Lionel Messi Barcelona 1899 Gold Coin Argentina Signed Footballer Star Legend UK

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Seller: Top-Rated Seller lasvegasormonaco ✉️ (3,187) 99.7%, Location: Manchester, Take a look at my other items, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 266246972570 Lionel Messi Barcelona 1899 Gold Coin Argentina Signed Footballer Star Legend UK. [109][110]. Statistics of all national teams that have won or played a final together with numbers of participation in World Cup, concerning the period 1930-2022. The FIFA World Cup is the largest international competition in football and the world's most viewed sporting event. Lionel Messi Coin FC Barcelona & Argentina Uncirculated 24Kt Gold Plated Commemoration Coin   It has an image of Messi with his famous goal celebration with his autograph and the Argentina flag The reverse has the FC Barcelona Crest The coin is 40mm in diameter, weighs about  1 oz  comes in a plastic case holder A Beautiful coin and Magnificent Keepsake Souvenir to Mark the Worlds Greatest Footballer In Excellent Condition Sorry about the poor-quality photos. They do not do the coin justice which looks a lot better in real life Would make an Excellent Present or Collectable Keepsake souvenir  of a truly great and remarkable Player I have more Football coins on Ebay so Please... Check out my  other items ! Bid with Confidence please read my 100% Positive feedback from over 1,000 satisfied customer Read how quickly they receive their items - I post all my items within 24 hours of receiving payment I am a UK seller with 10 years of eBay selling experience  International customers are welcome. I have shipped items to over 120 countries International orders may require longer handling time if held up at customs If there is a problem I always give a full refund Returns are accepted If your are unhappy with your item please return it for a full refund. I will pay the return postage costs also Why not treat yourself? I always combine multiple items and send an invoice with discounted postage I leave instant feedback upon receiving yours All payment methods accepted from all countries in all currencies Are you looking for a Interesting conversation piece? A birthday present for the person who has everything? A comical gift to cheer someone up? or a special unique gift just to say thank you? You now know where to look for a bargain! Be sure to add me to your  favourites list !

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I have sold items to coutries such as Afghanistan * Albania * Algeria * American Samoa (US) * Andorra * Angola * Anguilla (GB) * Antigua and Barbuda * Argentina * Armenia * Aruba (NL) * Australia * Austria * Azerbaijan * Bahamas * Bahrain * Bangladesh * Barbados * Belarus * Belgium * Belize * Benin * Bermuda (GB) * Bhutan * Bolivia * Bonaire (NL)  * Bosnia and Herzegovina * Botswana * Bouvet Island (NO) * Brazil * British Indian Ocean Territory (GB) * British Virgin Islands (GB) * Brunei * Bulgaria * Burkina Faso * Burundi * Cambodia * Cameroon * Canada * Cape Verde * Cayman Islands (GB) * Central African Republic * Chad * Chile * China * Christmas Island (AU) * Cocos Islands (AU) * Colombia * Comoros * Congo * Democratic Republic of the Congo * Cook Islands (NZ) * Coral Sea Islands Territory (AU) * Costa Rica * Croatia * Cuba * Curaçao (NL)  * Cyprus * Czech Republic * Denmark * Djibouti * Dominica * Dominican Republic * East Timor * Ecuador * Egypt * El Salvador * Equatorial Guinea * Eritrea * Estonia * Ethiopia * Falkland Islands (GB) * Faroe Islands (DK) * Fiji Islands * Finland * France * French Guiana (FR) * French Polynesia (FR) * French Southern Lands (FR) * Gabon * Gambia * Georgia * Germany * Ghana * Gibraltar (GB) * Greece * Greenland (DK) * Grenada * Guadeloupe (FR) * Guam (US) * Guatemala * Guernsey (GB) * Guinea * Guinea-Bissau * Guyana * Haiti * Heard and McDonald Islands (AU) * Honduras * Hong Kong (CN) * Hungary * Iceland * India * Indonesia * Iran * Iraq * Ireland * Isle of Man (GB) * Israel * Italy * Ivory Coast * Jamaica * Jan Mayen (NO) * Japan * Jersey (GB) * Jordan * Kazakhstan * Kenya * Kiribati * Kosovo * Kuwait * Kyrgyzstan * Laos * Latvia * Lebanon * Lesotho * Liberia * Libya * Liechtenstein * Lithuania * Luxembourg * Macau (CN) * Macedonia * Madagascar * Malawi * Malaysia * Maldives * Mali * Malta * Marshall Islands * Martinique (FR) * Mauritania * Mauritius * Mayotte (FR) * Mexico * Micronesia * Moldova * Monaco * Mongolia * Montenegro * Montserrat (GB) * Morocco * Mozambique * Myanmar * Namibia * Nauru * Navassa (US) * Nepal * Netherlands * New Caledonia (FR) * New Zealand * Nicaragua * Niger * Nigeria * Niue (NZ) * Norfolk Island (AU) * North Korea * Northern Cyprus * Northern Mariana Islands (US) * Norway * Oman * Pakistan * Palau * Palestinian Authority * Panama * Papua New Guinea * Paraguay * Peru * Philippines * Pitcairn Island (GB) * Poland * Portugal * Puerto Rico (US) * Qatar * Reunion (FR) * Romania * Russia * Rwanda * Saba (NL)  * Saint Barthelemy (FR) * Saint Helena (GB) * Saint Kitts and Nevis * Saint Lucia * Saint Martin (FR) * Saint Pierre and Miquelon (FR) * Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Samoa * San Marino * Sao Tome and Principe * Saudi Arabia * Senegal * Serbia * Seychelles * Sierra Leone * Singapore * Sint Eustatius (NL)  * Sint Maarten (NL)  * Slovakia * Slovenia * Solomon Islands * Somalia * South Africa * South Georgia (GB) * South Korea * South Sudan * Spain * Sri Lanka * Sudan * Suriname * Svalbard (NO) * Swaziland * Sweden * Switzerland * Syria * Taiwan * Tajikistan * Tanzania * Thailand * Togo * Tokelau (NZ) * Tonga * Trinidad and Tobago * Tunisia * Turkey * Turkmenistan * Turks and Caicos Islands (GB) * Tuvalu * U.S. Minor Pacific Islands (US) * U.S. Virgin Islands (US) * Uganda * Ukraine * United Arab Emirates * United Kingdom * United States * Uruguay * Uzbekistan * Vanuatu * Vatican City * Venezuela * Vietnam * Wallis and Futuna (FR) * Yemen * Zambia * Zimbabwe and major cities such as Tokyo, Yokohama, New York City, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Mexico City, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Manila, Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta, Lagos, Kolkata, Cairo, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Shanghai, Karachi, Paris, Istanbul, Nagoya, Beijing, Chicago, London, Shenzhen, Essen, Düsseldorf, Tehran, Bogota, Lima, Bangkok, Johannesburg, East Rand, Chennai, Taipei, Baghdad, Santiago, Bangalore, Hyderabad, St Petersburg, Philadelphia, Lahore, Kinshasa, Miami, Ho Chi Minh City, Madrid, Tianjin, Kuala Lumpur, Toronto, Milan, Shenyang, Dallas, Fort Worth, Boston, Belo Horizonte, Khartoum, Riyadh, Singapore, Washington, Detroit, Barcelona,, Houston, Athens, Berlin, Sydney, Atlanta, Guadalajara, San Francisco, Oakland, Montreal, Monterey, Melbourne, Ankara, Recife, Phoenix/Mesa, Durban, Porto Alegre, Dalian, Jeddah, Seattle, Cape Town, San Diego, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Rome, Naples, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Tel Aviv, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Manchester, San Juan, Katowice, Tashkent, Fukuoka, Baku, Sumqayit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Sapporo, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Taichung, Warsaw, Denver, Cologne, Bonn, Hamburg, Dubai, Pretoria, Vancouver, Beirut, Budapest, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Campinas, Harare, Brasilia, Kuwait, Munich, Portland, Brussels, Vienna, San Jose, Damman , Copenhagen, Brisbane, Riverside, San Bernardino, Cincinnati and Accra Lionel Andrés Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi] ( listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He serves as the captain of his country's national football team. By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and then again in 2011 and 2012. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At age 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 goals in La Liga's matches. Commonly ranked as the best player in the world and rated by some in the sport as the greatest of all time,[2][3][4][5][6][7] Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballons d'Or, all of which he won consecutively, as well as the first to win three European Golden Shoe awards. With Barcelona, Messi has won six La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, five Supercopas de España, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups. Messi is the first and only player to top-score in four consecutive Champions League campaigns, and also holds the record for the most hat-tricks scored (4) in the competition. In March 2012, Messi made Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match. He also matched José Altafini's record of 14 goals in a single Champions League season. Messi set the European record for most goals scored in a season during the 2011–12 season, with 73 goals. In the same season, he set the current goalscoring record in a single La Liga season, scoring 50 goals. Also in that season, Messi became the first player ever to score and assist in six different official competitions in one season. On 16 February 2013, Messi scored his 300th Barcelona goal. On 30 March 2013, Messi scored in his 19th consecutive La Liga game, becoming the first footballer in history to net in consecutive matches against every team in a professional football league. He extended his record scoring streak to 21 consecutive league matches, and the run came to a halt only when he sustained a hamstring injury. In March 2014, with a hat-trick against Real Madrid, Messi became the player with most goals and most hat-tricks in the history of El Clásico. Messi helped Argentina win the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup, finishing as both the best player and the top scorer (with 6 goals). In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play and score in the FIFA World Cup, and won a runners-up medal at the Copa América in 2007, in which he was elected young player of the tournament. In 2008, he won his first international honour, an Olympic Gold Medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. SportsPro has rated him as the second-most marketable athlete in the world. His playing style and stature have drawn comparisons to compatriot Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his "successor". Personal information Full name     Lionel Andrés Messi[1] Date of birth     24 June 1987 (age 26)[1] Place of birth     Rosario, Argentina[1] Height     1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] Playing position     Forward Club information Current club     Barcelona Number     10 Youth career 1995–2000     Newell's Old Boys 2000–2003     Barcelona Senior career* Years     Team     Apps†     (Gls)† 2003–2004     Barcelona C     10     (5) 2004–2005     Barcelona B     22     (6) 2004–     Barcelona     276     (243) National team‡ 2004–2005     Argentina U20     18     (14) 2007–2008     Argentina U23     5     (2) 2005–     Argentina     86     (38) Honours[show] * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:38, 17 May 2014 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:46, 7 June 2014 (UTC) Honours Messi with Cristiano Ronaldo before an international friendly between Portugal and Argentina in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 February 2011. Barcelona     La Liga: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13     Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12; Runner-up 2010–11, 2013–14     Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013; Runner-up 2012     UEFA Champions League: 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11     UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011; Runner-up 2006     FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011 Argentina     Olympic Gold Medal: 2008     FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005 Runner-up:     Copa America: 2007 Third place:     U20 South American Youth Championship: 2005 Individual     FIFA Ballon d'Or (3): 2010, 2011, 2012. Created in 2010.     Ballon d'Or (1): 2009. Ceased to exist after 2009.     FIFA World Player of the Year (1): 2009. Ceased to exist after 2009.     World Soccer Player of the Year (3): 2009, 2011, 2012.     World Soccer Greatest XI of All Time: 2013.     Onze d'Or (3): 2009, 2011, 2012. No winner in 2010.     European Golden Shoe (3): 2010, 2012, 2013.     UEFA Best Player in Europe Award (1): 2011. Created in 2011.     UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (1): 2009. Ceased to exist in 2010.     FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball (2): 2009, 2011.     UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match (1): 2011.     UEFA Champions League Top Goalscorer (4): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.     L'Équipe Champion of Champions : 2011.     FIFA U-20 World Cup Player of the Tournament (1): 2005.     FIFA U-20 World Cup Top Goalscorer (1): 2005.     LFP Best Player (5): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.     La Liga Player of the Year (3): 2009, 2010, 2011.     La Liga Foreign Player of the Year (3): 2007, 2009, 2010. Ceased to exist in 2010.     Pichichi Trophy (3): 2010, 2012, 2013.     LFP Best Forward (5): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.     UEFA Champions League Forward of the Year (1): 2009. Ceased to exist in 2010.     La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year (5): 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.     FIFPro World Young Player of the Year (3): 2006, 2007, 2008.     World Soccer Young Player of the Year (3): 2006, 2007, 2008.     Bravo Award (1): 2007.     Golden Boy (1): 2005.     Marca Legend Award (1): 2009.     ESPY Best International Athlete (1): 2012.     El País King of European Soccer (4): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.[302]     IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer (2): 2011, 2012.[303]     IFFHS World's best Top Division Goal Scorer (1): 2012.[304]     FIFA/FIFPro World XI (7): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.     UEFA Team of the Year (5): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.     ESM Team of the Year (7): 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.     Copa América Young Player of the Tournament (1): 2007.     Copa América Top Assist Provider (1): 2011.     Copa del Rey Top Goalscorer (1): 2010–11, 2013–14.     Argentine Sportsperson of the Year Award (1): 2011.     Olimpia de Plata (8): 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 The history of FIFA World Cup World Cup trophyThere is nothing in football that can compare with the World Cup. Even though the UEFA Champions League may produce games of the same quality, it can't overreach the status earned from the long tradition and the fact that one team represent a whole country. No other sport event can compete in significance: the latest FIFA World Cup reached over three billion television viewers worldwide and one billion watched the final. Contents All World Cup tournaments Teams with most titles and finals World Cup finals Top goalscorers Background Before the World Cup was inaugurated, the football tournament arranged as part of the Summer Olympics was given the most prestige. But in the 1920s, the game was facing a transition to professionalism that wasn't consistent with the Olympic spirit. Therefore, the government body, FIFA, made plans to organize a World Cup. The decision of arranging the first edition was officially declared on May 26, 1928. All World Cup tournaments The first official World Cup was played in Uruguay 1930, and since when the tournament has been held every fourth year (with exceptions for interruption due to the Second World War). There were, however, unofficial pre-FIFA World Cups already in the late 1800s, in a time when only few national teams existed. Another unofficial "world cup" arranged before 1930 was Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy held in 1909 and 1911. Besides that, the Summer Olympic football competitions would be a mark of which the best national teams were before 1930. The Olympic tournaments consisted, however, only of amateur teams – the World Cup became the "real deal". 