Top 10 Best Football Players In The World

Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. These words by William Shakespeare make a lot more sense when we look at the wonderful game of football. We have born greats like Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, we have players who achieved greatness like Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil Van Dijk and we also have players who have had greatness forced upon them like Neymar Jr and Mohammad Salah. Needless to say, these are all some of the top talents in world football. And here we present to you our list of top ten best footballers on the planet.

List Of Top 10 Best Football Players In The World

10. Mohamed Salah (RW) – Liverpool, Egypt

[Image Source: premierleague.com]

The most difficult spot to fill on this list was the number 10 spot. There were a lot of top contenders and the Liverpool shot stopper Alisson Becker almost tipped his teammate Mo. Salah for the spot. The reason why Salah makes this list is simply because of his reliability in front of goal. With 16 goals and 6 assists in this premier league season and Liverpool sitting comfortably at the top of the table being 25 points clear of second place Manchester City, he makes a strong case for himself. Add to this his form in the previous 2 seasons with 32 and 22 goals in 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons respectively, you can see why he deserves his spot on the list.

9. Eden Hazard (LW) – Real Madrid, Belgium

[Image Source: mirror.co.uk]

Eden Hazard has had a disappointing start to life at the Santiago Bernabéu. First, he was overweight then he was injured, things just keep getting worse for the Belgian. This still does not mean that he is past his days. Still only 29, he still has at least 2 more years of his prime and if his days at Chelsea are anything to go by then once fit Hazard will be a force to reckon with in the La Liga. He scored 32, 12 and 16 goals for the Stanford Bridge faithful in his last three years of the Premier League and these are the stats of a player who looks to feed his teammates before scoring. All things considered we still cannot ignore the fact that his last competitive goal for Real Madrid came in their win against Granada back in October which is why he is placed this low in our list.

8. Kevin De Bruyne (CAM) – Manchester City, Belgium

[Image Source: thestatesman.com]

A player who has taken the world by storm even since he started playing for the blue outfit of Manchester. Kevin De Bruyne is a force of nature. An incredible passer of the ball, he can find teammates where no one else barring one more person on this list can. He currently holds the highest number of assists, 17 for this season, both in the PL as well as in all the major leagues in Europe. If that is not enough, he has been the premier league playmaker of the year in 2017/18 season. Widely regarded as the best midfielder in the world, and being only 28, we have every reason to believe that the best of KDB is yet to be seen.

7. Sergio Ramos (CD) – Real Madrid, Spain

[Image Source: realmadrid.com]

Who doesn’t love a defender that scores goals. Add to that some really solid defending, great leadership and a vibrant personality and you get yourself a Sergio Ramos. This particular individual has dominated the position of best defender in La Liga ever since Carles Puyol retired. And like we said, Ramos scores goals, a lot of goals and that too in crucial matches. The only downside of his game is his lack of composure. He has maintained a record of 1.5 tackles per game and an average 3 clearances per game this season and has managed to score 10 goals across all competitions. All this coupled with the fact that he was the captain of the most successful champions league team in history, proves exactly why he deserves his spot on this list.

6. Robert Lewandowski (ST) – Bayern Munich, Poland

[Image Source: footballnewsmagazine.co.uk]

Robert Lewandowski is the man who cemented his place in history by scoring 5 goals in 10 mins. Professionals find that difficult to do while playing FIFA. This is how talented he is. Lewandowski currently has 25 goals in 23 appearances for Bayern Munich this season and is probably the only reason why they are sitting at the top of the Bundesliga despite the tough competition from Dortmund. He is possibly the best out and out striker on our list. He is a player who has scored more than 25 league goals in the past 3 seasons and is still going strong. Having 7 Bundesliga titles under his name and 4 top scorer finishes in the league are enough for him to cement his place in our list.

5. Neymar Jr (LW) – Paris Saint Germain, Brazil

[Image Source: bleacherreport.net]

The infamous man who moved away from Barcelona in order to get out of Lionel Messi’s shadow just ended up being in the shadow of another. He enjoyed his best days at Barcelona and became the hero of the legendary 6-1 comeback of Barca in the UCL. Those days however have passed and he has declined in form and football IQ ever since joining PSG. The widely regarded footballer has constantly been plagued with injuries and of the field drama. This, however, does not mean that he can never be the best in the world. Neymar still has tonnes of potential and he possibly is the only reason why PSG progressed to the Quarter Finals of UCL this year. He holds 5 League titles and 1 champions league title with Barcelona. Having once finished in the top 3 of the Ballon D’or ranking also shows just how good he is. This season he has scored 13 and assisted 6 goals in Ligue 1. If Neymar is able to get back his form from those Barcelona days, he is sure to be a top 3 star in the list.

