The world’s top 100 footballers: which players should be on our list for 2014?

 

The world’s top 100 footballers: which players should be on our list for 2014?

Germany are the indisputable champions of the world, but do any of their players warrant top spot above Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in our annual list?

Who should make our top 100 footballers list for 2014? 

2014 was the year of the team. Germany became world-beaters with a goal created by one substitute and finished by another. Lionel Messi, the great player who was pitted against the great team, was left to scratch his head at the end of the World Cup final as he collected the player of the tournament award and the Germany team huddled together for photos with Angela Merkel. Messi flickered into life occasionally at the World Cup, but if football’s greatest tournament proved anything, it is that teams win trophies.
     So, where do we go with our annual list of the 100 best footballers in the world? We could put 11 Germans at the top and be done with it, but part of football’s appeal is its ability to remain both perfectly simple and deliciously debatable. Honouring the World Cup winners would do a great disservice to some of the greatest players to have kicked a ball, so we have assembled a cast of 73 experts from 28 nationalities to choose our third annual list of the world’s top 100 footballers.
      This year’s panel of judges is larger than ever, with Hernan Crespo, Gilberto Silva, Slaven Bilic and Dietmar Hamann leading the voting. The full list of 100 players will be revealed over the next few days, with No 100-71 coming on Sunday, No 70-41 on Monday and Nos 40-11 following on Tuesday, before the top 10 is announced on Christmas Eve.
      One of the big challenges for the judges this year is to work out how many World Cup stars deserve a place on the list. Should James Rodríguez be the highest new entry? Do Tim Howard, Daley Blind, Guillermo Ochoa and Keylor Navas warrant inclusion? Should any England players make the top 100? And how should the Costa Rica, Colombia and USA players who produced such united team performances be honoured?
       If the World Cup was a love letter to the value of teamwork, the other great event of the year, the Champions League final, showcased the power of the individual, and specifically, the individual’s individual: Cristiano Ronaldo. He was not the best performer on the night - that honour went to Angel Di María, who also played his part in the World Cup final - but, despite performing below his usual standard, Ronaldo’s naked torso became the face of the final.
        Ronaldo is a great team player in the sense that he gives his team-mates a goal a game, but his mentality is always that of a man on a mission. He is not content to be on the winning side; he has to make his mark. The old college football coach Red Russell made his name with the quote “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”, but Ronaldo sees things differently. Winning isn’t enough for Ronaldo; he needs to contribute and dominate.
        While his team-mates were celebrating the goals that won Real Madrid’s tenth European Cup, Ronaldo made his way back to the halfway line and waited impatiently for the game to resume. If anything, their goals were inconvenient; rather than having the ball at his feet in the opposition’s box he was forced to retreat to the centre-circle for kick-off. He was playing in his city, in his final, and he needed to score his 17th goal in a 13-game competition to make the occasion his own. The night was not to be over until the finely chiseled man had flung off his shirt and flexed for the cameras.
That ruthless and relentless desire to score goals and stamp his authority on every occasion is the source of his greatness. He wasn’t happy that Real Madrid had conquered La Decima until he had scored his goal. Those are the standards he sets for himself.
         The chapter in Alex Ferguson’s autobiography entitled “Cristiano Ronaldo” begins with the sentence: “Cristiano Ronaldo was the most gifted player I managed.” But, as his former manager understands well, Ronaldo is not made great by his talent. He has made his talent great by working incessantly to improve. When asked what aspect of Ronaldo’s game he would include in the perfect footballer, Rio Ferdinand said he would choose his mentality. His brain. His drive. His desire to win a European Cup, captain his country at a World Cup and then return to his club and score 32 goals before Christmas.
        The Guardian published a story about Ronaldo’s goalscoring exploits a few months ago. We have tried to update the page every time he breaks one of his own records, but it’s a fool’s errand; he will only break them again and render the words outdated. We have revised the story in September, October, November and December but if you look at it now it’s a few goals short. We are dealing with a special player here and we are not the only ones who cannot keep up with him.
Ronaldo’s performances this year have defied all common sense but he is not the only record-breaker in our midst. Lionel Messi became the most prolific goalscorer in the history of La Liga and the Champions League in the same week last month. The same week. It’s just ridiculous.
        Messi has topped our list for the last two years but has he done enough to hold off Ronaldo’s charge? Could Ronaldo overtake Messi but miss out to one of the German World Cup winners? We will find out what our experts think on Christmas Eve, but in the meantime, we want to know who they should have picked. Please, be our guests.