1930: Urugay Official poster World Cup 1930The FIFA World Cup 1930 was played in Uruguay 3 July-30 July, with 13 nations. The 1930 World Cup 1934: Italy Official poster World Cup 1934The FIFA World Cup 1934 was played in Italy 27 May-10 June, with 16 nations. The 1934 World Cup 1938: France Official poster World Cup 1938The FIFA World Cup 1938 was played in France 4-19 June, with 16 nations. The 1938 World Cup 1950: Brazil Official poster World Cup 1950The FIFA World Cup 1950 was played in Brazil 24 June-16 July, with 15 nations. The 1950 World Cup 1954: Switzerland Official poster World Cup 1954The FIFA World Cup 1954 was played in Switzerland 16 June-4 July, with 16 nations. The 1954 World Cup 1958: Sweden Official poster World Cup 1958The FIFA World Cup 1958 was played in Sweden 8-29 June, with 16 nations. The 1958 World Cup 1962: Chile Official poster World Cup 1962The FIFA World Cup 1962 was played in Chile 30 May-17 June, with 16 nations. The 1962 World Cup 1966: England Official poster World Cup 1966The FIFA World Cup 1966 was played in England 11-30 July, with 16 nations. The 1966 World Cup 1970: Mexico Official poster World Cup 1970The FIFA World Cup 1970 was played in Mexico 31 May-21 June, with 16 nations. The 1970 World Cup 1974: West Germany Official poster World Cup 1974The FIFA World Cup 1974 was played in West Germany 13 June-7 July, with 16 nations. The 1974 World Cup 1978: Argentina Official poster World Cup 1978The FIFA World Cup 1978 was played in Argentina 1-25 June, with 16 nations. The 1978 World Cup 1982: Spain Official poster World Cup 1982The FIFA World Cup 1982 was played in Spain 13 June-11 July, with 24 nations. The 1982 World Cup 1986: Mexico Official poster World Cup 1986The FIFA World Cup 1986 was played in Mexico 31 May-29 June, with 24 nations. The 1986 World Cup 1990: Italy Official poster World Cup 1990The FIFA World Cup 1990 was played in Italy 8 June-8 July, with 24 nations. The 1990 World Cup 1994: United States Official poster World Cup 1994The FIFA World Cup 1994 was played in United States 17 June-17 July, with 24 nations. The 1994 World Cup 1998: France Official poster World Cup 1998The FIFA World Cup 1998 was played in France 10 June-12 July, with 32 nations. The 1998 World Cup 2002: Korea/Japan Official poster World Cup 2002The FIFA World Cup 2002 was played in Korea/Japan 31 May-30 June, with 32 nations. The 2002 World Cup 2006: Germany Official poster World Cup 2006The FIFA World Cup 2006 was played in Germany 9 June-9 July, with 32 nations. The 2006 World Cup 2010: South Africa Official poster World Cup 2010The FIFA World Cup 2010 was played in South Africa 11 June-11 July, with 32 nations. The 2010 World Cup 2014: Brazil Official poster World Cup 2014The FIFA World Cup 2014 was played in Brazil 12 June-13 July, with 32 nations. The 2014 World Cup 2018: Russia Official poster World Cup 2018The FIFA World Cup 2018 was played in Russia 14 June-15 July, with 32 nations. The 2018 World Cup 2022: Qatar Official poster World Cup 2022The FIFA World Cup 2022 was played in Qatar 20 November-18 December with 32 nations. The 2022 World Cup Teams with most titles and finals Statistics of all national teams that have won or played a final together with numbers of participation in World Cup, concerning the period 1930-2022. Table 1. Most successful national teams in FIFA World Cup Team    Titles    Finals    Participation Brazil    5    7    22 Germany    4    8    20 Italy    4    6    18 Argentina    3    6    18 France    2    4    16 Uruguay    2    2    14 England    1    1    16 Spain    1    1    16 Netherlands    0    3    11 Hungary    0    2    9 Czechoslovakia    0    2    8 Sweden    0    1    12 Croatia    0    1    6 World Cup finals All finals including winners of World Cup tournaments 1930-2022. Table 2. Finals and results Year    Home team*    Away team*    Result 1930    Uruguay    Argentina    4-2 1934    Italy    Czechoslovakia    2-1 (a.e.t) 1938    Hungary    Italy    2-4 1950†    Uruguay    Brazil    2-1 1954    West Germany    Hungary    3-2 1958    Brazil    Sweden    5-2 1962    Brazil    Czechoslovakia    3-1 1966    England    West Germany    4-2 (a.e.t.) 1970    Brazil    Italy    4-1 1974    Netherlands    West Germany    1-2 1978    Netherlands    Argentina    1-3 (a.e.t.) 1982    Italy    West Germany    3-1 1986    Argentina    West Germany    3-2 1990    West Germany    Argentina    1-0 1994    Brazil    Italy    3-2 (pen.) 1998    Brazil    France    0-3 2002    Germany    Brazil    0-2 2006    Italy    France    6-4 (pen.) 2010    Netherlands    Spain    0-1 (a.e.t.) 2014    Germany    Argentina    1-0 (a.e.t.) 2018    France    Croatia    4-2 2022    Argentina    France    7-5 (pen.) * The home and away team are only technical. † No final was played since the tournament was decided by a group phase in which the listed match was the most decisive. a.e.t. stands for after extra time. pen. stands for penalties, meaning the match was decided after extra time and the result includes the penalty shootout. The home advantage One noticeable aspect in the World Cup history is that the home team has been over performing. On six occasions have the home team won the competition. Besides, many teams that normally doesn’t compete with the greatest teams have gone far in the tournament then playing on home ground. For example, Sweden in 1958, reaching the final, and South Korea in 2006, reaching the semi-finals. Advertisement Top goalscorers These players have made most goals in a single World Cup. Table 3. Most successful goal scorers in a single tournament Player    Goals    Team    Year Just Fontaine    13    France    1958 Sándor Kocsis    11    Hungary    1954 Gerd Müller    10    West Germany    1970 Eusébio    9    Portugal    1966 Guillermo Stábile    8    Argentina    1930 Ademir    8    Brazil    1950 Ronaldo    8    Brazil    2002 Kylian Mbappé    8    France    2022 Leônidas    7    Brazil    1938 Jairzinho    7    Brazil    1958 Grzegorz Lato    7    Poland    1974 Lionel Messi    7    Argentina    2022 There are many players that have done six goals in one World Cup and these are: Erich Probst (1954), Josef Hügi (1954), Max Morlock (1954), Pelé (1958), Helmut Rahn (1958), Helmut Haller (1966), Mario Kempes (1978), Paolo Rossi (1982), Gary Lineker (1986), Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Oleg Salenko (1994), Davor Šuker (1998), James Rodríguez (2014) and Harry Kane (2018). The five players that have made most goals overall are Ronaldo (18 goals in 4 tournaments), Miroslav Klose (16 goals in 4 tournaments), Gerd Müller (14 goals in 2 tournaments), Just Fontaine (13 goals in 1 tournament) and Péle (12 goals in 4 tournaments). World Cup awards In connection to the World Cup, several awards are given to some players. The most known is The Golden Ball that is awarded to the best player in a FIFA World Cup. Candidates are decided by FIFA which media representatives votes on. Besides the Golden Ball there are also the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball together with the Golden Boot (top goalscorer) and the Golden Glove (best goalkeeper). World Cup by continents A performance comparison by continents (World Cup tournaments 1930-2022). Table 4. Continent versus continent in FIFA World Cup Continent    Titles    To reach final    To reach semi-finals Europe    12    29    54 South America    10    15    23 Asia    0    0    1 Central and North America    0    0    0 Africa    0    0    1 Oceania    0    0    0 Numbers of participants and games Table 5 shows the numbers of participating team in per World Cup tournament. The numbers in the second column concern the final stage and the third column all teams that took part in the qualification. In addition, the numbers of games played (qualification games excluded) is shown in the fourth column. Table 5. Participating teams from first to last FIFA World Cup tournament Year    Teams (finals)    Teams (qualification)    Games (finals) 1930    13    no qualification    18 1934    16    32    17 1938    16*    37    18 1950    15†    36    22 1954    16    37    26 1958    16    55    35 1962    16    56    32 1966    16    74    32 1970    16    75    32 1974    16    99    38 1978    16    107    38 1982    24    109    52 1986    24    121    52 1990    24    116    52 1994    24    147    52 1998    32    174    64 2002    32    199    64 2006    32    197    64 2010    32    204    64 2014    32    203    64 2018    32    210    64 2022    32    210    64 * Austria were abolished before the first game of political reasons. † France and India withdraw after qualification. Prize money The prize money for the tournament has increased massively during the years. The total prize money for the FIFA World Cup 2022 was $440 million (the winners received $42 million), which can be compared to $20 million for the FIFA World Cup 1982. Association football Article Talk Read View source View history Tools Page semi-protected   Listen to this article From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Soccer" redirects here. For other uses, see Soccer (disambiguation). Association football Football in Bloomington, Indiana, 1996.jpg The attacking player (No. 10) attempts to kick the ball beyond the opposing team's goalkeeper, between the goalposts, and beneath the crossbar (not shown) to score a goal. Highest governing body    FIFA Nicknames     The Beautiful GameThe World's Game[1][2] First played    Mid-19th century England[3][4] Characteristics Contact    Limited Team members    11 per side (including goalkeeper) Mixed-sex    No, separate competitions Type    Team sport, ball sport Equipment    Football (or soccer ball), shin pads Venue    Football pitch (also known as football field, football ground, soccer field, soccer pitch or "pitch") Glossary    Glossary of association football Presence Country or region    Worldwide Olympic    Men's since the 1900 Olympics and women's since the 1996 Olympics Paralympic    5-a-side since 2004 and 7-a-side from 1984 to 2016 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer,[a] is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is often considered the world's most popular sport. The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may use any other part of their body, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and only then within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout.[5] Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA. National associations (e.g. The FA or JFA) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The most senior and prestigious international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games.[6] The two most prestigious competitions in European club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience throughout the world. The final of the men's tournament has been, in recent years, the most-watched annual sporting event in the world.[7] Women's association football has historically seen opposition, with national associations severely curbing its development and several outlawing it completely. Restrictions started to be reduced in the 1970s and the first official women's World Cup[b] was the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China with only 12 teams from the respective six confederations. By the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, this had increased to 24 national teams, and a record-breaking 1.12 billion viewers watched the competition.[8] Name Main article: Names for association football Association football is one of a family of football codes that emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity. Within the English-speaking world, the sport is now usually called "football" in Great Britain and most of Ulster in the north of Ireland, whereas people usually call it "soccer" in regions and countries where other codes of football are prevalent, such as Australia,[9] Canada, South Africa, most of Ireland (excluding Ulster),[10] and the United States; in Japan, the game is also primarily called sakkā (サッカー), derived from "soccer". A notable exception is New Zealand, where in the first two decades of the 21st century, under the influence of international television, "football" has been gaining prevalence, despite the dominance of other codes of football, namely rugby union and rugby league.[11] The term soccer comes from Oxford "-er" slang, which was prevalent at the University of Oxford in England from about 1875, and is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School. Initially spelled assoccer, it was later reduced to the modern spelling.[12] This form of slang also gave rise to rugger for rugby football, fiver and tenner for five pound and ten pound notes, and the now-archaic footer that was also a name for association football.[13] The word soccer arrived at its final form in 1895 and was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca.[14] History Main article: History of association football For a chronological guide, see Timeline of association football. On the left, an episkyros player on an ancient stone carving, c. 375–400 BCE, exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens;[15] on the right, children playing cuju in Song dynasty China, 12th century Kicking ball games arose independently multiple times across multiple cultures.[c] Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games.[16][17] An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a stele of c. 375–400 BCE in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens[15] appears on the UEFA European Championship trophy.[18] Athenaeus, writing in 228 CE, mentions the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence. They all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football.[19][20][21][22][23][24] As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking it.[25][26] The Chinese competitive game cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball"; also known as tsu chu) resembles modern association football.[27] Cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was to kick a ball through an opening into a net. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), cuju games were standardised and rules were established.[19] Other East Asian games included kemari in Japan and chuk-guk in Korea, both influenced by cuju.[28][29] Kemari originated after the year 600 during the Asuka period. It was a ceremonial rather than a competitive game, and involved the kicking of a mari, a ball made of animal skin.[30] In North America, pasuckuakohowog was a ball game played by the Algonquians; it was described as "almost identical to the kind of folk football being played in Europe at the same time, in which the ball was kicked through goals".[31] Association football in itself does not have a classical history.[18] Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world, FIFA has recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe.[32] The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century.[33] The modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The "Laws of the University Foot Ball Club" (Cambridge Rules) of 1856 The Cambridge rules, first drawn up at the University of Cambridge in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools. They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed by former public school pupils in 1857,[34] which led to the formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules.[35] These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London.[36] The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse. The Freemasons' Tavern was the setting for five more meetings of The FA between October and December 1863; the English FA eventually issued the first comprehensive set of rules named Laws of the Game, forming modern football. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath F.C., withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand; the second for obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to ratify the original thirteen laws of the game.[36] These rules included handling of the ball by "marks" and the lack of a crossbar, rules which made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s, with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games.[37] The Aston Villa team in 1897, after winning both the FA Cup and the English Football League The world's oldest football competition is the FA Cup, which was founded by the footballer and cricketer Charles W. Alcock, and has been contested by English teams since 1872. The first official international football match also took place in 1872, between Scotland and England in Glasgow, again at the instigation of Alcock. England is also home to the world's first football league, which was founded in Birmingham in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor.[38] The original format contained 12 clubs from the Midlands and Northern England.[39] Laws of the Game are determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).[40] The board was formed in 1886[41] after a meeting in Manchester of the Football Association, the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales, and the Irish Football Association. FIFA, the international football body, was formed in Paris in 1904 and declared that they would adhere to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association.[42] The growing popularity of the international game led to the admittance of FIFA representatives to the IFAB in 1913. The board consists of four representatives from FIFA and one representative from each of the four British associations.[43] For most of the 20th century, Europe and South America were the dominant regions in association football. The FIFA World Cup, inaugurated in 1930, became the main stage for players of both continents to show their worth and the strength of their national teams.[44] In the second half of the century, the European Cup and the Copa Libertadores were created, and the champions of these two club competitions would contest the Intercontinental Cup to prove which team was the best in the world.[45] In the 21st century, South America has continued to produce some of the best footballers in the world,[46] but its clubs have fallen behind the still dominant European clubs, which often sign the best players from Latin America and elsewhere.[44][46] Meanwhile, football has improved in Africa, Asia and North America,[46] and nowadays, these regions are at least on equal grounds with South America in club football,[47] although countries in the Caribbean and Oceania regions (except Australia) have yet to make a mark in international football.[48][49] When it comes to national teams, however, Europeans and South Americans continue to dominate the FIFA World Cup, as no team from any other region has managed to even reach the final.[44][46] Football is played at a professional level all over the world. Millions of people regularly go to football stadiums to follow their favourite teams,[50] while billions more watch the game on television or on the internet.[51][52] A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. According to a survey conducted by FIFA published in 2001, over 240 million people from more than 200 countries regularly play football.[53] Football has the highest global television audience in sport.[54] In many parts of the world, football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and even nations. Ryszard Kapuściński says that Europeans who are polite, modest, or humble fall easily into rage when playing or watching football games.[55] The Ivory Coast national football team helped secure a truce to the nation's civil war in 2006[56] and it helped further reduce tensions between government and rebel forces in 2007 by playing a match in the rebel capital of Bouaké, an occasion that brought both armies together peacefully for the first time.[57] By contrast, football is widely considered to have been the final proximate cause for the Football War in June 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras.[58] The sport also exacerbated tensions at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence of the 1990s, when a match between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade degenerated into rioting in May 1990.[59] Women's association football Main article: Women's association football Women may have been playing football for as long as the game has existed. Evidence shows that a similar ancient game (cuju, or tsu chu) was played by women during the Han dynasty (25–220 CE), as female figures are depicted in frescoes of the period playing tsu chu.[60][61] There are also reports of annual football matches played by women in Midlothian, Scotland, during the 1790s.[62][63] North team of the British Ladies', the first organised women's football team, here pictured in March 1895 Association football, the modern game, has documented early involvement of women.[63] In 1863, football governing bodies introduced standardised rules to prohibit violence on the pitch, making it more socially acceptable for women to play.[64] The first match recorded by the Scottish Football Association took place in 1892 in Glasgow.[62] In England, the first recorded game of football between women took place in 1895.[64] Women's football has traditionally been associated with charity games and physical exercise, particularly in the United Kingdom.