Widely considered as one of the greatest defenders of all time, Passarella was also a proficient goalscorer; at one point he was football's top scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record subsequently broken by Dutch defender Ronald Koeman. In 2004, Passarella was named one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony. In 2007, "The Times" placed him at number 36 in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history. In 2017 he has been included in the "FourFourTwo" list of the 100 all-time greatest players, at the 56th position.