The FFT100 – Agree? Disagree?

By: Rob | October 11th, 2009

xavi-hernandez Esteemed Football magazine FourFourTwo has released its latest issue, for me the most exciting one of the year, the one that contains the countdown of the 100 Best Players in The World, according to them.

This is the third year that they’ve run the list, Kaká and C-Ron being the previous winners. Below I’ve give the rundown on the full 100, but first a quick word about lists.

Yeah, they’re pointless. No, you aren’t going to agree on them – especially in something that contains natural biases like football does. But any list like this is merely meant as a conversation starter, something to talk about and debate, and that is the joy of them in my view. So I’m kicking open the conversation, right about now.

The FFT100 2009

100 Ronaldo (Corinthians)
99 Santon (Inter)
98 Zanetti (Inter)
97 Gomez (Bayern)
96 Akinfeev (CSKA)
95 Giggs (Man United)
94 Chygrynskiy (Barca)
93 Palacios (Spurs)
92 Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid)
91 Gonzalez (Marseille)
90 Eduardo (Arsenal)
89 Misimovic (Wolfsburg)
88 Cazorla (Villarreal)
87 Navas (Sevilla)
86 Raul (Real Madrid)
85 Van Der Sar (Man United)
84 Gallas (Arsenal)
83 Ronaldinho (Milan)
82 Del Piero (Juve)
81 Chamakh (Bordeaux)
80 Mutu (Fiorentina)
79 Bosingwa (Chelsea)
78 Gignac (Toulouse)
77 Gilardino (Fiorentina)
76 Cech (Chelsea)
75 Huntelaar (Milan)
74 Dzeko (Wolfsburg)
73 Pepe (Real Madrid)
72 Zhirkov (Chelsea)
71 Clichy (Arsenal)
70 Diego Milito (Inter)
69 Grafite (Wolfsburg)
68 Tevez (Manchester City)
67 Cassano (Sampdoria)
66 Srna (Shakhtar)
65 Van Persie (Arsenal)
64 Motta (Inter)
63 Fabiano (Sevilla)
62 Melo (Juve)
61 Modric (Spurs)
60 Chiellini (Juve)
59 Lahm (Bayern)
58 Reina (Liverpool)
57 Robinho (Man City)
56 Tymoschuk (Bayern)
55 Cambiasso (Inter)
54 Totti (Roma)
53 Pirlo (Milan)
52 Senna (Villarreal)
51 Pique (Barca)
50 Higuain (Real)
49 Ballack (Chelsea)
48 Sneijder (Inter)
47 Carvalho (Chelsea)
46 Ramos (Real Madrid)
45 Silva (Valencia)
44 Berbatov (Man United)
43 Kanoute (Sevilla)
42 Anelka (Chelsea)
41 Diarra (Real Madrid)
40 Robben (Bayern)
39 Yaya Toure (Barca)
38 Adebayour (Man City)
37 Gourcuff (Bordeaux)
36 Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
35 Buffon (Juve)
34 Terry (Chelsea)
33 Evra (Man United)
32 Pato (Milan)
31 Aguero (Atlético Madrid)
30 De Rossi (Roma)
29 Benzema (Real Madrid)
28 Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
27 Mascherano (Liverpool)
26 Titi Henry (Barca)
25 Dani Alves (Barca)
24 Diego (Juve)
23 Cesar (Inter)
22 Vidic (Man United)
21 Forlan (Atlético Madrid)
20 Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
19 Ribery (Bayern)
18 Essien (Chelsea)
17 Maicon (Inter)
16 Casillas (Real Madrid)
15 Arshavin (Arsenal)
14 Drogba (Chelsea)
13 Ibrahimovic (Barca)
12 Rio Ferdinand (Man United)
11 Lampard (Chelsea)
10 Rooney (Man United)
09 Eto’o (Inter)
08 Kaká (Real Madrid)
07 Gerrard (Liverpool)
06 Torres (Liverpool)
05 David Villa (Valencia)
= 03 Andres Iniesta (Barca)
= 03 Xavi (Barca)
02 Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

01 Leo Messi (Barca)

So, no shock at who is rightly at number one, but what do you make of the rest of the list? Who was left out? Who should be higher? Who should not even be there at all? We want your say.