[65] The best-documented early European team was founded by activist Nettie Honeyball in England in 1894. It was named the British Ladies' Football Club. Honeyball is quoted as, "I founded the association late last year [1894], with the fixed resolve of proving to the world that women are not the 'ornamental and useless' creatures men have pictured. I must confess, my convictions on all matters where the sexes are so widely divided are all on the side of emancipation, and I look forward to the time when ladies may sit in Parliament and have a voice in the direction of affairs, especially those which concern them most."[66] Honeyball and those like her paved the way for women's football. However, the women's game was frowned upon by the British football associations and continued without their support. It has been suggested that this was motivated by a perceived threat to the "masculinity" of the game.[67] Women's football became popular on a large scale at the time of the First World War, when female employment in heavy industry spurred the growth of the game, much as it had done for men 50 years earlier. The most successful team of the era was Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. of Preston, England. The team played in one of the first women's international matches against a French XI team in 1920,[68][69] and also made up most of the England team against a Scottish Ladies XI in the same year, winning 22–0.[62] Despite being more popular than some men's football events, with one match seeing a 53,000 strong crowd in 1920,[70][71] women's football in England suffered a blow in 1921 when The Football Association outlawed the playing of the game on association members' pitches,[72] stating that "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged".[73] Players and football writers have argued that this ban was, in fact, due to envy of the large crowds that women's matches attracted,[71] and because the FA had no control over the money made from the women's game.[73] The FA ban led to the formation of the short-lived English Ladies Football Association and play moved to rugby grounds.[74] Young Finnish girls football team of Kolarin Kontio in Piteå, Sweden, in 2014 Association football continued to be played by women since the time of the first recorded women's games in the late 19th century.[65][75] In December 1969, the Women's Football Association was formed in England,[65][76] and in 1971, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) members voted to officially recognise women's football.[65] Also in 1971, The Football Association rescinded the ban that prohibited women from playing on association members' pitches.[76] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, women's association football was organised in the United Kingdom, eventually becoming the most prominent team sport for British women.[65] Women's football also faced bans in several other countries, notably in Brazil from 1941 to 1979,[77] in France from 1941 to 1970,[78] and in Germany from 1955 to 1970.[79] Women's football still faces many struggles, but its worldwide growth[80] has seen major competitions being launched at both the national and international levels, mirroring the men's competitions. The FIFA Women's World Cup was inaugurated in 1991 and has been held every four years since,[81] while women's football has been an Olympic event since 1996.[82] North America is the dominant region in women's football, with the United States winning most FIFA Women's World Cups and Olympic tournaments. Europe and Asia come second and third in terms of international success,[83][84] and the women's game has been improving in South America.[85] Gameplay Main article: Laws of the Game (association football) See also: Parker's Piece One half of a professional football match (45 minutes) between Slovenian clubs NK Nafta 1903 and NK Dob. The result after the half is 0–0. Association football is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played using a spherical ball of 68–70 cm (27–28 in) circumference,[86] known as the football (or soccer ball). Two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals then the game is a draw. Each team is led by a captain who has only one official responsibility as mandated by the Laws of the Game: to represent their team in the coin toss before kick-off or penalty kicks.[5] The primary law is that players other than goalkeepers may not deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play, though they must use both their hands during a throw-in restart. Although players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their body (notably, "heading" with the forehead)[87] other than their hands or arms.[88] Within normal play, all players are free to play the ball in any direction and move throughout the pitch, though players may not pass to teammates who are in an offside position.[89] During gameplay, players attempt to create goal-scoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a teammate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent in possession of the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is restricted. Football is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play or when play is stopped by the referee for an infringement of the rules. After a stoppage, play recommences with a specified restart.[90] A player executing a slide tackle to dispossess an opponent At a professional level, most matches produce only a few goals. For example, the 2005–06 season of the English Premier League produced an average of 2.48 goals per match.[91] The Laws of the Game do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper,[92] but a number of specialised roles have evolved.[93] Broadly, these include three main categories: strikers, or forwards, whose main task is to score goals; defenders, who specialise in preventing their opponents from scoring; and midfielders, who dispossess the opposition and keep possession of the ball to pass it to the forwards on their team. Players in these positions are referred to as outfield players, to distinguish them from the goalkeeper. These positions are further subdivided according to the area of the field in which the player spends the most time. For example, there are central defenders and left and right midfielders. The ten outfield players may be arranged in any combination. The number of players in each position determines the style of the team's play; more forwards and fewer defenders creates a more aggressive and offensive-minded game, while the reverse creates a slower, more defensive style of play. While players typically spend most of the game in a specific position, there are few restrictions on player movement, and players can switch positions at any time.[94] The layout of a team's players is known as a formation. Defining the team's formation and tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's manager.[95] Laws "Rules of football" redirects here. For the rules of other football games, see Football. There are 17 laws in the official Laws of the Game, each containing a collection of stipulations and guidelines. The same laws are designed to apply to all levels of football for both sexes, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, seniors and people with physical disabilities are permitted.[d] The laws are often framed in broad terms, which allow flexibility in their application depending on the nature of the game. The Laws of the Game are published by FIFA, but are maintained by the IFAB.[96] In addition to the seventeen laws, numerous IFAB decisions and other directives contribute to the regulation of association football.[97][98] Within the United States, Major League Soccer used a distinct ruleset during the 1990s[99] and the National Federation of State High School Associations and National Collegiate Athletic Association still use rulesets that are comparable to, but different from, the IFAB Laws. Players, equipment, and officials See also: Association football positions, Formation (association football), Substitute (association football), and Kit (association football) The referee officiates in a football match Each team consists of a maximum of eleven players (excluding substitutes), one of whom must be the goalkeeper. Competition rules may state a minimum number of players required to constitute a team, which is usually seven. Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to play the ball with their hands or arms, provided they do so within the penalty area in front of their own goal. Though there are a variety of positions in which the outfield (non-goalkeeper) players are strategically placed by a coach, these positions are not defined or required by the Laws.[92] The basic equipment or kit players are required to wear includes a shirt, shorts, socks, footwear and adequate shin guards. An athletic supporter and protective cup is highly recommended for male players by medical experts and professionals.[100][101] Headgear is not a required piece of basic equipment, but players today may choose to wear it to protect themselves from head injury.[102] Players are forbidden to wear or use anything that is dangerous to themselves or another player, such as jewellery or watches. The goalkeeper must wear clothing that is easily distinguishable from that worn by the other players and the match officials.[103] A number of players may be replaced by substitutes during the course of the game. The maximum number of substitutions permitted in most competitive international and domestic league games is five in 90 minutes,[104] with each team being allowed one more if the game should go into extra-time; the permitted number may vary in other competitions or in friendly matches. Common reasons for a substitution include injury, tiredness, ineffectiveness, a tactical switch, or timewasting at the end of a finely poised game. In standard adult matches, a player who has been substituted may not take further part in a match.[105] IFAB recommends "that a match should not continue if there are fewer than seven players in either team". Any decision regarding points awarded for abandoned games is left to the individual football associations.[106] A game is officiated by a referee, who has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and whose decisions are final. The referee is assisted by two assistant referees. In many high-level games there is also a fourth official who assists the referee and may replace another official should the need arise.[107] Goal line technology is used to measure if the whole ball has crossed the goal-line thereby determining whether a goal has been scored or not; this was brought in to prevent controversy. Video assistant referees (VAR) have also been increasingly introduced in high-level matches to assist officials through video replays to correct clear and obvious mistakes. There are four types of calls that can be reviewed: mistaken identity in awarding a red or yellow card, goals and whether there was a violation during the buildup, direct red card decisions, and penalty decisions.[108] Ball Main article: Ball (association football) The ball is spherical with a circumference of between 68 and 70 cm (27 and 28 in), a weight in the range of 410 to 450 g (14 to 16 oz), and a pressure between 0.6 and 1.1 standard atmospheres (8.5 and 15.6 pounds per square inch) at sea level. In the past the ball was made up of leather panels sewn together, with a latex bladder for pressurisation, but modern balls at all levels of the game are now synthetic.[109][110] Pitch Main article: Football pitch Standard pitch measurements As the Laws were formulated in England, and were initially administered solely by the four British football associations within IFAB, the standard dimensions of a football pitch were originally expressed in imperial units. The Laws now express dimensions with approximate metric equivalents (followed by traditional units in brackets), though use of imperial units remains popular in English-speaking countries with a relatively recent history of metrication (or only partial metrication), such as Britain.[111] The length of the pitch, or field, for international adult matches is in the range of 100–110 m (110–120 yd) and the width is in the range of 64–75 m (70–80 yd). Fields for non-international matches may be 90–120 m (100–130 yd) in length and 45–90 m (50–100 yd) in width, provided that the pitch does not become square. In 2008, the IFAB initially approved a fixed size of 105 m (115 yd) long and 68 m (74 yd) wide as a standard pitch dimension for international matches;[112] however, this decision was later put on hold and was never actually implemented.[113] The longer boundary lines are touchlines, while the shorter boundaries (on which the goals are placed) are goal lines. A rectangular goal is positioned on each goal line, midway between the two touchlines.[114] The inner edges of the vertical goal posts must be 7.32 m (24 ft) apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the goal posts must be 2.44 m (8 ft) above the ground. Nets are usually placed behind the goal, but are not required by the Laws.[115] In front of the goal is the penalty area. This area is marked by the goal line, two lines starting on the goal line 16.5 m (18 yd) from the goalposts and extending 16.5 m (18 yd) into the pitch perpendicular to the goal line, and a line joining them. This area has a number of functions, the most prominent being to mark where the goalkeeper may handle the ball and where a penalty foul by a member of the defending team becomes punishable by a penalty kick. Other markings define the position of the ball or players at kick-offs, goal kicks, penalty kicks and corner kicks.[116] Duration and tie-breaking methods 90-minute ordinary time A standard adult football match consists of two halves of 45 minutes each. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play. There is usually a 15-minute half-time break between halves. The end of the match is known as full-time.[117] The referee is the official timekeeper for the match, and may make an allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring attention, or other stoppages. This added time is called "additional time" in FIFA documents,[118][119] but is most commonly referred to as stoppage time or injury time, while lost time can also be used as a synonym. The duration of stoppage time is at the sole discretion of the referee. Stoppage time does not fully compensate for the time in which the ball is out of play, and a 90-minute game typically involves about an hour of "effective playing time".[120][121] The referee alone signals the end of the match. In matches where a fourth official is appointed, towards the end of the half, the referee signals how many minutes of stoppage time they intend to add. The fourth official then informs the players and spectators by holding up a board showing this number. The signalled stoppage time may be further extended by the referee.[117] Added time was introduced because of an incident which happened in 1891 during a match between Stoke and Aston Villa. Trailing 1–0 with two minutes remaining, Stoke were awarded a penalty kick. Villa's goalkeeper deliberately kicked the ball out of play; by the time it was recovered, the clock had run out and the game was over, leaving Stoke unable to attempt the penalty.[122] The same law also states that the duration of either half is extended until the penalty kick to be taken or retaken is completed; thus, no game can end with an uncompleted penalty.[123] Tie-breaking Main article: Determining the Outcome of a Match (association football) Most knockout competitions use a penalty shootout to decide the winner if a match ends as a draw In league competitions, games may end in a draw. In knockout competitions where a winner is required, various methods may be employed to break such a deadlock; some competitions may invoke replays.[124] A game tied at the end of regulation time may go into extra time, which consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, some competitions allow the use of penalty shootouts (known officially in the Laws of the Game as "kicks from the penalty mark") to determine which team will progress to the next stage of the tournament or be the champion. Goals scored during extra time periods count towards the final score of the game, but kicks from the penalty mark are only used to decide the team that progresses to the next part of the tournament, with goals scored in a penalty shootout not making up part of the final score.[5] In competitions using two-legged matches, each team competes at home once, with an aggregate score from the two matches deciding which team progresses. Where aggregates are equal, the away goals rule may be used to determine the winners, in which case the winner is the team that scored the most goals in the leg they played away from home. If the result is still equal, extra time and potentially a penalty shootout are required.[5] Ball in and out of play Main article: Ball in and out of play A player takes a free kick, while the opposition form a "wall" to try to block the ball Under the Laws, the two basic states of play during a game are ball in play and ball out of play. From the beginning of each playing period with a kick-off until the end of the playing period, the ball is in play at all times, except when either the ball leaves the field of play, or play is stopped by the referee. When the ball becomes out of play, play is restarted by one of eight restart methods depending on how it went out of play: Kick-off: following a goal by the opposing team, or to begin each period of play.[90] Throw-in: when the ball has crossed the touchline; awarded to the opposing team to that which last touched the ball.[125] Goal kick: when the ball has wholly crossed the goal line without a goal having been scored and having last been touched by a player of the attacking team; awarded to defending team.[126] Corner kick: when the ball has wholly crossed the goal line without a goal having been scored and having last been touched by a player of the defending team; awarded to attacking team.[127] Indirect free kick: awarded to the opposing team following "non-penal" fouls, certain technical infringements, or when play is stopped to caution or dismiss an opponent without a specific foul having occurred. A goal may not be scored directly (without the ball first touching another player) from an indirect free kick.[128] Direct free kick: awarded to fouled team following certain listed "penal" fouls.[128] A goal may be scored directly from a direct free kick. Penalty kick: awarded to the fouled team following a foul usually punishable by a direct free kick but that has occurred within their opponent's penalty area.[129] Dropped-ball: occurs when the referee has stopped play for any other reason, such as a serious injury to a player, interference by an external party, or a ball becoming defective.