The world's top 100 footballers in 2013

2013	Name	Position	Club	Nationality	Age at Dec 20 2013
1	Lionel Messi	Forward	Barcelona	Argentina	26
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Forward	Real Madrid	Portugal	28
3	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	Forward	PSG	Sweden	32
4	Franck Ribery	Midfielder	Bayern Munich	France	30
5	Andres Iniesta	Midfielder	Barcelona	Spain	29
6	Neymar	Forward	Barcelona	Brazil	21
7	Gareth Bale	Midfielder	Real Madrid	Wales	24
8	Xavi	Midfielder	Barcelona	Spain	33
9	Luis Suarez	Forward	Liverpool	Uruguay	26
10	Sergio Aguero	Forward	Manchester City	Argentina	25
11	Robin van Persie	Forward	Manchester Utd	Netherlands	30
12	Mesut Ozil	Midfielder	Arsenal	Germany	25
13	Edinson Cavani	Forward	Napoli	Uruguay	26
14	Arjen Robben	Midfielder/forward	Bayern Munich	Netherlands	29
15	Philipp Lahm	Defender	Bayern Munich	Germany	30
16	Radamel Falcao	Forward	Atlético Madrid	Colombia	27
17	Thiago Silva	Defender	PSG	Brazil	29
18	Robert Lewandowski	Forward	Borussia Dortmund	Poland	25
19	Yaya Toure	Midfielder	Manchester City	Ivory Coast	30
20	Bastian Schweinsteiger	Midfielder	Bayern Munich	Germany	29
21	Andrea Pirlo	Midfielder	Juventus	Italy	34
22	Manuel Neuer	Goalkeeper	Bayern Munich	Germany	27
23	Marco Reus	Midfielder/forward	Borussia Dortmund	Germany	24
24	Gianluigi Buffon	Goalkeeper	Juventus	Italy	35
25	Thomas Muller	Forward	Bayern Munich	Germany	24
26	Arturo Vidal	Midfielder	Juventus	Chile	26
27	Sergio Busquets	Midfielder	Barcelona	Spain	25
28	Wayne Rooney	Forward	Manchester Utd	England	28
29	Cesc Fabregas	Midfielder	Barcelona	Spain	26
30	Juan Mata	Midfielder	Chelsea	Spain	25
31	Francesco Totti	Forward	Roma	Italy	37
32	David Silva	Midfielder	Manchester City	Spain	27
33	Mario Balotelli	Forward	Milan	Italy	23
34	Mario Götze	Midfielder/forward	Borussia Dortmund	Germany	21
35	Diego da Silva Costa	Forward	Atlético Madrid	Brazil	25
36	Oscar	Midfielder	Chelsea	Brazil	22
37	Xabi Alonso	Midfielder	Real Madrid	Spain	32
38	Daniele De Rossi	Midfielder	Roma	Italy	30
39	Gerard Pique	Defender	Barcelona	Spain	26
40	Toni Kroos	Midfielder	Bayern Munich	Germany	23
41	Dani Alves	Defender	Barcelona	Brazil	30
42	Vincent Kompany	Defender	Manchester City	Belgium	27
43	David Alaba	Defender/Midfielder	Bayern Munich	Austria	21
44	Ilkay Gündogan	Midfielder	Borussia Dortmund	Germany	23
45	Sergio Ramos	Defender	Real Madrid	Spain	27
46	Carlos Tevez	Forward	Juventus	Argentina	29
47	Thibaut Courtois	Goalkeeper	Atlético Madrid	Belgium	21
48	Mario Mandzukic	Forward	Bayern Munich	Croatia	27
49	Aaron Ramsey	Midfielder	Arsenal	Wales	22
