RealGM

We're assuming that this hypothetical HoF works the same way as the NBA's.

So, you'd have these guys in it:

- Top 15-20 GOAT players, such as Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo Luis, Van Basten, Cruyff, Messi, etc. (NBA equivalent: Jordan, Kareem, Shaq, Russell, Duncan, LeBron, etc.)
- "Second-tier" greats: players who aren't close to the above, but played at an elite level for a long period of time, such as Del Piero, Beckham, Figo, Blokhin, Raul, etc. (NBA equivalent: Barkley, KG, Isiah, Kidd, Nash, etc.)
- Guys who could've easily been "The Man", but played the role of the second or third guy on an all-time great team, such as Gullit, Bergkamp, Netzer, Kocsis, Roberto Carlos (NBA equivalent: McHale, Worthy, Pippen, Dumars, Bosh)
- "Special-case" entries who had short but memorable, elite careers, such as Fontaine, Owen, Cantona, Kluivert, etc. (NBA equivalent: Sampson, Walton, Petrovic, Yao, etc.)

With those criteria in mind, would these guys be:

a) First-ballot
b) Inducted eventually, but not first-ballot
c) Not HoFers

Rui Costa
Filippo Inzaghi
Jari Litmanen
Henrik Larsson
Miroslav Klose
Rafael Marquez
Philip Cocu
Zvonimir Boban
Samuel Eto'o
Zlatan Ibrahimovic

In my opinion:

First-ballot: Costa, Larsson, Ibra
HoFers, but not first-ballot: Inzaghi, Klose, Cocu, Eto'o
Not HoFers: Marquez, Boban, Litmanen

litmanen makes it. would've been a first ballot if not for injuries, he fits under your special cases group. larsson, marquez, boban miss out. ibra is the only one i would put first ballot, although not completely sure what the criterion is for the first ballot.

figo is a second tier great?

El Turco wrote:litmanen makes it. would've been a first ballot if not for injuries, he fits under your special cases group. larsson, marquez, boban miss out. ibra is the only one i would put first ballot, although not completely sure what the criterion is for the first ballot.

figo is a second tier great?

How in the world does Larsson miss out?
The guy's one of the few players who's scored in three world cups and was part of that brilliant swedish team that finished third in 1994.
He makes it for sure.

Netzer didn't play a lesser role, he was the NTs best player in 72 before he got frozen out of the team. This is really hard cause this sport is so expansive and there are so many all time legends that I feel the expectations for the soccer HoF should be higher than those of the NBA/NFL/NHL.

Of that list I wouldn't put any through as a first ballot guy. And maybe even half of them I wouldn't put into the hall at all like Miro, Marquez, Cocu and Inzaghi, with a few others I could easily be talked into excluding from my hall.

Det the Threat wrote:

El Turco wrote:litmanen makes it. would've been a first ballot if not for injuries, he fits under your special cases group. larsson, marquez, boban miss out. ibra is the only one i would put first ballot, although not completely sure what the criterion is for the first ballot.

figo is a second tier great?

How in the world does Larsson miss out?
The guy's one of the few players who's scored in three world cups and was part of that brilliant swedish team that finished third in 1994.
He makes it for sure.

He was the 4th best attacker in his own team in 94. He was barely visible in 06 and missed a crucial penalty.

Basically his resume is one decent wc, scoring every third game for the national team, and not doing much at all at club level outside of scoring in bunches against bunch of washington generals. That's not the resume of a top tier player.

a) First-ballot
Litmanen, Inzaghi, Ibrahimovic
b) Inducted eventually, but not first-ballot
Larsson, Eto'o, Klose(Will probably break WC goals record), Costa
c) Not HoFers
Boban, Cocu, Marquez

The only two who are arguably first ballot, but not definitely first, are Ibrahimovic and Eto'o. They got really close to be a top5 player in the world. I really like Klose, Inzaghi and Litmanen carreer paths, but they're not HoF either.