Best male soccer player in the world: Championship Belt by yearplayHow do you defend against Messi and Argentina? (2:07)Bill BarnwellJun 24, 2026, 06:17 AM ETClose
Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X’s and O’s, offseason transactions and so much more.
He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast, with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.
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The world’s biggest superstars have descended on North America. While the Copa América and Club World Cup brought oodles of talent to our shores in recent years, there’s nothing quite like a World Cup. While there are exceptions for players who didn’t qualify (Gianluigi Donnarumma) or who appear to have gravely offended their national team coach (Trent Alexander-Arnold), virtually every star on the planet is appearing on pitches across Canada, Mexico and the United States right now.
We’re about to find out which country’s side is best. But what about the players? Who is the best in the world? Sure, there will be a Golden Ball handed out at the end of the tournament, but after years of being able to easily point to Lionel Messi, the answer to that question isn’t quite as clear. Kylian Mbappe? Erling Haaland? Rodri? Ousmane Dembele? The answer might be different from one week to the next.
Today, we’re here to settle that problem … throughout the past 45 years of history. I’m excited to run all the way back to the 1979-80 season and detail the history of the “Best Male Soccer Player Alive” championship belt, picking out the single best men’s player at any given time. (I’ve done several of these in the past, including championship belts for NFL pass rushers, quarterbacks, head coaches, starting pitchers and American athletes.)
Who wins the Championship belt year over year for being the best in the sport? Read on and find out. ESPNNow, of course, there are already awards that try to address this. Every soccer competition of note has some sort of a best player award. The Ballon d’Or picks the best player in the world in a given year, as does the various flavors of the FIFA Player of the Year award over the years. Those awards, though, are more about rewarding performance in a given timeframe, like our Most Valuable Player honors in American sports. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m trying to answer a different question, looking at spans of time. This isn’t about transfer value or future development.If you needed to win one game, had a completely average team at every position and could add any one player on the planet to your side, who would you pick?Naturally, that typically leans toward creators and goal scorers given how the best can transform matches, and so this list does as well. Awards such as the Ballon d’Or and tournament-specific honors matter, and I’ll mention statistics as we go throughout the piece, but vibes and context also factor in here. Did the player transform his club after arriving or carry his country to something spectacular? Was he playing against the stiffest competition? Did he do it on the biggest possible stage?Editor’s Picks
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Obviously, each player’s recent performance matters most, but there’s a “to be the man, you have to beat the man” element that comes with the championship belt. Narrowly outplaying the guy who has the title isn’t going to win the crown. For the belt to change hands, the current holder must either take a notable step backward, suffer the sort of significant injury that raises questions about his future or be significantly outplayed by someone else.
For each 12-month span, I’m considering a player’s performance for both club and country in my evaluation. That cycle starts with the beginning of the major European leagues in August and ends with the major international competitions that take place over the ensuing summer. So as an example, the 2021-22 award would include club competitions on that 2021-22 schedule and the 2022 World Cup. It wouldn’t include the 2021 Copa América or any work done during the 2020-21 club campaign (both of which would be included in the prior year’s conversation), or anything from the 2022-23 club season (which would be part of the following year).
OK — having reported all that, let’s start running through the winners. Leaving the likes of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer in the past, I’m going to start with the 1979-80 season and begin with a striker who excelled for a country that no longer exists.
Jump to the start of a belt tenure:
1979-80 | 1982-83 | 1985-86 | 1990-91
1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95
1999-00 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2006-07
2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2015-16 | 2016-17
2021-22 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 to present
1979-80 to 1981-82: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, FW, Bayern Munich/West Germany
Rummenigge went up a gear at the turn of the 1980s, briefly enjoying a run as one of the best forwards in the game. Mark Leech/Getty ImagesWe start with an attacking player taking a massive leap forward. Rummenigge had a spectacular 1979-80 season, nearly doubling his previous career high by scoring 26 goals for Bayern Munich, the most of any player in Europe’s Big Five leagues. Munich needed those goals, winning the league by two points over Hamburger SV. The future Munich executive then won the European Championship with West Germany in 1980, with Rummenigge being named to the Team of the Tournament after his corner set up the winning goal in the final.Having established himself as one of the world’s elite players, Rummenigge then followed up his star-making campaign with a 29-goal season in the Bundesliga the following year. He added six goals in eight matches during that year’s European Cup, although Bayern would fall in the semifinals to Liverpool. A year later, with Bayern having qualified again after retaining the Bundesliga, Rummenigge would score six more goals on the way to the final, with Munich falling to Aston Villa in Rotterdam.Rummenigge was clearly a player for the biggest stages, and he played another starring role in the 1982 World Cup. He scored four times in the group stage before suffering a hamstring injury. Limited to a role off the bench, Rummenigge scored five minutes after coming on in extra time of the semifinal to help West Germany come back from down 3-1 against France before eventually winning a penalty shootout. The Germans would fall to Italy in the final, denying Rummenigge his international winner’s medal. He would continue to play well in the Bundesliga before an ill-fated move to Inter Milan, but another import to the Italian league was about to take over this title.
1982-83 to 1984-85: Michel Platini, MF, Juventus/France
Platini was a playmaker built for the biggest stage, winning a ton of titles with club and country. Jean-Yves Ruszniewski/Corbis/VCG via Getty ImagesThe first of several Juventus players to hold this title, Platini moved to Serie A at age 27 after establishing himself as one of the finest players in France. While the playmaker had already won Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne, Platini’s individual accolades and performance hadn’t led to consistent success with club or country, as it had for Rummenigge. Platini captained the French team that lost after going up 3-1 in extra time against West Germany, admittedly after West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher infamously mauled French defender Patrick Battiston for what would be an obvious red card today.
