This is the third installment of the Footy Blog’s comprehensive list of the Top 100 Footballers in the World, as determined by some of the world’s leading football journalists (Parts 1 and 2 can be found here). The entire 19-person panel along with bios, and some background on how the names and their order was determined is here. If you thought our last two entries were controversial, this will destroy your brain. If you’re on Twitter, be sure to include us in on your outrage by using the hashtag #footy100.
80. Javier Mascherano (Barcelona and Argentina) – One of the greatest football minds in the world, superb tackling ability, a pass percentage into the 90s, Mascherano is the engine room of one of the greatest football sides in the history of the game. He may not play with the same flash as his teammates, but his presence at Barca is part of the reason they can play with attacking abandon. Masch’s got their backs.
79. Daniele De Rossi (Roma and Italy) – Versatile in midfield or farther back in defense, De Rossi is as integral for Roma going forward as in tracking back. He consistently rates highest on the club, and is an integral component of Prandelli’s Italian national team. A worthy Italian addition to the Footy 100.
78. Pepe Reina (Liverpool and Spain) – Seven clean sheets this season for Liverpool, with fifty saves to his name, Reina is also a commanding presence behind the Liverpool back four. He’s a keen distributor of the ball, particularly with long passes forward. His failure to break into the Spanish national team is a testament to the talent in front of him, but Reina, with just under half of his appearances marked as clean sheets, will go down as a Liverpool legend alongside Bruce Grobbelaar.
77. Joe Hart (Manchester City and England) – With all the noise for City up front this year, little attention has been paid to the 24 year-old former Shrewsbury Town number one. Which is a shame, because Hart is already building on his stellar 2010-11 season, which saw him walk away with the most number of clean sheets in the league with 18. Right now he’s at 7, with fifty-one saves to his name. At such a young age, Hart’s career will only grow as he matures. England should be thankful.
76. Yann M’Vila (Rennes and France) – Already an Arsenal target at just 21 years of age, M’Vila is among the world’s most exciting young defensive midfielders. Far and away Rennes best player, his passing ability, coupled with his confident tackling, has won the overwhelming support of fans, and secured his spot in the national team, with one of the best, most consistent passers of the ball the team has seen in many years.
75. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain) – Brilliant passer, confident in the air, comfortable in central defense or as right back, a Real Madrid or Spain without Ramos is nearly unthinkable. It’s hard to believe Ramos is only 25, considering his list of honours, including several World Cup and World XIs, stretches back all the way to 2004. Among the world’s best defenders.
74. Kevin-Prince Boateng (AC Milan and Ghana) – A hat-trick and man-of-the-match peformance against Lecce. A brilliant Champions League equalizer against Barcelona in the Champions League. This is the year we and Boateng have been waiting for, after a long career (despite his 24 years) with Tottenham, Dortmund, and Portsmouth. His early retirement from international football with Ghana is a shame, as are his discipline problems on and off the pitch, but Boateng is undoubtedly a football force.
73. Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) – One of the best central defenders in the Bundesliga, if not all of Europe, Hummels has recently been linked to both Manchester United and Liverpool. It’s not hard to see why; Hummels is excellent on the ball, an astute tackler, has incredible focus, and moves the ball up the pitch intelligently, and can clear the ball like no other. His presence on Dortmund will be key to maintaining their Bundesliga dominance.
72. Danny (Zenit Saint Petersburg and Portugal) – Winner of player of the year in 2010 in the Russian Premier League, Danny has scored nine league goals in 23 appearances, a solid rate of return for Spalletti’s side. Man of the match against Porto in the Champions League already this season, Danny’s play is one of the key reasons Zenit finished the regular league season in first place.
71. Nigel De Jong (Manchester City and Netherlands) – Known in some circles as “the Terrier” and “the Lawnmower”, Man City’s defensive midfielder bosses the back for the Premier League’s league-leading side. He finished the 2010-11 season as the Premier League’s best passer, with a 90% completion rate. And despite his reputation as a bruiser, De Jong has never been sent off while playing for City. His place at City right however with the outrageous form of Yaya Toure in a similar role is uncertain, with a lack of starts beyond his five week absence for injury.
MASCH is the best DM in the world.
Wow Nigel De Jong at 71 seems really really high, especially since he’s hardly played at all this year. I would take any player 72-80 ahead of him. definitely not a top 100 player in the world.
None of these players are better than Rafael Van der Vaart. Maybe Mascherano. Danny? Shameful.
Serious question – how many times have you seen Danny play?
I’m have to agree, Danny is so much better than VdV. I have seen them both play alot this year and Danny has such a bigger hunger for the game plus outright speed. Why is there so much VdV lovers out there all of sudden?
Its called the EPL bias….
I must say seeing Danny on this list at all is surprising let alone at #72.
I may be the only person who doesn’t appreciate a defensive midfielder. Midfielders should be able to attack, leave the defending to defenders.
Kevin Prince-Boateng at 74 is ridiciulous and justifying that due to a hat-trick against the mighty Lecce is even more shocking. Sure his equalizer against Barcelona was a quality strike but glimpses of true quality from KPB are far too few and far between. He always threatens greatness but ultimately never delivers. On top of this, and this obviously influences my opinions about him, is that he represents so much that is wrong with the modern footballer. Aside from his penchant for diving, he completely used the nation of Ghana to further his own career and without any care for their future. Seriously who retires from international football at the ripe old age of 24?
I am sure he will be back with Ghana for the World Cup Qualifying if they want him. What is clear is that he has no interest in the Cup of Nations. Ghana shouldn’t be surprised they recruited him hoping he would switch from Germany to Ghana and he did. They wanted a mercenary and that is exactly what they got.
