In 1970, he became the first football player to receive the Légion d'honneur. He helped France to finish third at the WC Finals in 1958. He won the the European Footballer of the Year in 1958 and won three European Cups with Real Madrid in the 1950's.  He also played with Stade de Reims before joining the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950's. He won the 1953 Latin Cup with Reims.

AM: Zinedine Zidane (France)
He was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, and has been described as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.  He won the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times.  He led France to victory at  the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000.  With Real Madrid, he also won the Champions League in 2002, where he scored one of the greatest goals in history at the Final. 

AM/CM: Luka Modric (Croatia)
Modric is one of the greatest playmakers of his generation. He earned more 90 caps for Croatia.  He currently plays for Real Madrid and won the Champions' League for the 2013-2014,  2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons.  He also played with Dinamo Zagreb and Tottenham Hotspurs.  He played in the World Cup Finals of 2006, 2014 and 2018, as well as the European Championship of 2008, 2012 and 2016.  He won Ballon D'or in 2018.

CM/AM/FW:  Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina)
The best player in the world before the emerge of Pele and Maradona. He was one of the younger member of the great River Plate in the 1940's.  In 1949, he moved to play in Colombia before moving to Europe in 1953.  He won 5 straight European Cups with Real Madrid. He was credited in turning Real Madrid into a legendary club. His international career was limited to the fact that Argentina did not select overseas players.  He played for Argentina, Colombia and Spain.

Alfredo Di Stefano 

RW: Luis Figo (Portugal)
Figo is one of Portugal's greatest players.  He was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year., He is one of the few football players to have played for both Spanish rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. His controversial 2000 transfer from Barcelona to Real Madrid set a world record fee of €62 million.  With Real Madrid, he was the first member of the Galacticos. He won the Champions' League title in 2002.

Luis Figo 

ST: Iván Zamorano (Chile)
Iván Zamorano is considered to be one of Chile's greatest strikers.  He played in the 1998 World Cup and four Copa América tournaments. He won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, where he also finished as the top-scorer.  He played notably Real Madrid, where he won La liga and was the league's top scorer in 1994-1995.  He also scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Barcelona that season. He developed a great partnership with Michael Laudrup. He also played with Inter Milan, Sevilla, Colo Colo, etc.

FW/LW: Cristano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Ronaldo is one of the greatest forward of his generation.  He is the most expensive players in history from 2009-2013 when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid.  At the time of writing, he won the Ballon d'Or winner three times and won Champions' League titles with both Manchester United and Real Madrid.  In 2016, he helped Portugal to win the European Championship, a month after winning the Champions' League with Real Madrid.

Cristano Ronaldo

ST: Karim Benzema (France)
Karim Benzema made his name with Lyon.  In 2009, he moved to Real Madrid where he won 5 Champions League. Over there, he formed the BBC line with Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.  In 2022, he was Real Madrid best players as they won the Champions' League and la Liga Double. He won the Ballon D'or in 2022. For the national team, he played in the 2014 World Cup Finals as well as Euro 2020.

ST: Ronaldo (Brazil)
Ronaldo was widely considered among the greatest ever to have play the game.  He led Brazil to two World Cup Finals match, winning the one in 2002.  He scored 8 goals in 2002.  He was the winner of Ballon d'Or twice and the FIFA World Player of the Year three times.  He is the second top-scorer in WC history.  He played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, and for both AC Milan and Inter Milan. 

ST/FW: Ferenc Puskas  (Hungary)
He was one of the greatest footballers in history.  He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary. He became Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup where he was named the tournament's best player.  He played with Honved at home and went to Real Madrid after the Soviet invasion.  With Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kapo, etc, Real Madrid became the greatest club team in history.

ST: Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)
Hugo Sanchez was considered to be the best Mexican player of all-time. He is remembered for his career in Spain where he played for both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.  He won 5 straight Pichichi title in Spain.  With Real Madrid, he won five consecutive league titles (from 1985-86 to 1989-90), the Copa del Rey in 1989, and the UEFA Cup in 1986.  The team was the dominant team in Spain during the 1980's.