[90] Misconduct Main article: Foul (association football) On-field Players are cautioned with a yellow card, and dismissed from the game with a red card. These colours were first introduced at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and used consistently since. A foul occurs when a player commits an offence listed in the Laws of the Game while the ball is in play. The offences that constitute a foul are listed in Law 12. Handling the ball deliberately, tripping an opponent, or pushing an opponent, are examples of "penal fouls", punishable by a direct free kick or penalty kick depending on where the offence occurred. Other fouls are punishable by an indirect free kick.[88] The referee may punish a player's or substitute's misconduct by a caution (yellow card) or dismissal (red card). A second yellow card in the same game leads to a red card, which results in a dismissal. A player given a yellow card is said to have been "booked", the referee writing the player's name in their official notebook. If a player has been dismissed, no substitute can be brought on in their place and the player may not participate in further play. Misconduct may occur at any time, and while the offences that constitute misconduct are listed, the definitions are broad. In particular, the offence of "unsporting behaviour" may be used to deal with most events that violate the spirit of the game, even if they are not listed as specific offences. A referee can show a yellow or red card to a player, substitute, substituted player, and to non-players such as managers and support staff.[88][130] Rather than stopping play, the referee may allow play to continue if doing so will benefit the team against which an offence has been committed. This is known as "playing an advantage".[131] The referee may "call back" play and penalise the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue within "a few seconds". Even if an offence is not penalised due to advantage being played, the offender may still be sanctioned for misconduct at the next stoppage of play.[132] The referee's decision in all on-pitch matters is considered final.[133] The score of a match cannot be altered after the game, even if later evidence shows that decisions (including awards/non-awards of goals) were incorrect. Off-field See also: Foul (association football) § Post-match Along with the general administration of the sport, football associations and competition organisers also enforce good conduct in wider aspects of the game, dealing with issues such as comments to the press, clubs' financial management, doping, age fraud and match fixing. Most competitions enforce mandatory suspensions for players who are sent off in a game.[134] Some on-field incidents, if considered very serious (such as allegations of racial abuse), may result in competitions deciding to impose heavier sanctions than those normally associated with a red card.[e] Some associations allow for appeals against player suspensions incurred on-field if clubs feel a referee was incorrect or unduly harsh.[134] Sanctions for such infractions may be levied on individuals or on clubs as a whole. Penalties may include fines, point deductions (in league competitions) or even expulsion from competitions. For example, the English Football League deduct 12 points from any team that enters financial administration.[135] Among other administrative sanctions are penalties against game forfeiture. Teams that had forfeited a game or had been forfeited against would be awarded a technical loss or win. Governing bodies See also: Association football around the world Headquarters of FIFA, the world governing body of football The recognised international governing body of football (and associated games, such as futsal and beach soccer)[d] is FIFA. The FIFA headquarters are located in Zürich, Switzerland. Six regional confederations are associated with FIFA; these are:[136] Asia: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Africa: Confederation of African Football (CAF) Europe: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) North/Central America & Caribbean: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Oceania: Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) South America: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (South American Football Confederation; CONMEBOL) National associations (or national federations) oversee football within individual countries. These are generally synonymous with sovereign states (for example, the Cameroonian Football Federation in Cameroon), but also include a smaller number of associations responsible for sub-national entities or autonomous regions (for example, the Scottish Football Association in Scotland). 211 national associations are affiliated both with FIFA and with their respective continental confederations.[136] While FIFA is responsible for arranging competitions and most rules related to international competition, the actual Laws of the Game are set by the IFAB, where each of the UK Associations has one vote, while FIFA collectively has four votes.[43] International competitions Main article: List of association football competitions The FIFA World Cup is the largest international competition in football and the world's most viewed sporting event International competitions in association football principally consist of two varieties: competitions involving representative national teams or those involving clubs based in multiple nations and national leagues. International football, without qualification, most often refers to the former. In the case of international club competition, it is the country of origin of the clubs involved, not the nationalities of their players, that renders the competition international in nature. The major international competition in football is the World Cup, organised by FIFA. This competition has taken place every four years since 1930, with the exception of the 1942 and 1946 tournaments, which were cancelled because of World War II. Approximately 190–200 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, held every four years, involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period.[f] The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet.[137][138][139][140] The current champions are Argentina, who won their third title at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.[141] The FIFA Women's World Cup has been held every four years since 1991. Under the tournament's current format, national teams vie for 31 slots in a three-year qualification phase, with the host nation's team entering automatically as the 32nd slot. The current champions are the United States, after winning their fourth title in the 2019 tournament. Spanish footballers Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, and Sergio Ramos celebrating winning the UEFA European Championship There has been a football tournament at every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except at the 1932 games in Los Angeles.[142] Before the inception of the World Cup, the Olympics (especially during the 1920s) were the most prestigious international event. Originally, the tournament was for amateurs only.[42] As professionalism spread around the world, the gap in quality between the World Cup and the Olympics widened. The countries that benefited most were the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe, where top athletes were state-sponsored while retaining their status as amateurs. Between 1948 and 1980, 23 out of 27 Olympic medals were won by Eastern Europe, with only Sweden (gold in 1948 and bronze in 1952), Denmark (bronze in 1948 and silver in 1960) and Japan (bronze in 1968) breaking their dominance. For the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the IOC decided to admit professional players. Since 1992, male competitors must be under 23 years old, although since 1996, three players over the age of 23 have been allowed per squad. A women's tournament was added in 1996; in contrast to the men's event, full international sides without age restrictions play the women's Olympic tournament.[143] After the World Cup, the most important international football competitions are the continental championships, which are organised by each continental confederation and contested between national teams. These are the European Championship (UEFA), the Copa América (CONMEBOL), the African Cup of Nations (CAF), the Asian Cup (AFC), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (CONCACAF) and the OFC Nations Cup (OFC). The FIFA Confederations Cup was contested by the winners of all six continental championships, the current FIFA World Cup champions and the country which was hosting the next World Cup. This was generally regarded as a warm-up tournament for the upcoming FIFA World Cup and did not carry the same prestige as the World Cup itself. The tournament was discontinued following the 2017 edition. The UEFA Nations League and the CONCACAF Nations League also exist. The most prestigious competitions in club football are the respective continental championships, which are generally contested between national champions, for example, the UEFA Champions League in Europe and the Copa Libertadores in South America. The winners of each continental competition contest the FIFA Club World Cup.[144] Domestic competitions Main articles: Geography of association football and Geography of women's association football A 2009 Spanish La Liga match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The fixture, known as El Clásico, is one of the most renowned in sport.[145] The governing bodies in each country operate league systems in a domestic season, normally comprising several divisions, in which the teams gain points throughout the season depending on results. Teams are placed into tables, placing them in order according to points accrued. Most commonly, each team plays every other team in its league at home and away in each season, in a round-robin tournament. At the end of a season, the top team is declared the champion. The top few teams may be promoted to a higher division, and one or more of the teams finishing at the bottom are relegated to a lower division.[146] The teams finishing at the top of a country's league may also be eligible to play in international club competitions in the following season. The main exceptions to this system occur in some Latin American leagues, which divide football championships into two sections named Apertura and Clausura (Spanish for Opening and Closing), awarding a champion for each.[147] The majority of countries supplement the league system with one or more "cup" competitions organised on a knock-out basis. Some countries' top divisions feature highly paid star players; in smaller countries, lower divisions, and most of women's clubs, players may be part-timers with a second job, or amateurs. The five top European leagues – Premier League (England),[148] Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), and Ligue 1 (France) – attract most of the world's best players and, during the 2006-07 season, each of these leagues had a total wage cost in excess of €600 million.[149] See also     Sports portal icon    Association football portal icon    Women's association football portal List of association football films List of association football video games Notes Listen to this article (30 minutes) 30:27 Spoken Wikipedia icon This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 5 September 2007, and does not reflect subsequent edits. 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terminologyBall gamesFootball codesTeam sportsLaws of association footballSports originating in EnglandPhysical educationSummer Olympic sports19th century in EnglandGames and sports introduced in the 19th centuryTurf sportsEnglish inventions Pelé A member of three Brazilian World Cup-champion teams, Pelé is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time. Updated: Dec 29, 2022 pele in a white shirt Getty Images (1940-2022) Who Was Pelé? Soccer legend Pelé became a superstar with his performance in the 1958 World Cup. Pelé played professionally in Brazil for two decades, winning three World Cups along the way, before joining the New York Cosmos late in his career. Named FIFA co-Player of the Century in 1999, he was a global ambassador for soccer and other humanitarian causes. Early Life Pelé was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23, 1940 in Três Corações, Brazil, the first child of João Ramos and Dona Celeste. Named after Thomas Edison and nicknamed "Dico," Pelé moved with his family to the city of Bauru as a young boy. João Ramos, better known as "Dondinho," struggled to earn a living as a soccer player, and Pelé grew up in poverty. Still, he developed a rudimentary talent for soccer by kicking a rolled-up sock stuffed with rags around the streets of Bauru. The origin of the "Pelé" nickname is unclear, though he recalled despising it when his friends first referred to him that way. As an adolescent, Pelé joined a youth squad coached by Waldemar de Brito, a former member of the Brazilian national soccer team. De Brito eventually convinced Pelé's family to let the budding phenom leave home and try out for the Santos professional soccer club when he was 15. READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About Pelé Soccer's National Treasure Pelé signed with Santos and immediately started practicing with the team's regulars. He scored the first professional goal of his career before he turned 16, led the league in goals in his first full season and was recruited to play for the Brazilian national team. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below The world was officially introduced to Pelé in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Displaying remarkable speed, athleticism and field vision, the 17-year-old erupted to score three goals in a 5-2 semifinal win over France, then netted two more in the finals, a 5-2 win over the host country. The young superstar received hefty offers to play for European clubs, and Brazilian President Jânio Quadros eventually had Pelé declared a national treasure, making it legally difficult for him to play in another country. Regardless, Santos club ownership ensured its star attraction was well paid by scheduling lucrative exhibition matches with teams around the world. pele celebrates the victory after winning the 1970 world cup on  june 21, 1970, in città del messico, mexico Pelé celebrates the victory after winning the 1970 World Cup on June 21, 1970, in Città del Messico, Mexico Getty Images More World Cup Titles Pelé aggravated a groin injury two games into the 1962 World Cup in Chile, sitting out the final rounds while Brazil went on to claim its second straight title. Four years later, in England, a series of brutal attacks by opposing defenders again forced him to the sidelines with leg injuries, and Brazil was bounced from the World Cup after one round. Despite the disappointment on the world stage, the legend of Pelé continued to grow. In the late 1960s, the two factions in the Nigerian Civil War reportedly agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play in an exhibition game in Lagos. The 1970 World Cup in Mexico marked a triumphant return to glory for Pelé and Brazil. Headlining a formidable squad, Pelé scored four goals in the tournament, including one in the final to give Brazil a 4-1 victory over Italy. Pelé announced his retirement from soccer in 1974, but he was lured back to the field the following year to play for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League, and temporarily helped make the NASL a big attraction. He played his final game in an exhibition between New York and Santos in October 1977, competing for both sides, and retired with a total of 1,281 goals in 1,363 games. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Later Years, Death and Legacy Retirement did little to diminish the public profile of Pelé, who remained a popular pitchman and active in many professional arenas. In 1978, Pelé was awarded the International Peace Award for his work with UNICEF. He also served as Brazil's Extraordinary Minister for Sport and a United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment. Pelé was named FIFA's "Co-Player of the Century" in 1999, along with Argentine Diego Maradona. To many, his accomplishments on the soccer field will never be equaled, and virtually all great athletes in the sport are measured against the Brazilian who once made the world stop to watch his transcendent play. Pelé died on December 29, 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil. He was 82 years old. QUICK FACTS     Name: Pelé     Birth Year: 1940     Birth date: October 23, 1940     Birth City: Três Corações     Birth Country: Brazil     Gender: Male     Best Known For: A member of three Brazilian World Cup-champion teams, Pelé is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time.     