After moving to Juventus, though, Platini found his level, and both club and country benefited. Despite coming to Italy as a playmaking midfielder, Platini led Serie A in goals in 1982-83 (16), 1983-84 (20) and 1984-85 (18). Led by their new star player, Juventus won the Italian league in 1983-84 and 1984-85. They prevailed in the European Cup Winners’ Cup (the predecessor to the modern Conference League) in 1983-84, then won the European Cup in 1984-85 on a Platini penalty in a match that was sadly overshadowed by the disaster taking place in the stands at Heysel Stadium.
Platini also helped the French national team earn their first title at Euro 1984, and he delivered arguably the best performance in a major international competition by any player. In a tournament where nobody else scored more than three times, Platini scored nine goals across France’s five matches, including hat tricks in consecutive matches against Belgium and Yugoslavia. In front of adoring home fans, he scored the winner in extra time against Portugal in the semifinal and the opener (on a fumbled free kick) in France’s 2-0 win over Spain in the final at the Parc des Princes stadium.
After the European Cup victory, Platini helped Juventus to an Intercontinental Cup win and another Serie A title, but he retired after the following year’s World Cup. And by the end of the 1985-86 season, another irresistible No. 10 had staked his claim as the world’s best player.
1985-86 to 1989-90: Diego Maradona, MF, Napoli/Argentina
Maradona became the biggest star on the planet at the end of the 1980s, taking Argentina to a World Cup and helping Napoli win a first-ever Serie A title. PASCAL GEORGE/AFP via Getty ImagesMaradona was already a global star, of course, having become the first player to ever be transferred for a world record fee twice with his moves from Boca Juniors to Barcelona and from the Spanish giants to Napoli. The diminutive Argentine was known both for his brilliance and his temper early in his career, but after leaving South America, Maradona had failed to win a tournament at senior level with Argentina or a league title in Spain or Italy.Then the 1986 World Cup rolled around, and he became the biggest star on the planet. He led the Albiceleste to their second World Cup victory, with Maradona scoring five times during the tournament, including twice in the quarterfinal win over England. It might be the most watched brace in modern soccer history. Maradona scored both goals in the 2-0 semifinal victory over Belgium, then set up Jorge Burruchaga’s winner with a through ball from his own half in the final.
If becoming an Argentine icon wasn’t enough, Maradona added to his legend by willing Napoli to their first league title after returning from the World Cup, scoring 17 goals along the way. Napoli added the Coppa Italia for good measure. Maradona then led Serie A with 15 goals the following season as Napoli finished as runners-up in the league. The Southern Italian club would realize European glory the next year by winning the UEFA Cup, beating the likes of Juventus and Bayern Munich along the way. With emerging stars such as Ciro Ferrara and Gianfranco Zola in the team, Maradona then led Napoli to a second Serie A title in the 1989-90 season, cementing his status as the club’s most legendary player.
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Maradona wasn’t able to win another title with Argentina, although he came close in 1990. Playing in his adopted country, Maradona played through an ankle injury and delivered another iconic performance while knocking archrival Brazil out of the tournament in the round of 16. In a cynical, low-scoring tournament, Maradona wasn’t able to make his mark in a 1-0 loss to West Germany in the final.
And then, after five years on top, things ended quickly. With Napoli in midtable, Maradona tested positive for cocaine after a game against Bari, with a subsequent suspension costing him the rest of the 1990-91 and 1991-92 campaigns. He had a relatively quiet year in Spain with Seville and then went back to play in Argentina before returning to the world stage for the 1994 World Cup, where he ran the show for two matches and then tested positive for ephedrine, ending his tournament and his time with the national team.
1990-91: Lothar Matthäus, MF, Inter Milan/West Germany
Matthäus wasn’t an attacking player like most of the players on this list, but his playmaking instincts were impossible to ignore no matter whether he played in midfield or defense. Bernd Wende/ullstein bild via Getty ImagesWith Maradona abdicating his throne, there’s no obvious replacement for the first time in nearly a decade. Having just won the World Cup with West Germany as team captain before the 1990-91 window begins for our purposes, Matthäus looms as one of the obvious candidates alongside players such as Ruud Gullit, Emilio Butragueño and Jurgen Klinsmann, the latter his teammate for both club and country.With the inside track to start the year, Matthäus established himself as a serial winner by the end of the 1990-91 season. Playing further forward than the defensive role he would eventually occupy later in his career, Matthäus scored 21 goals in all competitions, including 16 in Serie A. Inter Milan won the Italian title and claimed the UEFA Cup, with Matthäus scoring in each of the final four knockout rounds along the way. Nobody would argue that Der Panzer was as stylish as Platini or Maradona on the pitch, of course, but it’s hard to argue with the results.Matthäus tore his ACL during a difficult 1991-92 season, which prevented him from joining up with the reunified German national team during the European Championship. Inter Milan finished in midtable and sold Matthäus to Bayern Munich after the season, where he moved to the back line and eventually followed in Franz Beckenbauer’s footsteps as a sweeper for club and country. And he’s the first in a series of short-term titleholders as we get stuck between legendary runs in the early 1990s.
1991-92: Marco van Basten, FW, Milan/Netherlands
Van Basten was a pure goalscorer whose form briefly made him one of the best in the world until injuries cut short his career. Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS via Getty ImagesVan Basten was already entrenched in history for that goal against the Soviet Union at Euro 1988. While he was perennially one of the top scorers in Serie A after moving from Ajax to Milan in 1987, the Dutchman battled injuries throughout his tenure in Italy.