Hugo Sanchez 

Honorable Mention
Michael Laudrup, Arthur Johnson, Bodo Illgner, Paul Breitner, Claude Makelele, Davor Šuker, Laurie Cunningham, Christian Karembeu, David Beckham, René Petit, Karim Benzema, Raphaël Varane, Bernd Schuster, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Ricardo Carvalho, Predrag Mijatovi, Jorge Valdano, Angel Di Maria, Clarence Seedorf, Gareth Bale, David Alaba, Vinícius Júnior, Hector Rial, Henning Jensen, Jorge Valdano, Wesley Sneijder.

Squad Explanation
-- This team was created in 2019.  I updated this team periodically, but I did a in depth review in June, 2022. 

-- Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristano Ronaldo were two greatest ever players for the club.  They were the first two players selected for this team. Hugo Sanchez, Zinedine Zidane, Ferenc Puskas, Luka Modric, Fernando Redondo and Roberto Carlos were close to being automatic selections.

-- Only five players came from Alfredo Di Stefano's generation from the 1950's.  They were Jose Santamaria, Rogelio Dominguez, Raymond Kopa, Fence Puskas and Di Stefano himself.

-- The Galacticos I era was marked with a trophy drought.  Nevertheless, I selected Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.  

-- Real Madrid won 5 Champions' League title in 9 seasons between 2013 and 2022.  Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Marcelo, Cristano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Keylor Navas, Thibaut Courtois and Pepe played in some of the seasons. Modric, Casemiro, Benzema and Marcelo were on all five winning teams. 

-- Seniority at the club determined the captaincy in Real Madrid.  Club policy rules that the player with the most time played at the club wear the captain's armband.   At the time of writing, four non-Spaniard players have served as full-time captain of the club.  They are Arthur Johnson, Federico Revuelto, Marcelo and Karim Benzema.  Some other players had served as captains for individual matches. 

-- The last foreign captain of Real Madrid was Guatemalan Federico Revuelta.  He was the captain until 1904, which made Marcelo the first foreign captain of Real Madrid in almost 120 years.

-- Casemiro actually played for Real Madrid Castilla.  

Goalkeepers

-- When I created this team in 2019, only three goalkeepers were seriously considered.  Keylor Navas, Rogelio Dominguez and Bodo Illgner were my three choices. Keylor Navas was sensational here.  Rogelio Dominguez played around the same time as Amadeo Carrizo. He won the European Cups here.  The pair was considered to be as good as each other.  I didn't really know how to rank Bodo Illgner against others.  I previously rewarded him the third goalkeeping spot for bringing the Champions League home after 32 years, but I dropped him after Thibaut Courtois's epic Champions' League run in 2022.

Rogelio Dominguez 

-- When I first created this blog team, Thibaut Courtois only spent two seasons with the club.  Since then, he has won the 2022 Champions' League, where his individual performance contributed to the victory in the Final against Liverpool.  By 2022, he already spent 4 seasons in Madrid.  He has played more games here than in Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.  He also played more games than Keylor Navas. So in June,he deserved to be on the team.

-- Apart from the three keepers selected, Real Madrid did not have many foreign goalkeepers. Jerzy Dudek who was a popular backup. He was the only other foreign goalkeeper.  At the time of writing, Thibaut Courtois just arrived. His second season was sensational.

-- Thibaut Courtois was the starting goalkeeper for Atletico Madrid in the Champions' League Final as Real Madrid won La Decima in 2014.

-- Arthur Johnson played goalkeeper in the beginning of his career.  He was one of his career, but later switched to forward.  He played in the first El Clásico on 13 May 1902, a 3–1 loss to FC Barcelona, in which he scored Real Madrid's first competitive goal.  I rewarded him with honorable mention as an important player in Madrid's history.

Defenders

-- Christian Panucci was the only candidate for the rightback position.  I do not know much about Enrique Wolff's career in Madrid. For his stats, he was a starter for two seasons in which Real Madrid won La Liga.  He seemed to be a contributor.  People might recognise his name from his work as a TV host in South America, but he was a forgotten player. Nevertheless, I took Panucci who was better known. Cicinho had an injury-plagued career here while Danilo did not enjoy his career here.  They were not considered.  