Industries         Sports     Astrological Sign: Scorpio     Nacionalities         Brazilian     Death Year: 2022     Death date: December 29, 2022     Death City: São Paulo     Death Country: Brazil Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! CITATION INFORMATION     Article Title: Pelé Biography     Author: Biography.com Editors     Website Name: The Biography.com website     Url: https://www.biography.com/athlete/pele     Access Date:     Publisher: A&E Television Networks     Last Updated: December 29, 2022     Original Published Date: April 2, 2014 QUOTES     I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint. The 100 best male footballers in the world 2022 Lionel Messi has been voted the best player in the world in 2022 by our 206-strong panel, with Kylian Mbappé finishing second 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 Meet the judges | The 100 best female footballers in 2022 Fri 27 Jan 2023 09.02 GMT 2,059 1 Lionel Messi Age    35 Team    Paris Saint-Germain / Argentina Position    Forward Rank    2 2021 ▲1 After a low-key 2021-22 season, his first at PSG, no one knew quite what to expect from Messi in this World Cup-interrupted campaign. However, he came back after the summer firing on all cylinders. There were goals or assists in all but four Ligue 1 games he played before the World Cup and in Qatar, of course, he led Argentina to glory for the first time since 1986. Messi played with abandon as Argentina bounced back from their opening defeat to Saudi Arabia to go all the way, Messi scoring seven goals, including two in the final. He tops our list for a remarkable sixth time with every single judge of the 206-strong panel having him on their voting slip and with 156 of them putting him at No 1. Marcus Christenson 2Kylian Mbappé Age    24 Team    Paris Saint-Germain / France Position    Forward Rank    6 2021 ▲4 This was the year that confirmed that The Age of Mbappé has already begun. No one in Europe’s leading divisions came close to his 44 goals in 43 club games, before a hat-trick in the final helped the France forward top the World Cup scoring charts with eight. Although signs of growing self-importance are a concern, an increasingly ruthless and commanding Mbappé was routinely unplayable in 2022, regardless of the competition. Each year since his 2017 emergence has seen Mbappé’s game authoritatively ease up a gear. Barely 24, the likely continuation of that upward curve is at once a thrilling and terrifying prospect. Adam White 3Karim Benzema Age    35 Team    Real Madrid / France Position    Forward Rank    4 2021 ▲1 “K9 is Superman,” Iker Casillas said. “K9 is Wolverine. K9 is your best friend. K9 is your grandmother. K9 is the parachute instructor you throw yourself out of an aircraft with. K9 is your guardian angel. K9 is God.” K9, in short, is our No 3 – and he may consider that low, injury and absence from the World Cup denying him (and perhaps France?) the chance to reach the very top. Top scorer in La Liga and the Champions League, scoring three against PSG, three against Manchester City and four against Chelsea, he was deservedly the runaway Ballon d’Or winner. Sid Lowe 4Erling Haaland Age    22 Team    Manchester City / Norway Position    Forward Rank    7 2021 ▲3 New league, same old Haaland. Any fears that a move to the Premier League from the Bundesliga would slow down the goalscoring prowess of the 22-year-old Norwegian vanished within a few weeks of the 2022-23 season. At the time of writing he has 25 goals in 19 English top-flight games and a further five in four Champions League fixtures. Norway not qualifying for the World Cup gave him a rest but one wonders how high he would have finished on this list with a good showing in Qatar. Haaland moves into our top five for the first time but did finish more than 600 points behind Karim Benzema in third. Marcus Christenson 5Luka Modric Age    37 Team    Real Madrid / Croatia Position    Midfielder Rank    40 2021 ▲35 “We all know how many lovely words have been written about Luka and what he has done, not just for Croatia but the whole world. Age comes to everyone, but he is immortal,” Andrej Kramaric said before Croatia’s last game at the World Cup – but not, fortunately, Modric’s last game for his country. Few could have blamed him for bowing out with a third place in Qatar to go with his runners-up medal from Russia, aged 37 and on 162 caps, having just won a fifth Champions League, but Modric goes on. And that is a joy. Sid Lowe 6Kevin De Bruyne Age    31 Team    Manchester City / Belgium Position    Midfielder Rank    10 2021 ▲4 If there is a moment that sums up De Bruyne’s 2022 it has to be the driving run and low cross that led to İlkay Gündogan’s title-winning goal for Manchester City on the final day of last season. Once again City’s creator supreme came to the fore when they needed him most. De Bruyne assisted eight goals for Pep Guardiola’s team as they went about securing a fourth championship in five years and already had a further 10 this campaign prior to the World Cup. At the tournament itself the 31-year-old was an ineffective presence for a poor Belgium side but, overall, remains a supreme midfield talent. This is the fifth time he is in our top 10, a testament to his consistency. Sachin Nakrani 7Robert Lewandowski Age    34 Team    Barcelona / Poland Position    Forward Rank    1 2021 ▼6 Everyone expected Lewandowski to be good as he joined Barcelona after eight prolific years at Bayern Munich, but he has been even better than anticipated. He has continued to score bucketloads of goals – 22 in 23 appearances in all competitions – and got Barça wins they arguably did not deserve, October’s 1-0 victory at Mallorca being a case in point. He also fulfilled a lifelong ambition by scoring at a World Cup for the first time. The joy on his face against Saudi Arabia said it all, showing that his love for goals has not diminished with age. Having been crowned the best player in the world by the Guardian two years in a row, he drops to seventh this time around. Marcus Christenson 8Vinícius Júnior Age    22 Team    Real Madrid / Brazil Position    Forward Rank    31 2021 ▲23 Spain’s best Viní since Samways. Asked not long ago why he was calmer in front of goal, the days when one-on-ones were no guarantee long gone, Vinícius replied: “I was younger then.” It was a simple reply but maybe necessary, a reminder of how early footballers are exposed. One thing’s certain: no one doubts Vinícius any more. Electric, willing to take on anyone, the focus of so much of Real Madrid’s attacking, his fourth season at the Bernabéu ended with 22 goals, 20 assists, more dribbles than anyone and the winning goal in the Champions League final, all before his 22nd birthday. A new entry to the top 10, he looks set to stay here for some time. Sid Lowe 9Thibaut Courtois Age    30 Team    Real Madrid / Belgium Position    Goalkeeper Rank    53 2021 ▲44 “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do to beat Courtois. Pray maybe,” Rayo Vallecano’s Iván Balliu said. There was a bit of a fuss not long ago when one magazine left Courtois out of its list of the world’s 10 best goalkeepers. The only reasonable explanation was this was an “except Courtois” list, so manifestly superior was he to everyone else. Reached an absurd level in 2022, shown in the European Cup final and so many other nights. Made 59 Champions League saves, almost four times as many as Alisson. Up 44 places; genuinely could be up 50+. Sid Lowe 10Mohamed Salah Age    30 Team    Liverpool / Egypt Position    Forward Rank    3 2021 ▼7 It says everything about the Liverpool forward’s remarkable output over many seasons that 2022 was not considered a vintage year for a player occupying his lowest position in our poll since 2017. Salah scored 31 goals for Liverpool in 2021-22 and 25 in a calender year that saw Jürgen Klopp’s side reach the Champions League final for the third time in five seasons. There were considerable disappointments along the way, including losing both the Africa Cup of Nations final and World Cup play-off on penalties to Senegal with Egypt. That burden took its toll but Salah’s status at the top of the game was reflected in Liverpool’s award of a new £350,000-a-week, three year contract, the most lucrative in the club’s history. Andy Hunter 11Sadio Mané Age    30 Team    Bayern Munich / Senegal Position    Forward Rank    23 2021 ▲12 One of the most reliable forwards in world football wears more than just the one crown in this year’s list – he is the highest-placed Bundesliga player and the second highest African player. Yet the extent of Mané’s worth is really underlined by the void he has left in his absences; from Liverpool, where his reliability and integral role in the collective press has been missed by Jürgen Klopp’s team since he left for Germany, and from Senegal, where his injury just before the World Cup left the African champions – and the football world – cursing the loss of a bona fide star. Andy Brassell 12Neymar Age    30 Team    Paris Saint-Germain / Brazil Position    Winger Rank    13 2021 ▲1 “I am psychologically destroyed,” read the Brazilian’s post-World Cup message after the Seleção had lost to Croatia. Despite disappointment in Doha, though, Neymar has managed to dispel doubts over his mindset by turning in his best calendar year since joining PSG. He overcame an ankle injury and the ire of fans to bounce back, then take that form into the new campaign. His 16 goals and 15 assists so far have seen him shine in Christophe Galtier’s new-look side. His injury issues flared up yet again in a truncated and ultimately fruitless World Cup campaign, although he did draw level with the late Pelé to become Brazil’s joint all-time top scorer with his 77th goal in that quarter-final against Croatia. Raphaël Jucobin 13Harry Kane Age    29 Team    Tottenham / England Position    Forward Rank    15 2021 ▲2 The England captain, an ever-present on the list since making his debut in 2015, moves up two places this year but a big part of his 2022 will be that penalty miss against France at the World Cup. “I’ll probably remember it for the rest of my life, but that’s part of the game,” he said after the 4-0 win against Crystal Palace in early January in which he scored twice in typically ruthless fashion. “It’s not going to affect me as a player or as a person. I’ll keep working hard to improve.” He continued to do what he does best, which is to score goals, in 2022, being on target 26 times in 37 Premier League appearances. Marcus Christenson 14Jude Bellingham Age    19 Team    Borussia Dortmund / England Position    Midfielder Rank    72 2021 ▲58 The second highest Englishman on the list soars up 58 places, and that feels like a fair barometer of just how Bellingham’s influence has grown. The teenager has been Borussia Dortmund’s best midfielder for a while but has found an extra gear since the summer arrival of Salih Özcan, encouraged to burst forward more and scoring in each of his club’s first four Champions League games. A natural leader and responsibility taker, Bellingham also had an outstanding World Cup, opening England’s scoring for the tournament against Iran and adding a different dimension to the midfield of Gareth Southgate’s side. Andy Brassell 15Casemiro Age    30 Team    Manchester United / Brazil Position    Midfielder Rank    68 2021 ▲53 The Brazil midfielder is in his highest ever position on the list, jumping up 53 places after helping secure his third La Liga title and fifth Champions League triumph before deciding he wanted a fresh challenge at Manchester United. The Premier League side were willing to part with £70m to bring in the 30-year-old and the outlay has started to pay dividends. Casemiro’s experience in front of the defence has transformed the side under Erik ten Hag’s tutelage. He may have hoped to add a World Cup winner’s medal to his haul but Brazil were knocked out at the quarter-final stage. Will Unwin 16Achraf Hakimi Age    24 Team    Paris Saint-Germain / Morocco Position    Defender Rank    38 2021 ▲22 After a somewhat indifferent start to the season, Hakimi sparked to life at the World Cup, albeit playing a more conservative role. It remains to be seen whether he can recapture that form for PSG in the new year, but he remains as exciting a young full-back as there is in the game. Able to affect play going forward as well as any full-back in the game, even if he is sometimes lacking in his positioning, his recovery pace and the threat he poses going forward makes him perfectly adept at pinning back opposing wingers – an archetypal modern full-back. Eric Devin 17Antoine Griezmann Age    31 Team    Atlético Madrid / France Position    Forward Rank    76 2021 ▲59 The Frenchman returns to the top half of the list after a year in which he started to play his best football again, at a club he probably never should have left. All this despite the farcical contractual situation which meant that Atlético did not want him to play more than a half in many games because then they would have to pay Barcelona more for the two-year loan deal. Perhaps the reduced amount of minutes helped Griezmann at the World Cup because he was at his magical best in Qatar, the creative spark for the team as they reached the final – and nearly won it. Griezmann has made every top 100 list since his debut in 2014, finishing a career-high sixth in 2018 after France’s World Cup victory. Marcus Christenson 18Federico Valverde Age    24 Team    Real Madrid / Uruguay Position    Midfielder Rank    Re-entry “Fede Valverde top three in the world right now,” Toni Kroos tweeted after the Uruguayan took Barcelona apart in October. A re-entry after a year’s absence from the list he is straight back in at No 18. The footballer with four lungs, Valverde has turned the pitch on its side: normally defined horizontally – defence, midfield, attack – his position is defined vertically. He plays on the right, the whole of the right. And inside a bit too. Provided the pass for the winner in the Champions League final. Thunderous shot, endless running, bursting through barriers, a subtlety and wider range of passing has been added to his game. Sid Lowe 19Pedri Age    20 Team    Barcelona / Spain Position    Midfielder Rank    21 2021 ▲2 Some players get people up on their feet; Pedri gets them down on their backside. He does if it is Sevilla or Galatasaray defenders, anyway. A lovely goal against Sevilla in February, which was pretty much a copy of what he had done in Istanbul a fortnight earlier, offered a neat expression of his play: the touch, the pause, opponents sliding by out the way. All of it done with a smooth ease, socks low, that makes him feel like a footballer from another age. “It’s wonderful watching Pedri play. If we’re talking pure talent, he’s the best in the world,” says Xavi, his manager at Barcelona. Sid Lowe 20Emiliano Martínez Age    30 Team    Aston Villa / Argentina Position    Goalkeeper Rank    52 2021 ▲32 In emulating Ubaldo Fillol and Nery Pumpido as Argentina’s World Cup-winning goalkeepers, Martínez wrote himself into legend. Neither of those predecessors were required to be the decisive actor in penalty shootouts, as Martínez was against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and then again in the final itself. His gamesmanship in those pressure situations won him cult status but he also made a crucial, match-winning contribution in open play when France’s Randal Kolo Muani seemed set to score in the last minute of extra time. The one-time Rotherham and Oxford loanee with a London tinge to his accent has come a long way. John Brewin 21Enzo Fernández Age    22 Team    Benfica / Argentina Position    Midfielder Rank    New No other player made quite such a breakthrough in 2022. Fernández went from promising River Plate playmaker to a talent coveted by the entirety of Europe’s elite. Having made his Argentina debut on 24 September, he was a World Cup winner by 18 December, voted the best young player in the tournament. After moving to Benfica in July, Champions League performances against Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus announced him as a modern, creative, box-to-box midfielder for whom suitors would be prepared to pay a £105m release clause. Once Lionel Scaloni plumped for Fernández in midfield in Qatar, Argentina became a winning proposition. John Brewin 22Bukayo Saka Age    21 Team    Arsenal / England Position    Forward Rank    95 2021 ▲73 Saka is the most important player in, on the evidence of the past six months, the Premier League’s best team. So it is no surprise that he is the highest climber in this year’s list. A 73-place rise reflects the astonishing level of consistency produced by a player who is still only 21; Saka scored 12 top-flight goals in 2022 from his position on the right of Arsenal’s attack and brushed aside fears of tiredness to produce a stunning first half of 2022-23. Match-winning performances against Liverpool and Manchester United tell only part of the story for a player who is explosively quick but deft, precise and diligent with it. Three goals at the World Cup emphasised that he is crucial to England’s prospects, too. Nick Ames 23Rafael Leão Age    23 Team    Milan / Portugal Position    Forward Rank    New Milan’s manager, Stefano Pioli, used to worry that Leão did not take football seriously enough, grinning and laughing as he ran at opponents. Those worries faded as the winger carried the Rossoneri to their first Serie A title for more than a decade, shredding defences with spectacular dribbles. Leão was named as the league’s MVP with 11 goals and eight assists and began the new campaign striking twice to sink Inter in the derby. He is the highest-ranked Portuguese player on our list yet was used only as an impact replacement at the World Cup, scoring twice in five substitute appearances. Nicky Bandini 24Phil Foden Age    22 Team    Manchester City / England Position    Midfielder Rank    25 2021 ▲1 “I’ve never seen someone like Phil at that age, the ability he’s got is frightening.” That was John Stones’s assessment of his Manchester City teammate after they played together for England in the 3-0 victory over Wales at the World Cup and Foden more than lived up to the billing in the next game, providing two assists as Gareth Southgate’s side dismantled Senegal in the last 16. Overall, 2022 was a year in which the 22-year-old firmly established himself as one of the most technically gifted young talents in Europe. He is up one place on this list and looks set to continue his rise in years to come. Sachin Nakrani 25Jamal Musiala Age    19 Team    Bayern Munich / Germany Position    Midfielder Rank    New Germany’s World Cup campaign was heavily laced with disappointment but the bright spot was that they clearly have a new star on the horizon. Midfielder Musiala has been a talent for a while, and is always positive and confident on the ball. After Robert Lewandowski’s departure from Bayern the goalscoring load was always going to be a collective responsibility but Musiala has seized the mantle more than most, with nine goals and six assists in his first 15 Bundesliga games of this season. The numbers only partly describe his pace and incision, which made him Germany’s standout player in Qatar. Andy Brassell 26Son Heung-min Age    30 Team    Tottenham / South Korea Position    Forward Rank    39 2021 ▲13 Son has risen 13 places and it is fair to say that is largely based on his performances in the first half of 2022. He was supreme for Tottenham as they went about securing a top-four place, scoring 15 goals and providing six assists from New Year’s Day up until the final day of last season. It meant he shared the Golden Boot award with Mohamed Salah. Ever since then, however, the forward has not been his usual self, literally in regards to having to wear a face mask after suffering an eye fracture in November. It was a prominent feature of the 30-year-old’s World Cup as he struggled to make an impact for South Korea. Sachin Nakrani 27Virgil van Dijk Age    31 Team    Liverpool / Netherlands Position    Defender Rank    43 2021 ▲16 Questions over the Liverpool defender’s recovery from a serious knee injury – which accounted for him dropping down the ratings in 2021 – were answered in convincing style as Van Dijk recaptured the form and authority that makes him such a vital part of Jürgen Klopp’s team. Van Dijk played 51 games last season as Liverpool won the FA and Carabao Cups, reached the Champions League final and missed out on the Premier League title on the final day of the season. The 31-year-old was nominated for the Ballon d’Or once again in 2022 and was also included in the PFA Premier League team of the