In 1991-92, though, a healthy Van Basten scored 25 goals in 31 matches for Milan in Serie A. To put that in context, nobody else had more than 18. He scored those goals in a league where the average non-Milan team scored 36 goals all season. The then-26-year-old striker was every bit as impactful as Erling Haaland was after joining Manchester City after adjusting for how often the rest of the league scored. And with van Basten leading the way, Milan scored 74 goals in Serie A and went undefeated in league play in the middle of what would be a 58-match unbeaten run.
In what’s becoming a sad trend, Van Basten was another player suddenly cut down in the prime of his career. The star striker had battled an ankle injury earlier in his run with Milan, but the hope was naturally that the Dutchman had gotten past the issue after a healthy 1991-92 campaign and a trip to the European Championship.
Van Basten got off to a white-hot start in the 1992-93 campaign, scoring 19 goals in 21 matches between Serie A and the Champions League. But after aggravating the ankle injury in December, Van Basten missed four months before returning at the end of the season for the Champions League final, which Milan lost to Marseille. That game turned out to be van Basten’s final professional appearance, as he spent the next two seasons trying to rehab the ankle injury before retiring.
1992-93: Roberto Baggio, FW, Juventus/Italy
Baggio was a joy to watch for Juventus and Italy, dominating the 1994 World Cup only to cruelly come up short against Brazil in the final. OMAR TORRES/AFP via Getty ImagesWith Van Basten suddenly unable to play, there’s no obvious candidate to take his place. Eric Cantona transferred to Manchester United and spurred his new club to become the first champions of the new Premier League, but Chris Waddle won Player of the Year in England. Marseille, which won the Champions League, had their season tarnished by a match-fixing scandal. The Milan back four continued to thrive, but it would be difficult to pick between the likes of Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi for the purposes of this award. And while Giuseppe Signori led Serie A with 26 goals, the player who finished below him won the Ballon d’Or.Instead, the Divine Ponytail himself takes home this nod. Baggio had his best season in Serie A as a pro, scoring 21 goals in 26 matches for Juventus. While that was only good enough to finish fourth in the top flight, Baggio led the Old Lady to an UEFA Cup victory, scoring six times in nine games throughout the competition while playing as a withdrawn striker. The future World Cup runner-up scored all three goals in the semifinal win over Paris Saint-Germain, then added two goals in the first leg of the two-legged final victory over Borussia Dortmund, including one of the most beautiful ugly goals you’ll ever see.
Baggio also added five goals and two assists in seven matches for Italy over that same time span. He would be Italy’s star man heading into the following year’s World Cup in the USA, and while Baggio scored five goals in the knockout stages of that tournament, his moment on the biggest stage is most notably remembered for missing the tournament-deciding penalty. Even before that tournament, though, another striker had usurped Baggio atop the rankings.
1993-94: Romario, FW, Barcelona/Brazil
Romario captured the imagination in a Brazil side that won the 1994 World Cup, though he scored a ton of goals for Barcelona, too. Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty ImagesIt was a perfect season for the mercurial striker, who started the year in a Big Five league for the first time after transferring from PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona before the season. The Brazilian star earned the Pichichi Trophy in his first La Liga campaign, scoring 30 times and adding 12 assists as Barcelona won La Liga. Romario wasn’t quite as effective in Europe, but he did help Barcelona make it to the Champions League final, where they lost 4-0 to Milan.What Romario did for his country might have been even more dramatic. Banned from the Brazilian team for most of qualifying after complaining about traveling from Europe and not being used, the 27-year-old returned for the final match as a late addition to the squad for an injured player and scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Uruguay, clinching Brazil’s spot in the World Cup in the process.
Once he got to America, of course, Romario ran the show. He scored in five of Brazil’s first six matches, contributing an assist for the only goal of the match in the other contest (Brazil’s 1-0 win over the hosts). And while the final with Italy was a scoreless affair, Romario coolly converted his penalty during the shootout, helping Brazil to their fourth World Cup crown.
You’ll never guess what happened next: This superstar wasn’t able to sustain his elite level of play. Romario scored four times in 13 matches the following year before falling out with manager Johan Cruyff. Outside of 11 games with Valencia and brief stints in various far-flung outposts around the world, Romario spent the rest of his career in Brazil, scoring goals regularly for Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and other top-flight clubs into his 40s. It was another player from that Brazil team, though, who would follow Romario’s path to glory in the years to come.
1994-95 to 1998-99: Ronaldo, FW, PSV Eindhoven/Barcelona/Inter Milan/Brazil
In what’s becoming a theme on this list, Ronaldo was another mercurial forward who battled a string of injuries yet still managed to be a dominant force. Mark Leech/ Getty ImagesThe two years after the World Cup were particularly vexing here. George Weah won the Ballon d’Or after a 1994-95 season in which he scored seven goals in Ligue 1 (albeit while simultaneously leading the Champions League in scoring). Matthias Sammer of Borussia Dortmund followed the subsequent season. The best team in the world was Ajax, stacked with young Dutchmen such as Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars and Frank de Boer. Silky Finnish playmaker Jari Litmanen led the Amsterdam side to a Champions League title and a trip to the final the following year, but while I’d love to honor a player whose audacious ability was muted by the injuries that derailed his career in the years afterward, Ajax didn’t have the best player in the world.Instead, the next belt holder started his run elsewhere in the Eredivisie. After taking the Brazilian top flight by storm as a 17-year-old at Cruzeiro, Ronaldo famously followed in his international teammate’s footsteps. He spent the 1994 World Cup on the bench, but Ronaldo then took Romario’s advice and started his European career at PSV Eindhoven.Almost immediately, Ronaldo was a sensation. He scored 30 goals across 33 games in his first season despite turning 18 a month into the campaign. Plenty of players have posted gaudy numbers in the Dutch top flight, but Ronaldo added a hat trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Cup to put a stamp on it. Even when he wasn’t scoring, Ronaldo’s pace, physicality and audacious skill made him appointment television.