-- Marcelo is the longest serving foreign player and the most decorated player with 25 major trophies in the club's history.  He has won four Champions' League as a key player and one more with a reduced role (but as their captain).  Roberto Carlos was considered one of the best ever leftback in history.  He was the only player in history of all positions where he could single-handedly an entire side of the field. In his prime, he was rated as good as Paolo Maldini who is arguably the greatest leftback in history.

-- Marcelo made his debut of the club on the same match that Ronaldo (Brazil) played his last match for the club.  Later, he formed a legendary left side attack with the other "Ronaldo".

-- Pepe, Ulrich Stielike and Jose Santamaria were easy choices for central defenders. The last centerback was difficult to select. Both Ricardo Carvalho and Fabio Cannavaro only spent short time here, but I could not think of another foreign center backs.  In the end, I took Cannavaro over him because he was the most famous player even through I did not really rate his career in Madrid.  Carvalho's numbers here are very close. Oscar Ruggeri spent a single season with Real Madrid, but I did not seriously consider him.

Ulrich Stielike 

-- When I created this team in 2019, Raphaël Varane was a big question mark.  He still needed time to develop his career.  He had been backing up Pepe and Sergio Ramos.  In 2021, I created this list. He was ranked ahead of Cannavaro by that point.  He spent 10 seasons with Real Madrid.  He won many titles with the club.  He started his career with a bang, but was unable to fulfil his promise. So he was somehow underrated by many Madridistas.  He was a member of the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017–18.  The other candidates cannot match his accomplishments, and the length of his career here was also long enough.  Cannavaro won Ballon d'or while he was a member of the team, but he won the award because of his performance with Italy in the 2006 World Cup Finals.    His first two seasons in Madrid were solid, but he struggled in his last.  I replaced him with Varane.

-- However, by June, 2022 when I did a review of the team, David Alaba had played a very successful season with Real Madrid, but it was his first season.  In time, Alaba would take over depending on which position he will play for Real Madrid in the next few seasons.  I also decided against choosing Raphaël Varane over Cannavaro.  I am saving the last central defensive spot for David Alaba.  

Midfielder/Wingers

-- Fernando Redondo was the undisputed selection in midfield.  Alfredo Di Stefano could also play here. Ulrich Stielike also mainly played as a midfielder in Madrid.

-- No other midfield in European history could match the trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro’s achievement of winning four Champions' League as an unit   Modric and Casemiro won their first Champions League title in the 2013-14 season, giving the two of them five titles in total for Madrid (Casemiro was a young player).  Kroos joined Real Madrid the season after, but he won another one with Bayern Munich, which also gave his five titles. To put this in perspective, Barcelona has only won 5 titles in their entire history.   Each of them had a different skill set and complement each other.  On top of that, the combined transfer fees to bring the three players to Real Madrid was 70 million euros. All three players were selected.

Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric

-- Luka Modric was voted by Marca as the worst signing of La Liga in 2012.  It seemed very funny now.  The defensive side of his game was underrated.  He could be an attack midfielder or a central midfielder.

-- Toni Kroos was one of the best midfielders of his generation.  He had great international reputation  due to winning a World Cup in 2014.

-- Claude Makelele had been mentioned, but he only played three seasons here.  Casemiro already suppressed that and he also won four Champions' League as a key player and another one as a young player. 

-- Paul Breitner and Gunter Netzer appeared in many all-time list for West Germany.  Breitner was on the original team. But in 2020, I replaced Breitner with Toni Kroos. Kroos has been a star in one of the greatest eras in Madrid's history. 

-- Didi was one of the biggest names from Brazil ever played for Real Madrid, but he never settled in.  The same applied to Kaka. I did not consider them.

-- Wesley Sneijder's first season was sensational, but he faded away in his second season.  Ariel Robben was injury-prone, but he was very good when he played.  Both made honorable mention.

-- Zinedine Zidane won the 2002 Champions' League, scoring a beautiful goal in the Final.  His reputation as one of the greatest footballers ever played the game helped his cause.  Raymond Kopa won a Ballon D'or while as a Real Madrid player, but he won it because of his performance at the 1958 World Cup Finals.

