Best football players in the world ranked 2021
Who is the best football player in the world? Ask anyone between 2010 and 2020 and you’d get one of two answers: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
However, the debate is shifting and these two unprecedented talents have entered the autumn of their careers. Next-gen superstars are making their presence felt and under-appreciated icons of the game are continuing to rack up marvellous performances.
Ronaldo and Messi have swung from tournament to tournament with more medals draped around their necks than their orthopedists would recommend. However, is their reign coming to a close?
There’s a bristling crop of talents ready to fill the void, though. To set the criteria for our list, we’ve selected our top 10 players in the world based on personal talent and achievements across the last few years, as opposed to a short bursts of form or one-off blips following a decade of success.
Without any further ado, RadioTimes.com presents its 10 best players in world football – and yes, we are absolutely, objectively correct.
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Liverpool would not have won the Premier League in 2020 had it not been for Virgil van Dijk. It’s not merely the performances of the Dutch defender that drives Liverpool forward, but his influence off the field has raised standards across the club.
Van Dijk has been instrumental in every progressive step Liverpool have made under Jurgen Klopp since the centre-back arrived from Southampton in 2018. He’s done it on the domestic and European front, and his return to the fold following injury should massively benefit the Reds.
- Erling Haaland (Dortmund)
Rarely has a footballer made such an impressive impact on the European club scene as Norway’s Erling Haaland. At just 21 years of age, one might argue the forward is too young to be yet considered one of the best footballers on the planet. However, watching just 90 minutes of Haaland in a Dortmund shirt will tell you he’s more than worthy.
Haaland’s goalscoring form is phenomenal. At one stage in 2020 he was averaging a goal every 55 minutes and 54 seconds. The youngster translated his blistering attacking game from the Austrian top flight with RB Salzburg to Germany’s Bundesliga at Dortmund as though nothing had happened.
Much like Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Eden Hazard in their youth, Haaland is almost untouchable when in possession. Don’t be surprised if he moves higher up this list in 2022.
- Neymar (PSG)
The French top flight is widely considered a level below that of Brazilian sensation Neymar yet his ultimate goal to deliver a Champions League crown in Paris is yet to be fulfilled. Neymar has been a sensation since his teenage years but the global superstar has never managed to oust the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi off their perch as the No. 1 footballer in the world.
Recent years have seen Neymar slip down these rankings on account of failing to win the highest honours in club football. However, his growing experience has aided his link-up play with fellow forwards and Neymar still has time left to take his game to a fifth gear that many feel he may have lacked since moving from Barcelona.
- Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Kylian Mbappe
It may not be long until Kylian Mbappe surpasses the waning stars of Ronaldo and Messi in this list of the best footballers in the world – but for now the Frenchman is just below those two icons of the game. Why? Well, for those in the corridors of power at Paris Saint-Germain, the difference between greatness and superstardom is the Champions League.
Mbappe enjoyed a strong 2020 but couldn’t steer his team to Champions League glory in the final against Bayern Munich. He has now scored 92 in 109 Ligue 1 games for PSG taking his career total for all teams across all competitions to an obscene 164 goals in 245 games. Kylian Mbappe is 22 years old.
He is approaching a crossroads in his career with murmurs of a move to Real Madrid or the Premier League never far away. Mbappe’s blistering pace and clinical edge will take him to the very top of this list within the next few years.
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah will simply go down as one of the best-value signings in modern-day Premier League history. He cost £36million, which is still a hefty sum, but Liverpool unearthed world class talent for that money.
The Egyptian’s consistency earns him a place on this list. His initial season with the Reds saw him crash home 32 goals in 36 games. That was an unsustainable figure considering he was only two goals short of the all-time Premier League record for a single season, but he has since produced a trio of campaigns around the 20-goal mark – plus assists.
Salah has found the net 134 times in 212 games for Liverpool. For a forward who is not an out-and-out striker, those numbers – in the context of a tough, physical league – are outrageous.
- Harry Kane (Tottenham)
Kane is in a sticky spot right now after failing to secure a move away from his crumbling, beloved Tottenham. His future is uncertain, but his talent is not.
His 166 goals in 242 Premier League games is near-unprecedented. A 21-goal season this term – a reasonable figure – would send him past Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Sergio Aguero and Andy Cole in the list of top 10 Premier League goalscorers of all time. Only Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer would rank ahead of him.