Ronaldo’s 1995-96 season was abbreviated by a patellar tendon injury, but across the Eredivisie and the UEFA Cup, the teenager still managed 19 goals and six assists in 21 matches. A move to a larger club was inevitable, and just as Romario had done years earlier, the Brazilian star transferred from Eindhoven to Barcelona for what was then a record fee. Having lost the likes of Romario and Hristo Stoichkov, the Catalan club was crying out for a top goal scorer, having failed to have a single player in the top 10 in league goals for them the previous season.
One of the great seasons in modern history followed. With Luis Enrique sensationally transferring from Real Madrid to Barcelona to serve as a creative force, Ronaldo simply couldn’t be stopped. He scored 34 goals with 10 assists across 37 matches in his first La Liga campaign, and he added 13 more goals in other competitions. Barcelona finished second in the first division, but Ronaldo led them to UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup glory, scoring the only goal in the 1-0 victory over PSG in the final.
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Entrenched as the biggest star on the planet, Ronaldo then took over the Copa America to make the Brazilian team his own. The Selecao went undefeated throughout the competition, with Ronaldo scoring five goals in seven matches, including the winner in the final over Bolivia. He added four more in the Confederations Cup campaign the following winter.
One-and-done in Barcelona, Ronaldo moved to Inter Milan for another record fee when the Italian club triggered his release clause, which helped lead to so many of the absurd release clauses in Spanish contracts in the years to come. Defenders in Serie A had no answers for the Brazilian star, as Ronaldo managed 25 goals in 32 league matches for Inter. He led the Milanese club to another UEFA Cup title, scoring twice in the semifinal win over Spartak Moscow and then once in the final victory over Lazio. With the World Cup approaching, the stage appeared to be set for a coronation.
The rug was then dramatically pulled from under the star striker. Ronaldo scored four times as Brazil made it to the final, but what happened next was surreal. In scenes still debated to this day, Ronaldo suffered a fit before the final and was taken out of the team to the shock of the world’s media. The striker eventually talked his way back into the team and started the match against France, but he was anonymous in a 3-0 victory. Ronaldo still earned the Golden Ball for his work during the tournament, but these were the first fitness concerns about the young superstar.
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Those concerns would sadly linger the following season, as Ronaldo managed to play only 19 matches for Inter Milan. He did score 14 times, but with their star striker limited to about a half-season of work, the Italians finished eighth in Serie A. His run of eight goals in eight games to end the season might have hinted that the Brazilian was still at his best, though, and Ronaldo still dominated the Copa America, scoring six times as Brazil defended their trophy. Ronaldo’s grip on the crown was shaky at this point, but he was still the world’s most devastating striker once he made it onto the pitch.
In 1999, though, the overworked striker finally broke down. Another patella injury ended Ronaldo’s season after five matches in Serie A, and he sat out the remainder of 1999-2000 and all of the 2000-01 campaign. He was a part-time player in 2001-02 for Inter, limited to short spurts of action before struggling with a hamstring issue. With players like van Basten and Litmanen having made it to the top of the world before injuries ruined their careers, it was natural to fear that Ronaldo was the next in that long line of standouts cruelly cut down at their peak.
But Ronaldo had a second act. He returned to the global stage during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, scoring eight times as Brazil regained the trophy. Moving to Real Madrid under the galactico policy after the tournament, Ronaldo reestablished himself as one of the world’s greatest players, scoring 90 goals between La Liga and the Champions League over the next three seasons. Post-injury Ronaldo wasn’t quite as singlehandedly devastating as in his teenage years, but in Madrid, he had plenty of help.
1999-00 to 2002-03: Zinedine Zidane, MF, Juventus/Real Madrid/France
Zidane was one of the most influential midfielders of his era, though his trophy haul never quite matched up to his talent. Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesOf course, you could argue that Zidane already staked his claim to this honor at the end of the 1997-98 season, when he scored two goals for France on the other side of that match against Ronaldo and Brazil and claimed the World Cup for his country at the Stade de France. Since he had become the focal point of the French team after the departure of players such as Eric Cantona and David Ginola, I wouldn’t fault anyone who felt as if Zidane snatched the title away from Ronaldo that day in July.At the same time, that might be a little too simplistic. Zidane was a superstar, of course, but he hadn’t enjoyed the best World Cup before the final, having been sent off in the group stage against Saudi Arabia and missing France’s next two matches as a result. Zidane finished sixth in that year’s Golden Ball voting, behind teammates Lilian Thuram and Marcel Desailly. Zidane made it to the World Cup after an impressive season for Juventus, who won the league title in 1997-98, but Ronaldo was named Serie A Player of the Year.
And then, after his World Cup crown, Zidane struggled through an uneven year for Juve, producing only two goals and two assists while failing to score in the Champions League. Zidane sat out most of the late-season run for a Juventus team that finished seventh in Serie A.