50	David Luiz	Defender	Chelsea	Brazil	26
51	Nemanja Vidic	Defender	Manchester Utd	Serbia	32
52	Axel Witsel	Midfielder	Zenit Saint Petersburg	Belgium	24
53	Dante	Defender	Bayern Munich	Brazil	30
54	Giuseppe Rossi	Forward	Fiorentina	Italy	26
55	Karim Benzema	Forward	Real Madrid	France	26
56	Gonzalo Higuain	Striker	Napoli	Argentina	26
57	Jan Vertonghen	Defender	Tottenham Hotspur	Belgium	26
58	Marek Hamsik	Midfielder	Napoli	Slovakia	26
59	Paulinho	Midfielder	Tottenham Hotspur	Brazil	25
60	Marcelo	Defender	Real Madrid	Brazil	25
61	Luka Modric	Midfielder	Real Madrid	Croatia	28
62	Kevin Strootman	Midfielder	Roma	Netherlands	23
63	Javier Mascherano	Defender/midfielder	Barcelona	Argentina	29
64	Hugo Lloris	Goalkeeper	Tottenham Hotspur	France	26
65	Petr Cech	Goalkeeper	Chelsea	Czech Republic	31
66	Mats Hummels	Defender	Borussia Dortmund	Germany	25
67	Santi Cazorla	Midfielder	Arsenal	Spain	29
68	Keisuke Honda	Midfielder	CSKA Moscow	Japan	27
69	Víctor Valdés	Goalkeeper	Barcelona	Spain	31
70	Arda Turan	Midfielder/Forward	Atlético Madrid	Turkey	26
71	Federico Marchetti	Goalkeeper	Lazio	Italy	30
72	Angel Di Maria	Midfielder	Real Madrid	Argentina	25
73	Álvaro Negredo	Forward	Manchester City	Spain	28
74	Laurent Koscielny	Defender	Arsenal	France	28
75	Toby Alderweireld	Defender	Atlético Madrid	Belgium	24
76	Marco Verratti	Midfielder	PSG	Italy	21
77	Pablo Zabaleta	Defender	Manchester City	Argentina	28
78	Dario Conca	Midfielder	Guangzhou Evergrande	Argentina	30
79	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Forward	Borussia Dortmund	Gabon	24
80	Michu	Forward	Swansea City	Spain	27
81	Miralem Pjanic	Midfielder	Roma	Bosnia-Herzegovina	23
82	Samir Handanovic	Goalkeeper	Inter	Slovenia	29
83	Samuel Eto’o	Forward	Chelsea	Cameroon	32
84	Juan Zuniga	Defender	Napoli	Colombia	28
85	Lukasz Piszczek	Defender	Borussia Dortmund	Poland	28
86	Marquinhos	Defender	PSG	Brazil	19
87	Mehdi Benatia	Defender	Roma	Morocco	26
88	Frank Lampard	Midfielder	Chelsea	England	35
89	Shinji Kagawa	Midfielder	Manchester Utd	Japan	24
90	Koke	Midfielder	Atlético Madrid	Spain	21
91	Yohan Cabaye	Midfielder	Newcastle Utd	France	27
92	Lucas Moura	Midfielder	PSG	Brazil	21
93	Blaise Matuidi	Midfielder	PSG	France	26
94	Isco	Midfielder	Real Madrid	Spain	21
95	Alexis Sánchez	Forward	Barcelona	Chile	25
96	Asmir Begovic	Goalkeeper	Stoke City	Bosnia-Herzegovina	26
97	Emmanuel Emenike	Forward	Fenerbahce	Nigeria	26
98	Branislav Ivanovic	Defender	Chelsea	Serbia	29
99	Javi Martinez	Defender/midfielder	Bayern Munich	Spain	25
100	Eden Hazard	Midfielder	Chelsea	Belgium	22

 

Who are the world’s top 100 footballers in 2014?