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Category: World Football

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Nick Matyas

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john

You know the listvis worth -8 when Cassano doesn't even crack the top 100. Without question he is in the top 25

regards
kokkalis

Where is Arda Turan???
Arminius

Gerrard 7th, Lampard 11th ? Thanks for my laugh of the day.
kabir

ok thomas...peace is achieved
caco

No fucking way that mascherano is better than totti
caco

Totti should be much higher. Even in the top ten.
Siva

Where is Jaun Manuel Mata ????(11 goals 13 assists second only to Xavi in assists)
Hondo

Mascherano better than Totti.. Nuff said.
Thomas

Oh, I understand now kabir. Yes, team efforts are extremely important, but not more so than in other leagues. Ex. with Barcelona, their entire squad could be considered stars, but it's not like they are more of stars in their league then everyone on Bordeaux is in Ligue 1, you just haven't heard of many of the players on Bordeuax because Ligue 1 is less publicized. Sure you may have heard of Marouane Chamakh and Yoann Gourcuff, but you haven't just heard of Messi and Ibra on Barca. All i'm saying is that there are other players there.
kabir

at Thomas, i dont mean to be an ignorant fan who dismisses ligue 1, because i feel the same passion when people dismiss serie a, but the point i was making was that the previous commenter made it sound like ligue 1 made the stars, and then the (other) top clubs would "benefit" from them. and while i suppose to a certain extent this might be true, i felt his/her examples were not.
my general opinion of ligue 1 is that there are not so many standout stars aside from gignac, gourcuff, bastos, niang etc., but the results are down to most of the teams making a team effort to do well.
Thomas

at Sandrahn I know, I was saying that four is a ridiculously low number out of 100. lol.

at Kabir Dude, first of all, nobody said anything about being raised in Ligue 1, but if you want to talk about that, then check your facts. There are tons of world class players who were raised in Ligue 1: http://frenchleague.wordpress....
kabir

at sandrahn, to say that players from ligue 1 could walk into any top club is pushing it. for your example of gourcuff, let's remember he was at a top club before (milan) but he was lame. he needed to go to bordeaux to play well. and lopez, please dont act like he's a talent raised in ligue 1, lyon poached him off porto, so its unfair to say that other european clubs benefit from ligue 1 players regularly because lyon is the "top european club benefitting (from the portuguese league)" in this scenario.
jamesey

No Riquelme in the top 10? the list is invalid
sandrahn

LOL! Gerrard "a 100 times better than Kaka!" You can't make it up!!! Ah, Liverpool fans...they're in their own quaint little world...

Lists like these are always a waste of time. And Thomas, there are some very good players in Ligue 1 and Europe's top clubs benefit from them regularly. Players like Gourcuff, Gignac, Lopez would walk into any top club.

The most ridiculous inclusion in this list is Adebayor. If this list is based on last season's performance, THEN WHAT THE HELL IS ADE DOING ON IT???
wob

I kinda agree with it... =)
joejoejoe

There one back and one keeper in the top 16 players in the world? Funny that those are 4-5 of 11 spots on any given side. I think this list is too in love with offense although I credit their ranking of some great two-way midfielders.
Jack

Surprised Ronaldiinho even made the 100
shehan

Luka, stop being so rational, jeez.

what is this? a center for ants?
Luka

It's all pretty tedious when you move outside the top 10. After naming the top 10-20 players, it's just a random listing of good professional players ranked in a abstract fashion. There's no point in arguing about it either.
Utku

no arda turan? :'(
ish

im guessing its based on last season as well. Generally a solid list, gerrard was one of the best players in the world last season. Scoring, assisting doing it all. cesc was average and lampard did very well last season.

valdes deserves it just for his performance against chelsea in the CL. Carvalho didnt because he barely played last season and did pretty shit.

i think bastos deserves a spot as well he did amazingly well last season and has got off to a flyer this one.
Daryl

It's worth remembering that FourFourTwo is a UK publication aimed at a UK audience. So there's obviously going to be some bias.