Zidane helped Juventus back to second in Serie A the following season, but his exploits elsewhere were more essential; he helped France to a Euro 2000 title victory. Zidane scored from a free kick in a quarterfinal win over Spain and a semifinal victory over Portugal with a golden goal penalty. Zidane was named Player of the Tournament after France’s triumph, which was enough to have him atop the leaderboard for me by the end of that 1999-00 campaign.
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And from there, Zidane’s brilliance went mostly unquestioned. He scored six goals and produced 14 assists for Juventus in his final season with the club before earning a record move to Real Madrid. Los Merengues had some trouble fitting all of their attacking talent into the same side, but Zidane continued to be productive, contributing 16 goals and 16 assists over the next two La Liga campaigns. And though Zidane had come up short in a pair of Champions League finals with Juventus, he memorably decided the 2001-02 final against Bayer Leverkusen with one of the greatest goals of this or any era.
An injury kept Zidane from making his desired impact on the 2002 World Cup, but the Frenchman excelled alongside Luis Figo as Madrid won La Liga in 2002-03. It was the last major title Zidane would win as a player. France were unexpectedly upset by Greece at Euro 2004, leading to a brief international retirement for Zidane. When he returned for the 2006 World Cup in what would be his final act as a professional footballer, Zidane scored three times (twice on penalties) before infamously being sent off for head-butting Marco Materazzi. Zidane won the Golden Ball for Player of the Tournament.
He was one of the most influential players on the planet until that retirement, but another French player was emerging as an essential piece amid a legendary campaign.
2003-04: Thierry Henry, FW, Arsenal/France
There were few scorers are cultured and elegant as Henry at the turn of the 2000s, with his goals and inventiveness putting him head and shoulders above his peers. Patrick HERTZOG / AFP via Getty ImagesThe Premier League makes its first appearance in this list with the player and coach who might have been the best signifiers of its evolution. Though Arsene Wenger came out of France (via Japan) to revolutionize the habits of English players, and the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Jurgen Klinsmann were the established stars who traveled across the pond, Henry was one of the first young internationals who truly established themselves as an elite player in the Prem.Henry was part of that 1998 team that won the World Cup and had already made his name teaming with David Trezeguet at Monaco. But after his move to Juventus went pear-shaped, Wenger signed Henry for Arsenal just before the Frenchman starred at Euro 2000. Moved from the wing to striker, Henry’s pace and finishing were simply impossible for English defenses to stop, with Henry quickly competing with Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy for top goal-scorer honors in the top flight.By 2002-03, Henry was already one of the finest players in the world, scoring 24 goals and adding 20 assists for an Arsenal team that came up just short of van Nistelrooy and United. The following year, Henry settled the debate and took over the best player mantle. He scored 30 goals in 37 matches for Arsenal, with the club becoming the first to go undefeated in the top flight since 1889. Henry won every player of the year award in England and added the European Golden Boot for good measure. He also scored five goals and five assists in 10 Champions League matches, although Arsenal were eliminated in the quarterfinals by rivals Chelsea.Henry was excellent the following season, scoring 25 times and adding 14 assists in the league, but another Brazilian sensation was dominating on two fronts to bring the crown back to South America.
2004-05 to 2005-06: Ronaldinho, FW, Barcelona/Brazil
Ronaldinho had swagger, tricky and abundant self-belief, though he was more prolific for his club than his country over a sparkling career. BONGARTS/Henri-SzwarcAmid the flood of Galacticos being signed by Real Madrid, it was fair to suggest that Barcelona had lost a little bit of their international relevance before Ronaldinho’s arrival. After winning back-to-back titles with Rivaldo at the helm before the turn of the century, Barcelona had finished fourth, fourth and sixth in La Liga in the three seasons before adding Ronaldinho. They made one run to the Champions League semifinal in that span, but they were stopped 3-1 by, of course, Madrid. Barcelona needed a player to help swing the balance of power back toward Catalunya.Ronaldinho brought that swagger to Barcelona. He had made his mark during the 2002 World Cup triumph for Brazil, famously sinking England’s golden generation with a free kick-slash-cross that flummoxed David Seaman. We’ve never really gotten a firm answer as to whether Ronaldinho meant to chip Seaman or had a cross go awry and fall into the back of the net. It’s a testament to his creativity and genius that both seem possible.
After years of Madrid signing galacticos, including former Barcelona player Luis Figo, Barcelona got one of their own one year after the World Cup when they signed the Brazilian away from Paris Saint-Germain. (A story famously holds that Madrid preferred to sign David Beckham because he was much more handsome than Ronaldinho.) Around the same time, La Masia started to deliver future legends to the Barcelona first team, with Xavi and Carlos Puyol coming through the ranks as homegrown players, which gave Ronaldinho the license to create up front.
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Ronaldinho scored 15 goals and five assists in his first Spanish campaign, but while Barcelona finished ahead of Madrid, they came five points short of Valencia and were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Celtic. The following season, though, Ronaldinho and new addition Samuel Eto’o led the way, with the Brazilian contributing nine goals and nine assists as Barcelona won La Liga. Crucially, Ronaldinho scored twice and added an assist as Barcelona split their two games in the league with Real.
He was even more spectacular the following season, scoring 17 goals and 14 assists as Barcelona retained their title. Again, Ronaldinho tormented Madrid, scoring three times as Barcelona took four points off their rivals in the league. The wildly entertaining playmaker also made his mark on Europe, adding seven more goals as Barcelona ran through the Champions League and beat Henry’s Arsenal in the final.