year. Andy Hunter 28Bruno Fernandes Age    28 Team    Manchester United / Portugal Position    Midfielder Rank    16 2021 ▼12 Held things together for Manchester United during their meek ending to the 2021-22 season. Like many at Old Trafford, he has improved since Erik ten Hag’s arrival in the summer. Operating behind the central striker or occasionally out wide, the midfielder has been an integral part of the plan to turn United around this season, scoring the equaliser in a 2-1 win against City in the Manchester derby. Fernandes also enjoyed an impressive World Cup, scoring twice in a group-stage win over Uruguay and supplying three assists throughout the tournament. Will Unwin 29Bernardo Silva Age    28 Team    Manchester City / Portugal Position    Midfielder Rank    45 2021 ▲16 A second year of moving up the list after dropping from his 2019 high of 16. Much of the summer was spent listening to rumours about Silva’s future at Manchester City with Barcelona circling but Pep Guardiola was adamant that the midfielder did not leave, describing him as “irreplaceable”. Silva proved his manager right with five assists in his opening 13 appearances of the 2022-23 season, scoring crucial goals against Newcastle and Crystal Palace. He failed to match that form at the World Cup, however, as Portugal were unable to pick Morocco’s lock in their quarter-final and the national team were knocked out with him failing to create a goal in the tournament. Will Unwin 30Olivier Giroud Age    36 Team    Milan / France Position    Forward Rank    Re-entry With every passing year, the Giroud punchlines ring a little more hollow. For much of his time in the Premier League, the consensus was that, on a bad day, he could start up front for Banjo Rovers against AFC Barndoor and fail to get a shot on target. This is a player who, in 2022 alone, helped Milan to their first scudetto in over a decade and scored four goals at the World Cup, dumping out England along the way. He has now won major silverware in three different countries, including the Champions League with Chelsea, and come within a whisker of winning the World Cup for a second time. Ungainly but beautiful, inefficient but effective, adored but ridiculed: Giroud is a joyous enigma and ultimately a player who will live long in the memory. At the World Cup he overtook Thierry Henry as France’s record goalscorer. Will Magee 31Josko Gvardiol Age    21 Team    RB Leipzig / Croatia Position    Defender Rank    New Gvardiol was clearly the best defender at the World Cup and a huge part of Croatia’s surprise snaring of third place in the tournament. Zlatko Dalic’s team are celebrated for their experience but their premier centre-back, who celebrated his 21st birthday this week, pointed the way to a bright future. After years of those in the game lamenting the paucity of top-quality centre-backs a plethora are surfacing, led by Gvardiol, who is the man for any number of situations; strong and composed in a back four or a back three, and more than competent at left-back as well, leaving his club RB Leipzig sitting on a goldmine. A newcomer to this list but set to remain on it for years. Andy Brassell 32Julián Álvarez Age    22 Team    Manchester City / Argentina Position    Forward Rank    91 2021 ▲59 The striker was way down in 91st place last year but has made a rapid rise thanks to his successful move to Manchester City and the little matter of winning a World Cup. His four goals for Argentina in Qatar put him joint third on the scoring lists. At club level Álvarez has had to spend time playing understudy to Erling Haaland, although there is no shame in that. Many expected him to go out on loan after joining City but he quickly impressed the coaching staff with Pep Guardiola saying: “I am surprised by how good he is.” Despite not being a regular, he has settled into life in Manchester well, looking especially effective in cup competitions, already scoring in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League for City. Will Unwin 33Christopher Nkunku Age    25 Team    RB Leipzig / France Position    Forward Rank    New The 2021-22 Bundesliga player of the season is set to join Chelsea come the summer, following the same route from Leipzig to west London as Timo Werner, though it is hoped with rather more success. Chelsea fans were denied a close look at him when he missed France’s World Cup campaign with a knee ligament injury. Until that setback he had replicated the form of the previous season, entering the winter break as the Bundesliga’s leading scorer. In Germany, his mix of speed and movement has been near irresistible, with Chelsea happy to meet his £53m release clause to solve their striking problems. John Brewin 34Alisson Age    30 Team    Liverpool / Brazil Position    Goalkeeper Rank    67 2021 ▲33 The Brazil international’s reputation as one of the finest goalkeepers in the game may be long-established but there is no chance of Liverpool taking his consistent excellence for granted. Alisson won the Premier League’s Golden Gloves award for a second time in 2021-22 after keeping 20 clean sheets, sharing the prize with compatriot and Manchester City rival Ederson, while his penalty save from Mason Mount in the FA Cup final shootout enabled Kostas Tsimikas to win the trophy for Liverpool. Brazil’s No 1 at the World Cup, the 30-year-old has maintained his decisive standards this season despite Liverpool’s defensive problems in front of him. Andy Hunter 35Martin Ødegaard Age    24 Team    Arsenal / Norway Position    Midfielder Rank    Re-entry After so long lost in a labyrinth of dead ends, impossible staircases and sliding doors at the Bernabéu, Ødegaard finally seems to have realised the potential that convinced Real Madrid to sign him as a 16-year-old. Not only have his performances been crucial to Arsenal’s unexpected title push, he has gone from a quiet, boyish figure to a leader on the pitch. Rewarded with the armband by Mikel Arteta, he could feasibly become the first player to captain Arsenal to the title since Patrick Vieira. With the subtlety of Santi Cazorla, the forward motion of Tomas Rosicky and a final ball reminiscent of Mesut Özil at his best, he has the chance to stake his claim as one of Arsenal’s all-time great playmakers. Will Magee 36João Cancelo Age    28 Team    Manchester City / Portugal Position    Defender Rank    63 2021 ▲27 The one-time reluctant defender who did not enjoy the physical side of the game was among Manchester City’s star performers in their 2021-22 Premier League title win. He is a most modern full-back, someone whose imagination shines brightly even when playing alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva. Cancelo supplied seven assists and started all but two league matches last season. However, he had an indifferent end to 2022, losing his starting place for Portugal and often having to settle for the bench in Pep Guardiola’s City team. Would be a player much in demand should he come on the market. John Brewin 37Gavi Age    18 Team    Barcelona / Spain Position    Midfielder Rank    98 2021 ▲61 Gavi is Princess Leonor’s crush and everyone else loves him too. Unless they play against him, when they hate him. Chest out, in your face, “a competitive animal” in Sergio Busquets’ words, he’s a feisty competitor who doesn’t back down against anyone, and hasn’t done since his Spain debut in Italy aged 17. It’s not all character, though, Luis Enrique insisting in the summer: “With the ball I think he’s still unknown, even to those near him. He doesn’t just run, he’s dangerous, a pure inside midfielder who can score goals. At 18, he’s unique.” Xavi, his manager at the Camp Nou, says he “has no limit”. Sid Lowe 38Ángel Di María Age    34 Team    Juventus / Argentina Position    Forward Rank    32 2021 ▼6 Sometimes it’s not about punching the clock, but what you do with your time in the office. Di María had missed almost the entire knockout phase of the World Cup, playing only the last eight minutes of the semi-final, before he returned to star in the triumph over France, winning the penalty for Argentina’s first goal and scoring the second himself. The second half of the year was a constant battle against injury, much to the frustration of his new club Juventus, but the gliding ease with which he terrorised Jules Koundé on the biggest stage reaffirmed an undiminished talent. Nicky Bandini 39Toni Kroos Age    33 Team    Real Madrid / Germany Position    Midfielder Rank    65 2021 ▲26 When Kroos tweeted that Federico Valverde was among the top three players in the world, the Uruguayan replied saying he had the best teacher. When he tweeted a picture of himself alongside Valverde and Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz with the message: “The future. And me,” people begged him not to say that. “The best German midfielder ever,” according to Lothar Matthäus. The man Zinedine Zidane claims has never given the ball away is 33 now, his contract is up at the end of the season, and he is seemingly contemplating calling it a day, but watching him perform makes you feel that would be premature. Sid Lowe 40Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Age    21 Team    Napoli / Georgia Position    Forward Rank    New Having made a name for himself at Rubin Kazan and Dinamo Batumi, Kvaratskhelia had flown under the radar, at least outside Russia and Georgia, before his arrival at Napoli last summer. The €10m (£8.7m) transfer fee the Serie A club paid for his services now seems like one of the biggest bargains in recent memory. With his thundering runs out wide and a hailstorm of goals and assists, his irrepressible form has helped to lift Napoli to the top of the table and put them in reach of a first scudetto since 1990. His nickname, Kvaradona, says it all. It takes something special to earn comparisons to El Diego in Naples, bad pun or otherwise. Will Magee 41Joshua Kimmich Age    27 Team    Bayern Munich / Germany Position    Midfielder Rank    18 2021 ▼23 Kimmich has continued to be consistent for Bayern, but the fluctuation in his perceived value (he falls 23 places from 2021) is largely due to external forces. At Bayern, where he remains the cornerstone of midfield, he has been partly exposed by the injury absences of his perfect partner – and great friend – Leon Goretzka. Kimmich felt the lack of Goretzka at the World Cup too and in the context of the Germany team, the lack of a top-class right-back always threatens to pull him away from his preferred position. Whatever the midfield ends up being for Euro 2024, Kimmich will be at the heart of it. Andy Brassell 42David Alaba Age    30 Team    Real Madrid / Austria Position    Defender Rank    55 2021 ▲13 Alaba’s new celebration, waving a white plastic chair around, became one of the most enduring images of the 2021-22 season, the Austrian trying it for the first time after one of those remarkable Real Madrid Champions League comebacks, this one against Paris Saint-Germain. “It’s good to try new celebrations every now and then,” he said. “And the chair was there at just the right moment. I didn’t think about it, it was just the emotion of it all.” He made a stunning, probably tie-saving tackle on Kylian Mbappé and finished the season strongly. Made a few uncharacteristic errors at the start of the current campaign. Marcus Christenson 43Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou Age    31 Team    Sevilla / Morocco Position    Goalkeeper Rank    New Such was the Morocco goalkeeper's impact at the World Cup that it was him and Lionel Messi who were the two players depicted by Palestinian food artist Sarah Odeh. "Yassine Bounou was outstanding, so I decided to use the well-known Palestinian ingredients za’atar and olive oil specifically for his drawing," she explained. Born in Canada but raised in Morocco, the 31-year-old has been one of the best goalkeepers in La Liga for some time after starting his career in Europe with Atlético Madrid and excelling for club and country. Bayern Munich and Tottenham are reported to be keeping close tabs after the exploits in Qatar that earned him a place in our top 100 for the first time. Ed Aarons 44Rúben Dias Age    25 Team    Manchester City / Portugal Position    Defender Rank    14 2021 ▼30 The Portuguese defender ended his second season in the Premier League with another title, although he was unable to match the quality and consistency shown in his first year at Manchester City, which could explain his drop of 30 places on this list. Yet Dias is still a key member of City’s five-man leadership group, a player who sets an example to others by his demeanour on and off the pitch. In Qatar he helped Portugal to the quarter-finals at which point they were surprisingly knocked out by Morocco, in a match that saw Dias suffer a hamstring injury. Will Unwin 45Aurélien Tchouaméni Age    22 Team    Real Madrid / France Position    Midfielder Rank    New Tchouaméni’s 2022 was going so well – until the very last kick. Aged just 22, by the end of his second full season at Monaco (he had been France’s young player of the year in his first), he had Kylian Mbappé on the phone trying to get him to join PSG and Liverpool calling too. Instead he signed for Real Madrid, the departure of Casemiro accelerating his inclusion, and has been outstanding since. The only footballer to start every game for France at the World Cup and a goalscorer in the quarter-final against England, Tchouaméni reached the final only to miss a vital shootout penalty. Sid Lowe 46Theo Hernández Age    25 Team    Milan / France Position    Defender Rank    New Narrowly missed off this list in 2021, when he finished 102nd in our voting, Hernández leaps straight into the top half after winning a Serie A title and reaching the World Cup final. His defensive frailties were sometimes exposed after he replaced his injured brother, Lucas, for France in Qatar yet he had good moments as well, contributing two assists in the group stage and scoring the opener in a semi-final win over Morocco. At club level, he bagged Serie A’s goal of the 2021-22 season with a George Weah-esque coast-to-coast against Atalanta in May. Nicky Bandini 47Alexis Mac Allister Age    24 Team    Brighton / Argentina Position    Midfielder Rank    New Like his Argentina colleague Enzo Fernández, Mac Allister has the ability to play almost three positions at once, and after getting the call for the team’s second World Cup match with Poland, such flexibility proved key to his country’s triumph. His performances in Qatar make him much-coveted; a player it will cost a significant fee to prise away from Brighton. Under both Graham Potter and latterly Roberto De Zerbi, Mac Allister’s drive has been a crucial part of the south coast club’s continuing rise, and once Argentina made his wild card selection, after two-and-a-half-year absence, they reaped the ultimate reward. John Brewin 48Rodrigo De Paul Age    28 Team    Atlético Madrid / Argentina Position    Midfielder Rank    46 2021 ▼2 De Paul was the last World Cup winner to return, his first club game coming a month after the final in Lusail – and no one missed him much. Accused of lacking commitment, his level slipping, many Atlético Madrid fans would question his inclusion here as much as Argentina fans would celebrate it. De Paul started every game at the World Cup, a tireless presence all over the pitch and the man who delivered on his written promise to Lionel Messi that they would win it. And yet 11 Atlético players have started more La Liga games. Sid Lowe 49Sofyan Amrabat Age    26 Team    Fiorentina / Morocco Position    Midfielder Rank    New That tackle on Kylian Mbappé in the World Cup semi-final summed up the indefatigable spirit that has earned Amrabat a place in the top 50 on his first appearance in our list. The fulcrum of Morocco’s historic run to the last four in Qatar is now recognised as one of the best in his position having developed significantly since leaving the Netherlands in 2018, with Fiorentina facing a fight to keep hold of the 26-year-old. Atlético Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool are among the clubs to have been linked with a big-money move for a player whose inspiration is his older brother, the former Watford winger Nordin. Ed Aarons 50Cody Gakpo Age    23 Team    Liverpool / Netherlands Position    Forward Rank    New “He is a really, really good player and has the potential to become even better,” said Jürgen Klopp of Gakpo after Liverpool completed the £35m signing of the forward from PSV Eindhoven at the end of last year, and while the 23-year-old has struggled to show that for his new side, the proof of his talent was very much on display at the World Cup. Gakpo was excellent for the Netherlands, scoring in each of their group games and generally dazzled with his speed, athleticism and technical ability – as he had also done at PSV throughout 2022. Sachin Nakrani 51Cristiano Ronaldo Age    37 Team    Al Nassr / Portugal Position    Forward Rank    8 2021 ▼43 All good things must come to an end, they say, and this was the year that Cristiano Ronaldo fell out of the top 10 for the first time since these rankings were introduced in 2012. A two-time winner of the Guardian’s top 100, the Portuguese drops to 51st in a year that included a fallout with Erik ten Hag and Manchester United, that Piers Morgan interview and a rather chastening World Cup, during which he was criticised by his coach, Fernando Santos, for his reaction to being substituted against South Korea and then benched. The 37-year-old joined Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr in December. Marcus Christenson 52Victor Osimhen Age    24 Team    Napoli / Nigeria Position    Forward Rank    New Winner of Serie A’s best young player award for 2021-22, Osimhen is a frontrunner to claim the league’s MVP award this time around. A spectacular blend of go-go-gadget limbs, explosive finishing and breathtaking body control, he has the tools to become one of the very best players on the planet and an on-pitch enthusiasm that makes you want to jump out of your seat. He began the new Serie A season with nine goals in 10 games and bagged four in a single Africa Cup of Nations qualifier for Nigeria against São Tomé and Príncipe in June. Only injuries have slowed him down. Nicky Bandini 53Rodri Age    26 Team    Manchester City / Spain Position    Midfielder Rank    92 2021 ▲39 The metronome in front of the Manchester City defence, who maintains calm and reads the game superbly to snuff out attacks before they have begun, makes his highest entry on the list after landing at 92 last year. The Spanish midfielder sits atop the passing charts in the Premier League thanks to his keep-things-simple philosophy when it comes to possession. In Qatar he was unable to stop Spain from slumping out of the competition in the last 16 but he could at least boast he played