Kane continues to silence critics on his international form after winning the 2018 World Cup Golden Boot and then scoring four goals at Euro 2020 to give England a fighting chance of lifting the trophy.
The 28-year-old is a remarkable link-up player, his vision and passing far surpasses any other dedicated striker, while his edge-of-the-box finishing is as good as anyone in world football. If Kane continues his form and maintains a reasonable level of fitness, he could have another five seasons left at the top of the Premier League with another 100 goals in him.
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd)
Ronaldo is a footballing chameleon. He has conquered Europe across a variety of leagues in a variety of positions and adapted to fresh circumstances every step of the way.
His move back to Manchester United raised plenty of eyebrows after appearing to go a little off the boil at Juventus, but he has proven that he maintains the pace, the finishing prowess and otherworldly desire to win that took him to the very top in the first place.
Ronaldo may have slid a little down the rankings by virtue of success as part of a team unit – his Juventus spell didn’t bear the Champions League trophy his arrival promised or aid team cohesion – but he remains one of the most lethal strikers around.
- Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
No player in the Premier League is as technically gifted as Kevin De Bruyne. The eagle-eyed playmaker has technical ability and intelligence to dominate games both at home and abroad. His physicality – both in speed and strength – is also underestimated.
Manchester City would not be the same without De Bruyne. He is the assist king, with City scoring a goal provided by the Belgian once every two Premier League games. Of course, having a team of glittering stars around him aids De Bruyne’s club performances, but the 29-year-old has also produced for Belgium.
We haven’t dug into the minutely detailed stats for every player, but here are some numbers from KDB’s 181 Premier League games so far. He plays 53 passes per match, has created 116 ‘big chances’ and up to the 2021/22 season has recorded 120 goal contributions (78 assists, 42 goals).
There’s a feeling that one more off-the-wall season could nudge De Bruyne to the very top of this list. In fact, others may already place him there and it would be hard to mount a case against them.
- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Robert Lewandowski Champions League top scorers
Having floated below the likes of Ronaldo and Messi in many ‘best footballers in the world’ lists, Robert Lewandowski is often overlooked. Not anymore. A striker whose talents have adapted to changes in style over the years, Lewandowski is as seasoned a goalscorer as you’ll ever see.
The Poland international has a dead-eye for goal in a one-on-one situation and his numbers are hugely impressive. Lewandowski scored 41 Bundesliga goals in just 29 games – that’s an all-time record high. He is getting better with age.
What’s more, he was named European Footballer of the Year and FIFA’s player of the year, but controversially wasn’t granted the Ballon d’Or in 2020 after the award was cancelled due to COVID-19.
He is the unquestioned king of the natural strikers in world football right now.
- Lionel Messi (PSG)
How anyone can watch Lionel Messi and not feel a giddy rush is beyond me. Messi is objectively and subjectively The Best – now and ever.
In terms of raw numbers, he continued to carry Barcelona on his diminutive shoulders for years, right until the end. He scored 30 goals in 35 La Liga games last term with a relatively poor unit around him. That was his fifth-poorest season out of 13 years with 30+ league appearances and it was still phenomenal.
Overall, Messi racked up 672 goals and just short of 300 assists in 778 games for Barcelona across a range of competitions.
One silly rod often used to beat the Argentine star with has been his apparent failure on the international scene. Unfortunately for Messi’s critics, he has silenced that debate for good after dragging Argentina to the Copa America title in 2021. Oh, and Messi has 76 goals in 151 international games overall.
Beyond raw data, Messi is simply the best footballer on the planet to watch. No-one can set pulses racing on a football field quite like him, no-one boasts the same amount of unquantifiable magic, no-one plays football like Lionel Messi.
Who is the best football player in the world?
Lionel Messi remains the undisputed king of the football world, though it would be foolish not to raise an eyebrow over his start to life at PSG.
The French side are the closest thing to a real-world FIFA Ultimate Team XI you’re ever likely to see, and as players know, chemistry takes time.
As an individual talent and based on almost two decades of cold, objective data and warm, unquantifiable magic, he is the best. Not only the best right now, but the best of all time.
Do you agree with my list? Of course you don’t! And that’s totally fine, even if you are completely wrong.