Brazil didn’t see the best of their star attacker very often. The Copa America didn’t take place during this window, and Ronaldinho sat out the 2004 edition because of an injury. Ronaldinho did make an impact in the 2005 Confederations Cup, scoring as Brazil beat Argentina in the final in Germany. The 26-year-old was front and center for Brazil in the 2006 World Cup, but he failed to make an impact as Brazil were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage. The star of that World Cup was a very different sort of player, and he earned deserved praise as a special talent over a dynamic 12-month window.
2006-07: Andrea Pirlo, MF, Milan/Italy
Few midfielders could dominate games like Pirlo in his pomp, dictating play with calm and class. Alex Livesey/Getty ImagesThis doesn’t include Pirlo’s work in the World Cup, where he was man of the match three times for an Italian team that prevailed over France in the final. Though Pirlo had already established himself firmly in the Milan first team, that World Cup might have marked the moment when the deep-lying playmaker started to earn serious consideration as one of the best players on the planet.During the season that followed, Pirlo only affirmed those beliefs. He contributed eight assists for Milan in Serie A, but his best work came in the Champions League, where the wildly influential Italian steered Milan to a victory over Liverpool, contributing assists in the semifinal and final along the way. Pirlo was never going to be as productive as Ronaldinho or some of the world’s top strikers, but he was unquestionably the best player in the world at his position, to the extent that other sides tried desperately to find their own Pirlo to fit into that playmaking role in front of the defense.Pirlo continued to thrive in Milan before making the move to Juventus, where his arrival to a struggling team set off a run of nine consecutive league titles. He remained one of Europe’s best players for another decade, but the rivalry of the 21st century was about to kick off.
2007-08: Cristiano Ronaldo, FW, Manchester United/Portugal
Ronaldo took his game to the next level when he moved to striker a Man United, honing his skills before heading to Real Madrid. Koji Watanabe/Getty ImagesThough Pirlo evolved by moving more toward the defense and controlling play from deep, Ronaldo’s shift was physical. A slight winger with (perhaps an over-) fondness for stepovers when he joined Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon as an 18-year-old, Ronaldo spent the first few years of his career on the wing, with van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney preferred as pure strikers.As he grew out of his teenage years, though, Ronaldo began to pack on muscle. And once van Nistelrooy left for Real Madrid, Ronaldo became more of a force in the air and spent more time as a striker. He started to score far more often, with his goal totals in the league jumping from five to nine to 17 in consecutive seasons, as United took home their first league title in four years during the latter campaign.But in 2007-08, everything came together for the Portuguese star. For the third season in a row, Ronaldo nearly doubled his scoring total in the Premier League, scoring 31 goals for United as they retained their title. And though Ronaldo had struggled at times to make the same impact in the Champions League, there were no such complaints in Europe this time as he scored eight more goals for United on their run to the title. Ronaldo contributed the deciding goal in the quarterfinals against Lyon, then scored in the final against Chelsea on a header. Three years earlier, the idea of Ronaldo being a force in the box would have seemed outlandish. Now, he was sensational.He managed only one goal at Euro 2008, and his final season with United (during this initial stint with the club) wasn’t anywhere near as dynamic as the previous season, leading to suggestions that the star striker already had his mind and heart set on a move to Real Madrid. After the year, Ronaldo got his wish, with Florentino Perez adding Ronaldo to the second generation of galacticos in Madrid for a record fee of $131.5 million.Of course, all that did was kick off a legendary rivalry in Spain. We won’t be leaving La Liga for a while, but this title is leaving Madrid for a few years …
2008-09 to 2014-15: Lionel Messi, FW, Barcelona/Argentina
Messi bloomed during Guardiola’s tenure as Barcelona coach, scoring at unheard-of rates and winning just about everything Barcelona contended for. Pressefoto Ulmerullstein bild via Getty ImagesAnother legendary Argentine playmaker enters the fold. With Ronaldo perhaps half-heartedly playing his way through that last season for Manchester United, Messi both takes over the crown from his rival and the lead role in Barcelona from Ronaldinho. Barcelona sold the Brazilian attacker’s contract to Milan in the summer of 2008, allowing the attack to be completely built around Messi playing with Henry and Eto’o. With Pep Guardiola taking over as coach from Frank Rijkaard before the season, a golden era was about to begin at the Camp Nou.The Guardiola era started with a treble, as Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, La Liga and the Champions League. Messi, topping 2,000 minutes in the league for the first time as a pro, ran the show. He scored 23 goals and 11 assists in La Liga, adding nine goals and five assists during that run to the Champions League title. He scored twice in the quarterfinal win over Bayern Munich and then sealed the win in the final with a header from a Xavi Hernández cross.
And then, well, I have to refer you back to the rules I put together when you started reading this column a few hours ago. To be the man, you can’t just narrowly beat the man. The guy on top either has to take a significant step backward or you have to comfortably reestablish yourself as the clear best player in the world. If it’s close, I’m sticking with the incumbent.