-- Chu Alonso played for Spain and never played for Cuba, making him not a foreign player under FIFA rules. Hector Rial also did not play for Argentina and was capped by Spain.  Does it make him a domestic player? 

-- Luis Figo's selection to this team was not controversial here.  During the Galactico I era, he was the most consistent players on the team.  He deserved to be on this team.  Besides, I needed a traditional right winger on the team.  I also selected him for my Barcelona All-Time Team for foreign players.  His selection over there was a hard decision for me due to his deflection to Madrid.  Ronaldo and Michael Laudrup also made that team.

-- Gareth Bale scored a few very important goals in Real Madrid.  However, his peak was short and was injury-riddled at the end of his stay. His controversial comments about "golf" also did not stand well with the Madridistas.  David Beckham fought hard for the club, but his career was associated with the downfall of Galactico I.

-- I did not have a traditional left wing, but I had Cristano Ronaldo as my wing-forward.  I put Vinícius Júnior on honorable mentions after he helped the club to win the Double in 2021/2022 season.

-- Laurie Cunningham broke the racial barrier and was a fan favorite at the club, but he was injury-riddled while here.  He was somewhat unable to fulfil his early promise. 

Forwards

-- Alfredi Di Stefano, Cristano Ronaldo and Ferenc Puskas needed no introduction.  Hugo Sánchez won four-consecutive Pichichi trophies, becoming the only player in Spanish football history to achieve this without sharing the trophy with any other player in any season.

-- For the last player, I had to choose from Michael Laudrup, Predrag Mijatovic, Ivan Zamorano, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gonzalo Higuain. Liked Ronaldo(Brazil), Laudrup was simply one of the greatest ever players, but he only had a single good reason here.  His teammate Ivan Zamorano played longer and contributed more. Mijatovic scored the historical goal in the 1998 Champions' League, but his overall stats was much less than Zamorano and Higuain. Higuain had the more goals than everyone else I just mentioned, but he did not win enough titles here.  

-- Since Cristano Ronaldo's departure in 2018, Karim Benzema has carried the team.  He has played for the club since 2008, which made him a long serving player. He deserved a place on the team.  He leapfrogged the players I mentioned above. So he replaced Higuain on the team in 2019.  By the review of the team in June, 2022, he had became undisputed after leading Real Madrid to their 14th Champions' League title.

-- During the review of June, 2022, I again looked into Ronaldo (Brazil), Gonzalo Higuain and Ivan  Zamorano.  At that point, Ronaldo and Zamorano were on this team while Higuain was replaced by Karim Benzema in 2019.  

-- Ivan Zamorano scored 3 goals in an revenge 5-0 victory over Barcelona in 1994.  His performance stood as one of the biggest moments ever in the history of El Classico.  He remained an important part of Real Madrid's folk tale.  His story would be retold by generations of Madridistas. He also won the Pichichi Trophy for the 1994–95 season.  So I selected him over Higuain. 

Ivan Zamorano

-- Gonzalo Higuain spent 7 seasons here and scored over 100 goals.  Some of his goals were memorable for Los Blancos, but he did not win much trophies here.  

-- Ronaldo (Brazil) was a controversial selection.  Many attackers might have done more than him for the club.  He only played 4 and half seasons in Madrid, scoring 80 goals.  He probably did well in 3 of those seasons.  However, Ronaldo won the Pichichi award and he is still one of the greatest ever players in the game. His first two seasons in Madrid was also amazing.  

-- Hector Rial would have made the team as Alfredo Di Stefano's loyal teammate as well as to the club. There was something very nostalgic about Rial and Real Madrid.  However, I put him on honorable mention only.

Formation
Modric has surpassed Raymond Kopa at Real Madrid, but Kopa played on the right side while at the club. He might have outdone Zidane at Real Madrid.  He contributed to 4 Champions League titles while Zidane only won once. Di Stefano is so versatile that he moved to the right side so that I can field Zidane.  All three keepers could easily start.