So if you accept that the list is going to be unavoidably biased towards towards Prem players, then the list is actually pretty unbiased. If that makes any sense at all.
Rob

There are 23 Serie A Players on the list. That's nearly a 1/4, and only 6 less than Spain (and it includes players like Ibra and Kaka who were obviously plying their trade in Italy last year). That's quite a few.
Leigha

The keeper who won the Champions League and La Liga isn't on the list? Excuse me while I try to sort that out. And Ferdinand at 12? I've always thought FFT was a little Manchester United biased, and that proves it. I'm glad to see Srna - he's fantastic. But the lack of Ligue players is frustrating.
Jonas

strongly disagree with the presence of gerrard and rooney in the top 10...
kaka should be above torres and villa

essien and fabregas should be higher than lampard and rio... feel arshavin deserves a squeeze in the top 10..

at the end of the day, this list favours the EPL heavily, with the exception of barcelona naturally.. serie A grossly misrepresented.
Thomas

Also, 4 Ligue 1 players??????????? 4???????? Please.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

the day vidic is better than buffon is the day that all football ends as we know it.
Matt

No Paul McShane?!? ARRGH What a joke!!!
mlyons

Eto'o ahead of Ibrahimovic? Inter and Barcelona apparently think otherwise.
Andres

This list is a mess then again all of it is based on the players's performances last season nothing more or else the top 5 would be in no particular order
Messi , ronaldo , kaka , ribery , xavi
Thomas

Seeing Rio in front of all these world class players makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Also, how is van Nistelrooy, who hasn't played in like a year, on the list and people who start for Barca ex: Abidal, not?
Francesco

Cassano should be the top-rated Italian player
Jatin

no mention of victor valdes
kabir

eduardo, lets have a bilingual discussion here. this is based on last season, i believe, (otherwise huntelaar and those types wouldn't be here) and last season suarez wasn't as amazing.
even though donovan plays in the oh so terrible MLS, he's still the best player there, which should count for something. plus he had that fantastic confederations cup, showing he can perform at high levels
OhYes

I'd say Gerrard is about 100x times better than Kaka.

Nolan: I am in complete agreement with you. That was the first thing I looked at after 1st.
Eduardo

mmm...¿¿Dónde queda Luis Suarez?? La gran estrella del Ajax...debería estar dentro de esta lista, ya que creo que es mejor que, por lo menos, Grafite o Dzeko.
Creo que Adebayor es mejor que Pato, que Luis Fabiano es mucho mejor que Anelka, Kanoute y Berbatov.
Diego Milito debería estar en mejor posición.
Quizas Cardozo (Paraguay/Benfica) ,Adriano (Brasil/Flamengo) o Rossi (Italia/Villareal) podrían estar por Ronaldo (R9).
Donovan está sobrevalorado (overrated), eso si tiene una gran velocidad, pero juega en un fútbol poco competitivo (MLS).
rosay

r they high? buffon 35? u kiddin me, he should def be in the top 10, highest rated italian DDR comes in at 30? wtf? this is soo bias its no even funny
Jots

There is no way adebayor should be higher than totti...
Steve

There is no way Ferdinand deserves to be some 30 odd spots ahead of Carvalho, if he's even better at all.
Aaron

Rio is way too high, he's been garbage this year. Gerrard isn't better then Kaka.
Nolan

Props to FFT, which I usually find a bit Premiership-centric, for correctly placing Villa higher than Torres! I like the top 10, after that of course the order gets very debatable.
Tommy Wong

Landon Donovan can't even sniff that list. That being said, I'm not sure how Philip Lahm is so high up on the list. And the fact that Ronaldo (Brazillian) is even on there was sort of a "uhhh what the hell".
OhYes

Had a quick peek and I gotta say..spot on!

Although I would have switched Masche and Yaya.. Masche is the better DM of the two but Yaya is more versatile and better than Masche in all other positions.
Theo

As a sevilla supporter im glad we have three players on the list but kanoute higher than fabiano...really?
Laurens

Donovan plays in an under-par league that lacks skill and ambition. He has been rotting there for years, a move to Europe would have done him good. He is no better than any of the players on that list.

Stupid arrogant American.
Kartik

where the hell is landon donovan? Stupid eurosnobs
Sarit P.

*Vidic isn't higher than Ferdinand
Sarit P.

I find it hard to believe Vidic is higher than Ferdinand, and I find it hard to believe that this list lacks Patrice Evra the consensus best left back in the world (no matter what France thinks)
mustafa

just from looking at the inter players i can see this is not right. giggs is in no way better than zanetti and motta is higher up the list than milito. milito should be top 30. Cambiasso is better than Berbatov, Ballack (nowerdays), and sneijder. I know they dont all play the same position so its hard to compare but cambiasso provides for the team every match, Berbatov hasn't done anything in ages.