every minute of the tournament for Luis Enrique’s side until they were dumped out by Morocco on penalties. Will Unwin 54Ederson Age    29 Team    Manchester City / Brazil Position    Goalkeeper Rank    75 2021 ▲21 Finished his fifth season in the Premier League with a fourth title and third Golden Glove award. The goalkeeper’s ability with his feet continues to make him an asset for Pep Guardiola and is one of the reasons he has moved up 21 places on this year’s list. Ederson collected the third assist of his Manchester City career with a perfect ball down the middle for Erling Haaland against Brighton in October. At international level he has to make do with being understudy to Liverpool's Alisson but did get to play a group game at the World Cup. Maybe Brazil would have made it through if he was on the pitch to take a ruthless penalty in the shootout defeat by Croatia. Will Unwin 55Ilkay Gündogan Age    32 Team    Manchester City / Germany Position    Midfielder Rank    35 2021 ▼20 Scored the goal that sealed another Premier League title for Manchester City and, soon after, was named their new captain – it’s fair to say 2022 was a good year for Gündogan at club level. The story was different at international level, however, given he was part of a Germany squad that failed to qualify from the World Cup group stages for a second tournament in succession. Gündogan did score against Japan, however, and continues to be an assured and talented midfielder, albeit aged 32 he is perhaps on the slide, reflected in his fall on this list. Sachin Nakrani 56Antonio Rüdiger Age    29 Team    Real Madrid / Germany Position    Defender Rank    48 2021 ▼8 Real Madrid were delighted to sign the centre-back on a free from Chelsea and thus far he seems to have been first choice for Carlo Ancelotti but recent mistakes, including in the Super Cup match against Barcelona, have put question marks over the wisdom of the signing. A swashbuckling presence, he does add more physicality to the centre of defence than, say, David Alaba and his desire to win was exemplified by the late equaliser he scored against Shakhtar Donetsk, which left him bloodied and requiring stitches. He is down eight places on our list, most likely because he won the Champions League in 2021, and did not in 2022. Marcus Christenson 57Riyad Mahrez Age    31 Team    Manchester City / Algeria Position    Forward Rank    60 2021 ▲3 Yet another Premier League title-winner's medal – his fourth – rounded off an excellent domestic 2021-22 campaign that saw Mahrez end up with 17 goals in all competitions for Manchester City and led to him finishing 12th in the Ballon d’Or standings in October. But while he is up three places from last year in our list, after starting 2022 by failing to inspire holders Algeria as they were embarrassed in the Africa Cup of Nations, the 31-year-old has been in and out of the team at City since the arrival of Erling Haaland. When playing, as he recently showed against Tottenham, he is still capable of being a match-winner in his own right. Ed Aarons 58Marcus Rashford Age    25 Team    Manchester United / England Position    Forward Rank    Re-entry Back on the list after a one-year absence and a player who had an extraordinary 2022. For the first half of it, Rashford struggled badly in a poor Manchester United side, to the extent it appeared he was on his way out of his boyhood club. But then Erik ten Hag arrived and the rejuvenation began. Performances improved, as did output, and it was enough to see Rashford selected in England’s squad for the World Cup, where he continued to shine. The 25-year-old scored three times and generally impressed with his speed, skill and determination. It is fair to say Rashford is back and, if anything, is getting better. Sachin Nakrani 59Luis Díaz Age    26 Team    Liverpool / Colombia Position    Winger Rank    87 2021 ▲28 Jürgen Klopp planned to move for the gifted Porto winger last summer but, as soon as receiving word that Tottenham had agreed a fee for the Colombia international in the January window, Liverpool sprung into action. An identical fee rising to €60m was accepted, making Díaz the fourth most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history at the time, and staff were dispatched to Argentina to conduct a medical while the player was on international duty. Díaz immediately repaid Liverpool’s endeavours, slotting seamlessly into a side chasing the quadruple and adding a new dimension to their attack. The only Colombian on our list, his absence has been sorely felt at Anfield since suffering a serious knee injury in October. Andy Hunter 60Trent Alexander-Arnold Age    24 Team    Liverpool / England Position    Defender Rank    34 2021 ▼26 The Liverpool right-back became the youngest player to complete the set of Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup winners’ medals when, at the age of 23 years and 219 days, his boyhood team beat Chelsea in last season’s FA Cup final. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup at a younger age. Alexander-Arnold’s creativity shone as Jürgen Klopp’s team chased the quadruple – only Mohamed Salah produced more Premier League assists than the defender’s 12 last season – but defensive lapses were costly as Liverpool came up short. Andy Hunter 61Richarlison Age    25 Team    Tottenham / Brazil Position    Forward Rank    Re-entry A player who is often loved by his own fans but hated by rival teams’ supporters, Richarlison is back on the list after a one-year absence. The summer saw him move to Tottenham from Everton in a £58m deal. He scored 10 league goals in his last season at Goodison and was one of the main reasons Everton stayed up. The start to his Spurs career has been interrupted by injuries but he was on good form for Brazil during the World Cup, finding the net three times and with his scissor-kick against Serbia rightly voted goal of the tournament. A role model off the pitch, “the Pigeon” has repeatedly spoken out on topics such as racism, poverty, police and gender violence, LGBTQ+ rights and environmental destruction. Marcus Christenson 62Gabriel Jesus Age    25 Team    Arsenal / Brazil Position    Forward Rank    Re-entry Back on this list after a two-year absence, Jesus returns after sparking Arsenal's title challenge this season. His acquisition from Manchester City, where he was important to another Premier League triumph last year while never being the leading man, was a masterstroke: it gave Jesus the stage to emerge from others’ shadows while turbocharging Mikel Arteta’s entire attack. He has not been prolific but his effect on Arsenal’s pressing and buildup play has been profound; off the pitch, his knowledge of what it takes to win trophies has also been keenly felt. Arsenal have ticked along nicely in his absence after a knee injury picked up in the World Cup but his return is eagerly awaited. Nick Ames 63Hakim Ziyech Age    29 Team    Chelsea / Morocco Position    Winger Rank    Re-entry It is fair to say that Ziyech’s move to London has not gone according to plan but he was able to show everyone what he can do at the World Cup, being the creative force behind Morocco’s run to the semi-finals. The prospects of Ziyech starring for Morocco in Qatar looked bleak after he announced his international retirement in February, having fallen out with the coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, but the subsequent sacking of the Bosnian saw the winger return in time for the tournament. He started every game of Morocco’s historic campaign but had only played the full 90 minutes in the league for Chelsea once before the break. This year will be a big one for the winger. Marcus Christenson 64Alphonso Davies Age    22 Team    Bayern Munich / Canada Position    Defender Rank    42 2021 ▼22 In terms of sheer numbers, Davies has had a quiet 2022-23 season to date, not pitching in for Bayern’s attack in the dynamic way that we have come to expect. Yet after being forced to adapt to being a left-back while still young and green, he really has cracked it in terms of defensive positioning and remains an undisputed first-choice. His dilemma with Canada was apparent in the World Cup – in which he missed a vital penalty against Belgium – with his star status demanding he play higher up the pitch, which can curtail his asset of being able to burst from deep. Andy Brassell 65Marquinhos Age    28 Team    Paris Saint-Germain / Brazil Position    Defender Rank    44 2021 ▼21 The PSG captain’s drop-off in form in 2022 was bookended by a pair of nightmare collapses. The first was inflicted by Karim Benzema in the Champions League, the second with Brazil at the World Cup, as he deflected in Croatia’s equaliser before missing in the shootout. Now closing in on 10 years in the French capital, Marquinhos has yet to step up into the Thiago Silva-shaped hole but is usually a reliable performer. He has adapted well to his team’s wavering between three- and four-man defences, and looks set to lead the club’s most credible Champions League charge yet. Raphaël Jucobin 66Dusan Vlahovic Age    22 Team    Juventus / Serbia Position    Forward Rank    57 2021 ▼9 This was supposed to be the year when Vlahovic established himself alongside Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé as one of the hottest attacking talents in world football. Instead, reviews have been mixed since he joined Juventus for €70m. Vlahovic scored 13 goals in 25 Serie A appearances for the Bianconeri in 2022 but rarely took over games. His efforts on the biggest stages were overshadowed by poor results. He netted in the first minute of his Champions League debut, away at Villarreal, only for Juventus to lose 4-1 on aggregate, and put his team ahead in the Coppa Italia final, which ended in defeat by Inter. Nicky Bandini 67Éder Militão Age    25 Team    Real Madrid / Brazil Position    Defender Rank    New Strong, aggressive and old-fashioned, the 25-year-old makes the list for the first time after an outstanding year during which he helped win La Liga and was a mainstay as Real secured their 14th European Cup. Militão has omitted most of the high-profile mistakes he was prone to make and formed a solid partnership with David Alaba, expelling fears that the team may struggle without Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane. Has the air of someone who is set to be part of the Real defence for most of the coming decade. At the World Cup he played at centre-back and right-back before Brazil’s dreams were crushed by Croatia. Marcus Christenson 68Marcelo Brozovic Age    30 Team    Internazionale / Croatia Position    Midfielder Rank    81 2021 ▲13 If you wanted one statistic to sum up Brozovic then it arrived at the end of Croatia’s draw with Japan, data showing that he had covered the most distance – 16.7km (10.4 miles) – of any player in a World Cup game. The previous record holder? Also Brozovic, who travelled 16.3km (10.1 miles) during the 2018 semi-final win over England. The midfielder’s tireless work screening the defence and making himself available as an outlet for teammates was a key component for Croatia on the way to their third-place finish and to a pair of domestic cup successes for Inter. Nicky Bandini 69Ousmane Dembélé Age    25 Team    Barcelona / France Position    Winger Rank    Re-entry The enigmatic winger makes his first appearance on the list since 2017, the year he joined Barcelona. His resurgence is largely down to one man: the Barça coach, Xavi, who pushed Dembélé to regain his best form and then for the club to renew his contract. Remarkably he finished the 2021-22 season as La Liga’s top assist maker, and it all happened in the second half of the campaign. It is fair to say that Barcelona have finally got the player they thought they signed five years ago. His fine form transferred on to the international scene as he was a key player in the France side that reached the World Cup final. Marcus Christenson 70Lautaro Martínez Age    25 Team    Internazionale / Argentina Position    Forward Rank    30 2021 ▼40 Lautaro might be the most perplexing player in our top 100. He began 2022 bagging goals that helped Inter to win a Supercoppa and Argentina to reach the World Cup – finishing alongside Lionel Messi as his team’s joint-most prolific player in qualifying. He finished it by winning the main event in Qatar but having lost his place in the starting XI, scoring only in the quarter-final penalty shootout. It is the same consistently inconsistent trend that saw him find the net 21 times in Serie A last season, yet also endure a stretch of eight games without any goals at all. Nicky Bandini 71Dominik Livakovic Age    28 Team    Dinamo Zagreb / Croatia Position    Goalkeeper Rank    New Hardly anyone would have picked Livakovic as one of Croatia’s possible World Cup heroes before the tournament. The Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper had a rough time after the Euros: struggling with injury and form, he was dropped by Zlatko Dalic in some of the important World Cup qualifiers and Nations League matches. Offers for a desired big move abroad never came, which seemed to have affected his confidence. But in Qatar he somehow morphed into the best version of himself, producing more saves (25) than any other goalkeeper at the tournament and carrying Croatia into the semi-finals. His performance in the shootout against Japan was particularly spectacular, as were the 11 saves in the quarter-final against Brazil. Aleksandar Holiga 72Cristian Romero Age    24 Team    Tottenham / Argentina Position    Defender Rank    New One of 11 Argentinians included, Romero may well have made our list even without winning the World Cup, but the victory in Qatar helped showcase the grit, tenacity and developing tactical understanding to a wider audience. Took to the Premier League like a duck to water after joining Spurs initially on loan in the summer of 2021 and his performances led his coach, Antonio Conte, a difficult man to please, to label Romero as “perfect”. The Italian added: “He’s strong physically, he has the timing to anticipate and good personality to play with the ball. Despite being a young player, he has good experience, he’s strong. I like him.” Marcus Christenson 73Nicoló Barella Age    25 Team    Internazionale / Italy Position    Midfielder Rank    26 2021 ▼47 Out of sight and out of mind? Every Italian who made it into our top 100 last season took a sharp tumble down the rankings, as the Azzurri went from European champions to not even qualifying for the World Cup. Barella deservedly positions highest among his countrymen, a barnstorming creative force who hit new heights in 2022. His 12 assists last season were joint-most of any midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues, and he opened the scoring for Inter in the Coppa Italia final win over Juventus, as well as in a 3-3 draw with Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Nicky Bandini 74Mike Maignan Age    27 Team    Milan / France Position    Goalkeeper Rank    New Few Milan fans could have imagined when Gianluigi Donnarumma (12th on our list last year) departed in the summer of 2021 that his replacement might be an upgrade. Fewer still were missing the Italian by the time their team had lifted the scudetto in May, aided by Maignan’s league-best 17 clean sheets. He was unsurprisingly named as Serie A’s goalkeeper of the season and threatened to challenge Hugo Lloris for the starting role with France before a calf injury in September. Maignan missed the World Cup but our judges still voted him on to this list for the first time. Nicky Bandini 75Thiago Silva Age    38 Team    Chelsea / Brazil Position    Defender Rank    58 2021 ▼17 The chance for the best central defender of his generation to win the World Cup perished in Qatar, once Brazil succumbed to Croatia. At 38, he remained a calming influence on his compatriots, just as he is at Chelsea. His contract runs to the end of the current season and as the London club collect young defenders to one day supplant him, each has cherished the chance to work in tandem with the old master. “It’s a real honour to play alongside him,” Benoît Badiashile, a January arrival at Stamford Bridge, said. “For a young player like me, he’s someone that makes things easy.” John Brewin 76Hugo Lloris Age    36 Team    Tottenham / France Position    Goalkeeper Rank    Re-entry It is fair to say 2022 was a notable year for Lloris. He celebrated his decade anniversary at Tottenham and moved into the club’s all-time top-10 appearance makers with a 416th display in the 2021-22 final-day victory over Norwich, one which saw Spurs secure a top-four place. Lloris played a significant role in that – the goalkeeper appeared in every league game and achieved a personal best of 16 clean sheets for the season. Towards the end of 2022 he captained France as they reached a second World Cup final in a row, breaking Lilian Thuram’s record as France’s most-capped player in the process before announcing his international retirement after 145 appearances. Sachin Nakrani 77Fabinho Age    29 Team    Liverpool / Brazil Position    Midfielder Rank    97 2021 ▲20 The Brazilian is up 20 places and that is undeniably based on his displays in the first half of 2022. He was magnificent for Liverpool as they came agonisingly close to securing an unprecedented quadruple, offering his typical assurance, in and out of possession, from a deep-lying midfield role. During the current campaign, however, the 29-year-old has been poor. Athleticism and aggression have deserted him, as subsequently has confidence, and there are no signs of any of that returning. Fabinho also made little impact for Brazil at the World Cup, albeit he rarely featured for the Seleção. Sachin Nakrani 78Mehdi Taremi Age    30 Team    Porto / Iran Position    Forward Rank    New The Iran striker carried his astonishing form for Porto that saw him score 20 goals and provide 12 assists as he won his first league title in Portugal into the World Cup with two goals against England. A powerful presence with a knack for scoring spectacular goals such as the brilliant bicycle kick against Chelsea in April 2021 that was nominated for the Puskas Award, Taremi was first spotted playing for Iran's national students' team but is now on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest clubs despite being 30. The first Iranian player to make the top 100. Ed Aarons 79Azzedine Ounahi Age    22 Team    Angers / Morocco Position    Midfielder Rank    New While the 22-year-old Moroccan’s breakthrough was a surprising left-field World Cup subplot, the realisation of his talent was anything but to Ligue 1 observers, despite a meandering year for the midfielder. Having oddly jumped in and out of a struggling Angers side under the now sacked Gérald Baticle last season, despite repeatedly affecting games, the club’s slide