RSS Feed
‘The 100 Best Players in the World’
By Sean Jacobs | October 25th, 2009
British football magazine FourFourTwo, just published (in the November issue) the list of the “100 Best Players in the World.” The choices are based on the input of the magazine’s journalists. Of course it will lead to all kinds of debate as “lists” are always subjective and don’t mean anything beyond getting fans talking. Generally I agree with the list. If you haven’t seen the list, here’s the top ten (I’ve listed them by country, since that’s an affiliation that does not change):
(1) Lionel Messi (Argentina)
(2) Ronaldo (Portugal)
(3) Xavi and Iniesta (Spain)
(5) David Villa (Spain)
(6) Fernando Torres (Spain)
(7) Steven Gerrard (England)
(8) Kaka (Brazil)
(9) Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
(10) Wayne Rooney (England)
Since I am an Afrophile when it comes to football, I was a bit surprised by only Eto’o’s inclusion in the top ten. So who were the other Africans who made into the top 100? Not much. Didier Drogba of Cote d’Ivoire came in at number 14, Michael Essien (Ghana, 18), Yaya Toure (of Barcelona and Cote d’Ivoire, 39), Freddie Kanoute (Mali, 43) and Maroume Chamakh (Morocco) at 81.
Tags: 100 Best Players in the World, David Villa, Fernando Torres, FourFourTwo, Iniesta, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Samuel Eto'o, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Xavi
Filed under: The Players
6 Comments
Marc Fletcher
October 27th, 2009 | 5:44 am
It’s a sad indictment of South African football that they don’t have any players in the list. For one of the richest leagues in Africa, they are not producing world class stars. Benni McCarthy is still on the bench at Blackburn, yet he’s still heralded as a messiah for Bafana Bafana and Aaron Mokoena is prone to bouts of calamity. I can’t see Kagisho Dikgacoi setting the Premiership alight. Steven Pienaar is the silver lining in SA and maybe he should have crept into the top 100.
Steven Gerrard at number 7? Really? That’s a bit anglo-centric…
Sean
October 27th, 2009 | 7:45 am
Agreed on the Anglo-centric nature of the list; it seems to be standard practice of these kinds of lists.
And I agree on the paltry state of SA football. The team will be lucky if they don’t get embarrassed in their group games.
Joaquin
October 29th, 2009 | 5:33 pm
For these reasons I am anti-lists! And I am especially anti-World Player awards. These things are popularity contests and more often than not reflect people’s valuations of imaginary images of players. Messi’s topping of the list is a good example. He is brilliant in flashes these days, tearing apart (often bottom-side) defenses one moment, and disappearing in big games the next (in my opinion, he was a mere spectator in many Barcelona games in the CL last year, despite scoring in the final). Kaká is another example: he has been dismal for Madrid so far and had a very poor season last year at Milan. Gerrard and Rooney, well, Anglo-centrism is far-reaching! Brilliant at times, incomprehensible at others. If you ask me, the player of the year in 2008 should have been Xavi Hernández, but a guy like him is quiet, a true team player who doesn’t concern himself with image-building. He just does his job, brilliantly, day in and day out.
Essien is another guy like that. In his case, he is also burdened by a latent brand of racism that pigeonholes Africans, very often, into “hard-workier/tireless” stereotypes. Much like Makelele before him–in my opinion, such a class, magnificent, and intelligent footballer–the world football talking heads will first point to the “creators”–of goals and plays (aka Messi, Kaká, etc) and not those who make everything possible for their team on the field.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2009 | 12:22 am
[...] [...]
PAulo Sabino
November 6th, 2009 | 8:38 am
There must be something wrong here. How come the following 11 players are not considered THE best in the world?
Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Juan, André, Gilberto Silva, Hernanes, Elano ,Kaká, Nilmar, Luis Fabiano
The 6th World Championship is approaching.
Dr 419
November 15th, 2009 | 5:15 am
Michael Essien is the best player in the world, and he’s also the most versatile. Unreal, really.
Dani Alves might be Brazil’s second best fullback, but there are moments when he’s the best player in the world.
Shay Given is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Casillas isn’t shabby either, nor is Edwin van der Sar. But you won’t see any of them on the list.
At the top of his game, Patrice Evra, all four foot nine inches of him, might well be the best player in the world…etc
But, as you can see, these lists are only interested in strikers and attacking midfielders and, as such, are worthless unless accompanied by that disclaimer. It’s like announcing a list of the most beautiful women in the world and restricting it only to redheads.
Leave a reply