4. Virgil Van Dijk (CD) – Liverpool, Netherlands

[Image Source: mysoccer24.com]

Currently the best defender on the planet, Virgil Van Dijk is on his way to cement his legacy as an all time great. He is the perfect example of a leader and has shown on numerous occasions just how well can Liverpool close out the opposition’s attack. His work on the defence is one of the major reasons for Liverpool’s UCL title run last season. Add to that the fact that with him on the field, Liverpool have a 41% clean sheet record this season is simply remarkable. Finishing second in last year’s Ballon D’or rankings shows just how widely regarded is the Dutch defender in the footballing world.

3. Kylian Mbappé (RW) – Paris Saint Germain, France

[Image Source: yahoo.com]

The youngest goal scorer in a world cup final is one of his latest record. Still only 21, he has already won 4 Ligue 1 titles, 3 domestic titles, 1 UEFA under 19 championship and a world cup. The only thing missing from his trophy collection is a UEFA champions league title and possibly a Ballon D’or which he will eventually win once he lifts the UCL title. This young sensation follows in the footsteps of Ronaldo and Messi and was awarded the Golden Boy in 2017. Still having room for development, Mbappé once fully developed to his potential will be a monster on any football field.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (LW) – Juventus, Portugal

[Image Source: justdial.com]

Now comes the second most difficult spot on this list. We had to make a choice between two generational superstars for this and it wasn’t easy. But we decided that Ronaldo despite his 3 consecutive champions league titles and an incredible 21 goals this season will only be ranked second on our list. Having led Portugal to a Euro championship and having 5 Ballon D’or titles to his name, Cristiano Ronaldo is sure to be regarded as one of the best players to have graced this game. He has 5 Champions League titles to his name. That is more than any active football player in the world. If he can win the title again with Juventus, then he will have the most UCL titles in history. That might just be enough to propel him to the standing of the greatest player of all time. But till he reaches that accolade, let us look at the number one who is also his arch-rival on the pitch.

1. Lionel Messi (RW) – Barcelona, Argentina

[Image Source: fcbarcelona.com]

Arguably the best football player on the planet and possibly one of the top 3 players of all time, Lionel Messi has been enjoying yet another title contending season with the Catalan club Barcelona. The little magician has won 4 UCL titles with Barcelona, has taken Argentina to the finals of 2014 world cup where he was awarded the golden boot and has also taken his national team to consecutive Copa America finals. He has been spear heading the Barcelona attack for years and has won the League title 7 times out of the last 10 with the club.

This is no mere feet as the Barca team played against the same Real Madrid team which had 3 consecutive UCL wins and had Cristiano Ronaldo at the helm. This year has not been one of his better years with him missing nearly 2 months due to injury. The Argentine maestro has still been able to score 19 goals and record 12 assists this season. Currently sitting at the top of La Liga both in terms of goals as well as assists, he is yet again proving to be the best playmaker in the league. Having won a record 6th Ballon D’or and the 6th European golden shoe, he has simply ensured his standing as the greatest player of his time. The only missing part of his career is winning a major trophy with his national team. All that’s left to see is if he can win the trophy he so desires and surpass the legendary Pele and Maradona by the time he finishes his career.

Honorary Mentions

Luis Suárez (ST) – Barcelona, Uruguay

Current Season – 11 goals, 7 assists

For Current Club – 191 goals, 108 assists

Edinson Cavani (ST) – Paris Saint Germain, Uruguay

Current Season – 4 goals, 1 assist (Injured almost all season)

For Current Club – 200 goals, 43 assists

Sergio Agüero (ST) – Manchester City, Argentina

Current Season – 16 goals, 3 assists

For Current Club – 254 goals, 72 assists

Alisson Becker (GK) – Liverpool, Brazil

Current Season – 50% Clean sheet ratio, 0.57 goals per game

For Current Club – 31 clean sheets (58 matches)

Antoine Griezmann (LW) – Barcelona, France

Current Season – 8 goals, 4 assists

For Atlético Madrid (recently joined Barcelona) – 133 goals, 50 assists

This is our list of the top 10 best football players in the world.

10. Mohamed Salah

9. Eden Hazard

8. Kevin De Bruyne

7. Sergio Ramos

6. Robert Lewandowski

5. Neymar Jr

4. Virgil Van Dijk

3. Kylian Mbappé

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

1. Lionel Messi

Do let us know your opinions and who according to you should or should not be in this list.

- By Aditya Bharadwaj