9 goals in 23 games… In RUSSIA. Outstanding!
For a midfield playmaker? Pretty good actually.
Sergio Ramos and Joe Hart’s position is just a joke. Watching Real Madrid and Spain … Sergio Ramos is an absolutely dominant defender and can keep possession well. Joe Hart is Englands best goal keeper and is without a doubt bar none one of the reasons Manchester Ctiy are doing well. Against Bayern Munchen he was the only reason they kept that game close. Kevin prince boateng, Nigel De Jong should not be put on the same level of those two mentioned world class stars
If Danny is any good why does everyone say Portugal has no strikers? I swear Ive even herd KJ say it?
Danny isn’t a striker, he is an attacking midfielder / #10 who occasionally plays as a winger, and on one of the very small number of times he has played as a striker, it is a false 9, dropping off the front line.
But you know all that, since you feel capable of judging his quality, you obviously must have seen him play several times, right? Wait, whats that? You haven’t? Of course not.
I applaud you Beebs…great response
Better than the list is watching people who watch a game of footie a week get totally schooled by people who actually know a lil something….
i realize these best of lists are just for discussion but i have a tough time getting into them when there is no discussion of evaluation criteria. the same criterion can pump one player up & not even be used in the evaluation of another. any transparent ranking system needs some discussion, no matter how informal, of evaluation criteria and their relative influence on the ranking. otherwise, the discussion that follows ends up being indirectly about the criteria.
There is a link to the way the list was created at the top of the page.
ya, i thought he was a stiker, my bad… But I still dont like him:)
Danny, that is…….
i was going to give the list a chance, but when i saw my favorite player Benzema in the 90′s while he’s a top 10 striker in the world, and Andre Ayew is in the same class, and both behinf Gourcuff, i realised that the criterias, and the ranking system were flawed.
i’m looking forward to seeing who makes the list, but I take this with a grain of salt, the top 20 might be the most interesting thing to see
Benzema a top 10 striker…LOL get your head out of your ass….
Pleased to see a former Pompey player make the list, I wasn’t sure if any would make it.
I am enjoying this list a lot.
De Jong should not be ahead of Mascherano nor De Rossi…De Rossi in my opinion is the best DM out there ahead of Mascherano. As far as for De Jong he is a legitimate contender as one of the best DM but at this point he hasn’t shown me a whole lot after his solid performance at the World Cup. The one thing that still shocks me is seeing both Ramos and Pepe not even in the Top 50…I want to see what other CB’s are rated ahead of them.
Didn’t expect to see Danny on this list although he does deserve it. One of the most underrated players in the world just because he plays in Russia. The majority of people have probably never even seen him play. In this top 10 I think Ramos should be ranked quite a bit higher although if I’m just going to stop now with the “this guy is too high, this guy is too low” because that can be said for pretty much every player on this list.
One person on this list I have a problem with is De Jong. He is barely on the starting XI for Citeh and when he does play he is so inconsistent. And when he plays for the Dutch national side, he barely makes the passing grade. De Jong is definitely NOT a Top 100 Footballer. But every other decision so far I agree with. Not bad 29 out of 30 I am liking.
And yes van dee Vaart belongs as low as he is on this list.
De Rossi deserves better. He is dominant (Roma – 3rd best goal against in top-half Serie A), even though he is left out to dry on a Roma team that does not have a respectable central defender. Roma without him would crumble.
De Jong is misplaced here. He is one dimensional and that 90% pass rate is deceiving given that all he does his pass backwards to his defense.
Boateng!?1? The most inconsistent player in the Serie A does not deserve to be in the top 100.
I think De Rossi is exactly where he should be. He had a poor 2010/11 season and has been inconsistent with the national team for some time now. He had his problems with disciplinary action in the league which he was suspended for in Euro Qualifying matches with Italy. I will agree he has been great this 2011/12 season but that only started in September. If he can continue to play like he has, he will be higher come next year’s edition as i believe he can be one of the best DM in the world.
No offence to Joe Hart, he’s a GREAT young keeper. BUT……he’s NOT better than Pepe Reina
The Castrol Rankings are better than this list.
haha the good ol’ castrol rankings
Since Barry is usually prefered to De Jong in Citeh’s mf does that mean we are going to see Barry in the top 70?? or Mancini doesnt know what these experts do…..
How is it possibile that De Rossi is behind De Jong? He’s way better, everyone who sees the italian league can confirm, and a bad season can’t change that. Also, M.City is trying realy hard to buy him…
this is the problem when you have so many people giving their opinions. The top 100 would be a lot better and more coherent if one person did it with an outline of their criteria. De Jong is way too high, M’Vila and DeRossi belong in this range, otherwise everyone else is too low. especially ramos and hummels
Kevin Prince Boateng never played for Dortmund. He played for Hertha. Poor list with some outrageous choices.
Check KPB’s playing history Finbarr, and look carefully this time.
As a Portugal fan its nice to see Danny on the list. Its very difficult to see any games from Russia and even though I watch other league games regularly I didn’t even know anything about him until I thought to myself, “Who is this Danny guy and why is he so good?” while I was playing FIFA 12.
Hopefully everything I hear about him is true and he gets more recognition at the European Championship this summer.
De Jong SHOULD NOT be ranked higher than mascherano, no matter what the criteria or system being used. i also think ramos deserves a lot more. hard to disagree with players who play in russia, france, ukraine, etc because i dont watch games from there so I don’t really know how they’ve been preforming