And though Ronaldo was great for the next few years in Spain, so was Messi. Here’s a look at their combined performance across La Liga and the Champions League over Ronaldo’s time in Spain, just to contextualize how utterly ridiculous this battle was on an annual basis:
Messi vs. Ronaldo in La Liga and the Champions LeagueSeasonMessiRonaldoLa LigawinnerChampions Leaguewinner2009-1042 G, 9 A33 G, 8 ABarcelonaInter Milan2010-1143 G, 21 A46 G, 15 ABarcelonaBarcelona2011-1264 G, 21 A56 G, 14 AReal MadridChelsea2012-1354 G, 14 A46 G, 11 ABarcelonaBayern Munich2013-1436 G, 11 A48 G, 13 AAtletico MadridReal Madrid2014-1553 G, 23 A58 G, 19 ABarcelonaBarcelona2015-1632 G, 17 A51 G, 15 ABarcelonaReal Madrid2016-1748 G, 11 A37 G, 11 AReal MadridReal Madrid2017-1840 G, 14 A41 G, 8 ABarcelonaReal MadridGoals and assists aren’t everything, of course, but they at least get us in the ballpark of how these players were producing, which was head and shoulders above basically everybody else on the planet for nearly a decade.I don’t see much of a case for Ronaldo in each of the first four seasons in this comparison. Barcelona generally dominated La Liga and won the only Champions League title between these two teams. Though Ronaldo had a ridiculous 56-goal season in 2011-12, Messi somehow managed to top him with 64 goals that same campaign.The first real case when Ronaldo could jump ahead of Messi is 2013-14 as Ronaldo produced 15 more goal involvements than his rival. Real Madrid returned to the top of Europe by winning the Champions League that season, and they made it a double by prevailing over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey with a late Gareth Bale winner. Gerardo Martino-led Barcelona had nightmares about facing Madrid teams that season, as Atletico Madrid pipped them to the title by three points and knocked Messi & Co. out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals.There’s just the small matter of the 2014 World Cup. There, Ronaldo struggled with a knee injury, and though he scored a goal and set up another, Portugal didn’t make it out of the group stage. On the biggest stage, Messi scored four goals, led Argentina to the final and was given the tournament Golden Ball as its best player. I don’t see how you can take this title from Messi under those circumstances.Both had outrageous seasons in 2014-15, with Messi leading Barcelona to a treble. Ronaldo scored 58 goals between La Liga and the Champions League. If he held the title after 2013-14, Ronaldo would have simply retained it for another year. Because Messi still narrowly held the belt, though, I had to keep it on him, especially after he was the best player at that year’s Copa America.
2015-16: Cristiano Ronaldo, FW, Real Madrid/Portugal
Despite Messi’s majesty, Ronaldo was unstoppable that season in LaLiga, taking back the belt with a 51-goal, 13-assist campaign. Pressefoto Ulmerullstein bild via Getty ImagesBy 2015-16, though, Ronaldo was simply so unstoppable in front of the goal that he carved out a single season back on top. With Messi scoring a mere 32 goals, Ronaldo managed 51 and added 13 assists. Barcelona beat Madrid to another La Liga crown by a lone point, a product of an uneven early spell under Rafa Benitez. Madrid were transformed once Zidane took over in midseason, winning their final 12 games of the campaign (including a 2-1 victory at Barcelona) to push their rivals to the brink.And in the Champions League, of course, Ronaldo and Madrid were unmatched. The star striker scored 16 times in 12 matches, coming one short of the record he set in Europe two years earlier. While four of those came against an overmatched Malmo side to end the group stage, Ronaldo continued to torment teams in the knockout rounds. He scored in each leg of the round-of-16 victory win over Roma, and his hat trick helped Madrid come back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Wolfsburg. Ronaldo then held his nerve in the final, converting the title-winning penalty to break Atletico Madrid hearts yet again.To top things off, both played significant roles in their summer tournaments. Messi scored five times in the Copa America Centenario, but for the second year in a row, his Argentina side lost on penalties to Chile in the final.Ronaldo, meanwhile, earned the Silver Ball at Euro 2016. Portugal finished third in their group and needed a Ronaldo brace to even draw with Hungary and advance to the knockout stages. But from there, the Iberians rode their luck. They won in extra time against Croatia with a 117th-minute goal, then beat Poland in a penalty shootout. Wales surprisingly made it to the semifinals, but a Ronaldo goal helped put away the Dragons. And though Ronaldo went down injured in the final, another victory with an extra-time goal gave Ronaldo his first winners’ medal as a senior international. They even made him a statue.
2016-17 to 2020-21: Lionel Messi, FW, Barcelona/Argentina
Messi reclaimed his title quickly, though, scoring 48 goals as Barcelona won a league/Champions League double. Mikel Trigueros/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesA year later, though, Messi quickly made his way back on top. He scored 48 goals and added 11 assists in a resurgent season for Barcelona across La Liga and the Champions League. Though Ronaldo won both with Madrid, his 37 goals were a relative disappointment given the star’s usual level of production. And given that Ronaldo wasn’t exactly known for his pressing or defensive impact years earlier, his case as the best player in the world in his mid-30s comes directly through his goal-scoring output.Ronaldo had one more season in La Liga before moving onto Juventus, and though he continued to score, Messi didn’t fall off his throne. The point-scoring production continued to come for the 5-foot-7 genius, who led La Liga in scoring each of the next four campaigns. Between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons, Messi led the Big Five leagues with 180 combined goals and assists. Robert Lewandowski’s 146 combined points made him the only player within 50 of Messi over that same span.Messi didn’t have a great run in international competitions, as Argentina were eliminated in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup and in the semifinals of the 2019 Copa America, with the star forward scoring once in each competition. But even without much of an international impact, it was difficult to argue that Messi had meaningfully fallen off from his peak. There were other great players around the world, of course, but nobody was seriously pushing Messi.And then Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain after the 2020-21 season. Though he was still productive in a lower-caliber French league, Messi managed six goals across 2,153 minutes in Ligue 1, down from 30 in La Liga the previous season. PSG’s ownership brought in Messi to get them over the hump in the Champions League, and though Messi scored five goals in seven matches there, he missed a penalty in the round of 16 against Real Madrid, who knocked PSG out with a Karim Benzema hat trick in the second leg.Benzema was a reasonable candidate to take over for Messi given his production in the 2021-22 campaign, with the Frenchman scoring 15 times in 12 Champions League matches, including a pair of hat tricks against PSG and Chelsea. If this were an award dedicated to the best player in a single season, Benzema would win it. In terms of the player most teams would pick if they needed to grab a victory, though, it was Messi’s teammate who might have scared the opposition more.
