The FFT100 – Agree? Disagree?
By: Rob | October 11th, 2009
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.
 |
Soccer Forums | Team/International Results |  |
 |  |
Category: World Football
Tags: Akinfeev, Arsenal, Arshavin, Barca, Barcelona, Casillas, Chelsea, De Rossi, Drogba, Eto'o, Gerrard, Giggs, Gomez, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta, Inter, Juventus, Kaka, Lampard, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Messi, Milan, Pepe, Pique, Puyol, Real Madrid, Rio Ferdinabd, Robben, Roma, Ronaldo, Sevilla, Tevez, Totti, Valenica, Van Nisto, Villa, World Football, XaviSubscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments | Add your comment
-
strongly disagree with the presence of gerrard and rooney in the top 10…
kaka should be above torres and villaessien 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.
Posted from
United Kingdom
-
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.
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
Australia -
no arda turan? :’(
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
Australia -
Luka, stop being so rational, jeez.
what is this? a center for ants?
Posted from
United States -
Hmm…David Villa should be no.1
Posted from
Australia -
Surprised Ronaldiinho even made the 100
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
United States -
I kinda agree with it… =)
Posted from
Netherlands -
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???
Posted from
United States -
No Riquelme in the top 10? the list is invalid
Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
United States -
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.com/2009/09/17/the-worlds-best-league-part-1/
Posted from
United States -
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.Posted from
United States -
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.
Posted from
United States -
Mascherano better than Totti.. Nuff said.
Posted from
Finland -
Where is Jaun Manuel Mata ????(11 goals 13 assists second only to Xavi in assists)
Posted from
United States -
It’s stupid! I think Xavi and Iniesta are better players than CR! Krysia jest przereklamowana…
Posted from
United States -
Totti should be much higher. Even in the top ten.
Posted from
United States -
No fucking way that mascherano is better than totti
Posted from
United States -
ok thomas…peace is achieved
Posted from
United States -
Gerrard 7th, Lampard 11th ? Thanks for my laugh of the day.
Posted from
United States
Read the rest of the comments
Leave a Reply
If you have not commented here before, please take a moment to peruse ourCommenting Guidelines.
Home 