towards relegation this term has again distracted from Ounahi’s precise and intelligent midfield industry and subtle creativity. With many impressed bigger clubs now circling, much like his current employers, Ounahi’s continued stay in Ligue 1 will be short. Adam White 80Kalidou Koulibaly Age    31 Team    Chelsea / Senegal Position    Defender Rank    Re-entry Achieved a long-held ambition to play in the Premier League after joining Chelsea in the summer but has struggled to settle at Stamford Bridge after taking John Terry’s old shirt number. However, he is a re-entry into our top 100 this year after leading Senegal to their first ever Africa Nations Cup title. Also played every minute of his country’s World Cup campaign, which ended against England in the last 16. Remains the fierce competitor who served Napoli so loyally during almost a decade in Italy but his absence from the top 100 last year having peaked as high as 30th in 2019 was perhaps an indication of his declining powers. Ed Aarons 81Lisandro Martínez Age    25 Team    Manchester United / Argentina Position    Defender Rank    New A superb season for Ajax earned the centre-back a move to Manchester United, following his former manager in Amsterdam Erik ten Hag. He quickly allayed fears that his height, or lack thereof, would be a problem in England, showing that his combative nature and ability to read the game were more than a match for strikers in England. Although not a regular in Lionel Scaloni’s starting lineup in Qatar, Martínez still made five appearances for Argentina on their way to lifting the trophy. Recently said growing up in the Entre Ríos region shaped him as a footballer. “I’d see things, as a kid, that maybe others didn’t. But life itself is tough, you’re always faced with tough times and that’s where you need to show your mental strength,” he told the United magazine. Will Unwin 82Darwin Núñez Age    23 Team    Liverpool / Uruguay Position    Forward Rank    New The Uruguay international enjoyed a prolific season at Benfica, where he was top scorer in Portugal with 34 goals including one in each leg of their Champions League quarter-final defeat by Liverpool. His performances against Jürgen Klopp’s side helped convince Liverpool to agree to a potential club-record £85m deal to sign the striker as they prepared for the exit of Sadio Mané. Núñez's integration was interrupted by a red card for violent conduct on his Anfield debut. The 23-year-old’s all-round game has impressed and, despite criticism of his finishing, the forward has already reached double figures during his first season in England. Andy Hunter 83Aleksandar Mitrovic Age    28 Team    Fulham / Serbia Position    Forward Rank    New A new entry who is fully deserving of his place on this list. Mitrovic had an incredible 2022, scoring 21 goals from the turn of the year as Fulham surged to the Championship title, a run that also saw him break the record for most goals scored in a 46-game English season – 43 goals in 44 appearances. Back in the Premier League he has continued to find the back of the net, as well as scoring twice for Serbia at the World Cup. Little wonder the 28-year-old’s club manager is full of praise for him. “Mitro is a top professional,” said Marco Silva. “I’m really pleased to have him with us.” Sachin Nakrani 84Kyle Walker Age    32 Team    Manchester City / England Position    Defender Rank    74 2021 ▼10 It says everything about Walker that, tasked with keeping Kylian Mbappé under wraps when England met France in the World Cup quarter-finals, he largely did what was asked of him even as Gareth Southgate's side went out. At 32, his trademark pace shows little sign of diminishing and, paired with his canny reading of the game, he remains one of the most formidable right-backs in European football. Having won his fourth Premier League title with Manchester City last May, he is also one of the most decorated. What's more, he gained a new superfan in 2022: Dave the cat. Will Magee 85Raphaël Varane Age    29 Team    Manchester United / France Position    Defender Rank    Re-entry After problems with injury upon arrival at Old Trafford, 2022 was the year the centre-back made his mark in the Premier League. Varane has become a mainstay in the heart of United’s defence, seemingly unflustered by playing next to a different partner most weeks. He helped France get to the World Cup final playing through illness to make sure they took Argentina to penalties but sometimes even the best defenders are not a match for the great Lionel Messi. His performances in Qatar have helped Varane return to the top 100 after a two-year absence. Will Unwin 86Dayot Upamecano Age    24 Team    Bayern Munich / France Position    Defender Rank    Re-entry It hasn’t been easy for Upamecano since he arrived in Munich in 2021, and his uneven performances cast doubt over his long-term future at Bayern. 2022 was better, and his improved form at club level allowed him to be ready to receive the opportunity when a tidal wave of injuries struck France before the World Cup. Upamecano was excellent in Qatar, give or take a quarter-final chasing from Harry Kane, sealing a return to the 100 and putting himself at the front of the queue to lead France’s next generation with his fine anticipation and adventurous manner when he steps out. Andy Brassell 87Ciro Immobile Age    32 Team    Lazio / Italy Position    Forward Rank    66 2021 ▼21 Few players have made our top 100 list as consistently as Immobile, appearing for the sixth consecutive year, but the criticism of him remains the same as ever: that he is ruthless for his club and toothless for his country. With Lazio, he finished as Serie A’s capocannoniere (top scorer) again last season, becoming the first Italian to do so four times in a career. Yet he failed to find the net while wearing the captain’s armband for Italy’s humiliating World Cup qualifying playoff defeat to North Macedonia, placing just one of his seven attempts on target. Nicky Bandini 88Declan Rice Age    24 Team    West Ham / England Position    Midfielder Rank    59 2021 ▼29 Jude Bellingham captured the headlines in Qatar for England as Rice, who turned 24 in January, continued his development into being the national team’s dependable, durable midfield mainstay. The England captaincy may beckon soon enough and, before that, an exit from West Ham. Rice has talked of wanting to play Champions League football, and such opportunities will not be forthcoming at the London Stadium. With many of the Premier League’s elite clubs having a vacancy in central midfield, an auction is likely for such a capable player. How West Ham might get on without him is a question that troubles the club’s fans. John Brewin 89Frenkie de Jong Age    25 Team    Barcelona / Netherlands Position    Midfielder Rank    Re-entry Is anyone as fundamentally associated with the words "Manchester United transfer saga" as Frenkie de Jong? Wesley Sneijder, Nicolás Gaitán and Gareth Bale might give him a run for his money, but the Barcelona midfielder has turned elusiveness into an art form. Having reached the Champions League semi-finals with Ajax in 2019, winning a domestic double that same season, Erik ten Hag has good reason to admire his compatriot. While De Jong has not had an easy ride at Barça, in part because of the tumultuous situation off the field, he has been crucial to their gradual resurgence under Xavi. He also remains indispensable to his national side, starting all five of the Netherlands' games in their run to the World Cup quarter-finals. Will Magee 90Bruno Guimarães Age    25 Team    Newcastle / Brazil Position    Midfielder Rank    New Newcastle fans often sing about their Brazil midfielder wearing a “magic hat” and Guimarães has certainly cast his spell at St James’ Park where the £35m signing from Lyon last January is now a firm cult hero. If it helps that he chose Eddie Howe’s side over Arsenal, the ease with which the 25-year-old has proved capable of alternately assuming both the No 6 and No 8 roles has seen him hailed as the club’s best midfielder since Rob Lee. Like Lee, the technically assured Guimarães is capable of controlling games and possesses a keen eye for goal. He wears the No 39 shirt in homage to his father, a former taxi driver whose car’s call sign was 39. Louise Taylor 91Manuel Neuer Age    36 Team    Bayern Munich / Germany Position    Goalkeeper Rank    36 2021 ▼55 Neuer’s excellent form for Bayern is taken for granted at this point, and he had another solid year at club level. The coda to his 2022 could, however, be career-defining. He had a poor World Cup, with his mistakes magnified as Germany fell at the first hurdle. He then broke his leg skiing shortly after returning from Qatar to rule him out for the rest of the season. At 36, with Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen in fine form and with Bayern searching for an elite backup/replacement in goal, this could possibly be Neuer’s last time on the list. Andy Brassell 92Giorgian de Arrascaeta Age    28 Team    Flamengo / Uruguay Position    Midfielder Rank    New The magisterial Uruguayan yet again underlined why he is the best playmaker on the continent, pulling the strings for a Flamengo side that did the Libertadores and Copa do Brasil double. Blessed with vision, poise and technique, De Arrascaeta laid on a career-best 20 assists across all competitions, leading Rivaldo to claim that “any manager would want him on their team”. “Cocho” was the only Uruguayan to score at the World Cup – an ultimately fruitless double against Ghana – and you can’t help but think that La Celeste might have missed a trick by not using their little magician more often. Tom Robinson 93Rodrygo Age    22 Team    Real Madrid / Brazil Position    Winger Rank    New Not always in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting XI but 2022 was still a good year for Rodrygo, who played a crucial role in Real Madrid winning their 14th European Cup. He scored five goals along the way, none more important than the two late, late goals in the second leg of the semi-final against Manchester City. Has at times been the victim of Ancelotti deploying Federico Valverde on the right but the Brazilian is often a gamechanger when he comes on. Skilful and clinical in front of goal, he is also a mature speaker off the pitch. His compatriot Ronaldo is a fan, saying Rodrygo would get “into any team in the world” ignoring perhaps the two teams he is playing for, Real and Brazil. Marcus Christenson 94Reece James Age    23 Team    Chelsea / England Position    Defender Rank    70 2021 ▼24 The full-back often shone for Chelsea in 2022, playing an important part in them reaching two cup finals and securing a top-four finish. But James was also dogged by injuries, the most devastating of which was the knee injury he sustained in the Champions League group victory away at Milan in October that resulted in the 23-year-old missing the World Cup. He returned for the Premier League win against Bournemouth at the end of the year but was subsequently struck down by the same problem in the second half of that game. A hugely talented player, clearly, but he falls 24 places on the list. Sachin Nakrani 95Serge Gnabry Age    27 Team    Bayern Munich / Germany Position    Winger Rank    41 2021 ▼54 Gnabry falls a huge 54 places, despite a perfectly good year in many senses. He struck 17 times in all competitions in 2021-22 and has gone along at almost a goal per start for Bayern this time around, often pushed into a striking role in a 4-4-2 by Julian Nagelsmann following Robert Lewandowski’s exit. His association with Germany’s World Cup failure has cost him, with Hansi Flick’s team undermined by repeatedly missing chances as well as defensive slip-ups. Having signed a lucrative new deal in 2022, Gnabry will continue to be influential for club and country. Andy Brassell 96Sandro Tonali Age    22 Team    Milan / Italy Position    Midfielder Rank    New For years, Tonali was billed as the “next Andrea Pirlo”. The midfielder always thought his playing style aligned closer to Gennaro Gattuso but his manager, Stefano Pioli, sees shades of Daniele De Rossi in there too. Everyone can at least agree now that Tonali has flourished with the Rossoneri, playing his way into a starting position last season even when that meant breaking up the established partnership of Franck Kessié and Ismaël Bennacer. He scored crucial goals away at Lazio and Verona in the spring to keep Milan on course for the scudetto, and help earn himself a first appearance on this list. Nicky Bandini 97Andrew Robertson Age    28 Team    Liverpool / Scotland Position    Defender Rank    Re-entry In December the full-back broke the record for most Premier League assists by a defender as he set up Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s opener at Aston Villa on Boxing Day. It was Robertson’s 54th assist in the English top flight – with 50 of them coming at Liverpool – and it meant he overtook Everton’s Leighton Baines at the top of the list. After the game Jürgen Klopp said: “I just remember the guy we bought from Hull. Offensively he was great, defensively not so good. Now he can do both.” His energy levels have dropped somewhat in 2022-23, along with the rest of the Liverpool team. Marcus Christenson 98Leroy Sané Age    27 Team    Bayern Munich / Germany Position    Winger Rank    Re-entry Sané returns to the list after a year’s absence and is as perplexing a talent as ever. His status at Bayern rose during 2022, having previously drawn the ire of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for a perceived lack of defensive effort and Sané has been the subject of much fretting due to his colossal wages. On his day he looks like one of the world’s best, with his combination of pace, skill and finishing power, and he is having more of those days for Bayern than he did before. Even at the age of 27 it still feels as if he is on the outside looking in for Germany, taken to the World Cup but hardly used even in times of difficulty. Andy Brassell 99Gabriel Barbosa Age    26 Team    Flamengo / Brazil Position    Forward Rank    Re-entry Always the man for the big occasion, the artist formerly known as Gabigol popped up with the winner in the Copa Libertadores final – just as he had in 2019 – to give Flamengo their second continental title in four years. That goal made him the joint top Brazilian scorer in Libertadores history and, despite not making Tite’s World Cup squad, 29 goals in 2022 sees Barbosa sneak on to the list. While the prolific forward may not have lived up to the “next Neymar” hype, he cemented his place as a Flamengo legend and even inherited the hallowed No 10 shirt – not before seeking Zico’s approval, of course. Tom Robinson 100Nicolás Otamendi Age    34 Team    Benfica / Argentina Position    Defender Rank    New On our list for the first time, the 34-year-old can look back at a wildly successful 2022 that was crowned by the World Cup victory in December. The former Manchester City defender started every game and played every minute in Qatar, the coach, Lionel Scaloni, sticking by him despite the opening defeat against Saudi Arabia. At club level Otamendi played an integral part as Benfica finished third in 2021-22. The club then went on to win their Champions League group ahead of PSG and Juventus. His coach, Roger Schmidt, is a fan and recently said the club are keen to extend the veteran’s contract. Marcus Christenson All players 1 Lionel Messi Paris Saint-Germain 2 Kylian Mbappé Paris Saint-Germain 3 Karim Benzema Real Madrid 4 Erling Haaland Manchester City 5 Luka Modric Real Madrid 6 Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City 7 Robert Lewandowski Barcelona 8 Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid 9 Thibaut Courtois Real Madrid 10 Mohamed Salah Liverpool 11 Sadio Mané Bayern Munich 12 Neymar Paris Saint-Germain 13 Harry Kane Tottenham 14 Jude Bellingham Borussia Dortmund 15 Casemiro Manchester United 16 Achraf Hakimi Paris Saint-Germain 17 Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid 18 Federico Valverde Real Madrid 19 Pedri Barcelona 20 Emiliano Martínez Aston Villa 21 Enzo Fernández Benfica 22 Bukayo Saka Arsenal 23 Rafael Leão Milan 24 Phil Foden Manchester City 25 Jamal Musiala Bayern Munich 26 Son Heung-min Tottenham 27 Virgil van Dijk Liverpool 28 Bruno Fernandes Manchester United 29 Bernardo Silva Manchester City 30 Olivier Giroud Milan 31 Josko Gvardiol RB Leipzig 32 Julián Álvarez Manchester City 33 Christopher Nkunku RB Leipzig 34 Alisson Liverpool 35 Martin Ødegaard Arsenal 36 João Cancelo Manchester City 37 Gavi Barcelona 38 Ángel Di María Juventus 39 Toni Kroos Real Madrid 40 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Napoli 41 Joshua Kimmich Bayern Munich 42 David Alaba Real Madrid 43 Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou Sevilla 44 Rúben Dias Manchester City 45 Aurélien Tchouaméni Real Madrid 46 Theo Hernández Milan 47 Alexis Mac Allister Brighton 48 Rodrigo De Paul Atlético Madrid 49 Sofyan Amrabat Fiorentina 50 Cody Gakpo Liverpool 51 Cristiano Ronaldo Al Nassr 52 Victor Osimhen Napoli 53 Rodri Manchester City 54 Ederson Manchester City 55 Ilkay Gündogan Manchester City 56 Antonio Rüdiger Real Madrid 57 Riyad Mahrez Manchester City 58 Marcus Rashford Manchester United 59 Luis Díaz Liverpool 60 Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool 61 Richarlison Tottenham 62 Gabriel Jesus Arsenal 63 Hakim Ziyech Chelsea 64 Alphonso Davies Bayern Munich 65 Marquinhos Paris Saint-Germain 66 Dusan Vlahovic Juventus 67 Éder Militão Real Madrid 68 Marcelo Brozovic Internazionale 69 Ousmane Dembélé Barcelona 70 Lautaro Martínez Internazionale 71 Dominik Livakovic Dinamo Zagreb 72 Cristian Romero Tottenham 73 Nicoló Barella Internazionale 74 Mike Maignan Milan 75 Thiago Silva Chelsea 76 Hugo Lloris Tottenham 77 Fabinho Liverpool 78 Mehdi Taremi Porto 79 Azzedine Ounahi Angers 80 Kalidou Koulibaly Chelsea 81 Lisandro Martínez Manchester United 82 Darwin Núñez Liverpool 83 Aleksandar Mitrovic Fulham 84 Kyle Walker Manchester City 85 Raphaël Varane Manchester United 86 Dayot Upamecano Bayern Munich 87 Ciro Immobile Lazio 88 Declan Rice West Ham 89 Frenkie de Jong Barcelona 90 Bruno Guimarães Newcastle 91 Manuel Neuer Bayern Munich 92 Giorgian de Arrascaeta Flamengo 93 Rodrygo Real Madrid 94 Reece James Chelsea 95 Serge Gnabry Bayern Munich 96 Sandro Tonali Milan 97 Andrew Robertson Liverpool 98 Leroy Sané Bayern Munich 99 Gabriel Barbosa Flamengo 100 Nicolás Otamendi Benfica
  • Condition: In Excellent Condition
  • Sub-Type: Football
  • Options: European Players/ Clubs
  • Type: Sport
  • Sport: Football
  • Surname Initial: M
  • Object: Signed Coin
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
  • Certification: Pre-Printed
  • Personalise: No

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