2021-22 to 2022-23: Kylian Mbappe, FW, Paris Saint-Germain/France
Mbappe showed he was the man for the post-Messi and Ronaldo era with a superb season in Paris, also taking France to the brink of the 2022 World Cup only to lose to Messi & Co. in Qatar. Andre Weening/ BSR Agency/ Getty ImagesThough the Messi-Mbappe-Neymar triumvirate in Paris never delivered a Champions League title, Mbappe still managed to inherit Messi’s throne as the most devastating attacker in the world. With Messi setting him up in 2021-22, the 22-year-old managed 28 goals and 17 assists during the Ligue 1 season. He added six goals and four assists in the ill-fated Champions League campaign.Mbappe might have sealed his case, though, during the 2022 World Cup. With Benzema sidelined for the tournament by a thigh injury, Mbappe was forced to shoulder the load as France’s primary goal-scoring threat. He managed to score eight of France’s 14 goals en route to the final, including a hat trick in the legendary final against Argentina, with two of his three goals coming on penalties. Mbappe then converted his penalty in the shootout before Argentina held their nerve and took home their first World Cup since 1986.Mbappe led the tournament in goal scoring and was the Silver Ball … behind Messi, who was rewarded for returning to the national time by finally taking home a World Cup. If I wasn’t going to take the title off Messi when he won best player at Copa America a few years ago, how can I do it now when he won the Golden Ball at the World Cup?Well, the gap between Messi and the player taking over was much bigger this time. Ronaldo and Messi were relatively close. Mbappe dramatically outscored Messi, who never really seemed comfortable in Paris. Messi obviously played a significant role in creating opportunities for his teammate, but Mbappe had already established himself as an absolutely devastating threat in front of goal going back to his time at Monaco and even before Messi arrived in Paris.Mbappe followed that season up with a 29-goal campaign in Ligue 1 and seven more scores in the Champions League, but with PSG again going out in the round of 16, the campaign felt like a disappointment. By his final year in the French capital, while Mbappe managed 27 goals in just 2,158 minutes, it felt as if both he and PSG were ready to move on from each other.Mbappe has scored for fun since his move to Real Madrid, but his defensive lapses and Madrid’s inability to claim trophies have damaged his standing a bit over time. He also had a relatively quiet Euro 2024. Of course, if he manages to win the 2026 World Cup with France, Mbappe will be right in position to reclaim his spot atop the world.
2023-24: Jude Bellingham, MF, Real Madrid/England
Bellingham met the moment during his first season with Madrid, and nearly took England to the Euro 2024 title. Julian Finney – UEFA/UEFA via Getty ImagesMbappe’s future Madrid teammate briefly took over as the best player on the planet. The rare Englishman who has played virtually all of his career outside of England — he left Birmingham before turning 18 — Bellingham’s exploits at Borussia Dortmund earned him a massive move to Madrid before the 2023-24 campaign.In his first year at Madrid, Bellingham lived up to the significant hype. Playing through the center of the park, Bellingham managed 19 goals and six assists in La Liga, pushing his new club to yet another La Liga title. The then-20-year-old quickly won over Madrid fans by scoring a brace to beat Barcelona on the road in October before adding a 90th-minute winner in the rematch at the Bernabeu. Bellingham scored in each of his first three group stage appearances for Madrid in the Champions League, and though he finished with only four goals by the end of the campaign, that also ended with Madrid celebrating another title.Bellingham also came close to ending years of torment for his country at Euro 2024. The gifted midfielder scored the only goal in a group stage win over Serbia before rescuing them in the knockout stages against Slovakia with a 95th-minute equalizer. Bellingham then converted a penalty in the quarterfinal victory over Austria, although he was unable to propel Gareth Southgate’s team past Spain in the final.Bellingham hasn’t quite hit those heights over the subsequent year-plus with Madrid, which is why he has fallen out of the top spot. But another player who cemented his status in that Euro 2024 final has done enough to take his place.
2024-25 to ???: Lamine Yamal, FW, Barcelona/Spain
Now we’re in the Yamal era, and he’s still just a teenager. How many years will end with him ruling the sport? David Ramos – UEFA/UEFA via Getty ImagesThough Yamal’s ability to break into the Barcelona first team as a 16-year-old in 2023-24 was a marker of his rare talent, Euro 2024 was the tournament in which he went from being an incredible prospect to an immediate superstar. In addition to his four assists, Yamal’s goal to help beat France in the semifinals went down as the goal of the tournament, and the 17-year-old unsurprisingly was named Young Player of the Tournament after featuring in every one of Spain’s matches.Yamal then built on that breakout tournament to establish himself as one of the sport’s most impactful players. He managed nine goals and 13 assists the next season at Barcelona while playing in Hansi Flick’s wildly aggressive high line scheme. Yamal rarely came off the field while leading Barcelona back atop La Liga. He added five goals and three assists in the Champions League, where Barcelona advanced to the semifinals before falling.At the moment, I don’t see anyone clearly in position to claim Yamal’s spot. Having mostly managed to avoid the injury issues that have vexed so many of Barcelona’s youngsters in recent years, Yamal finished the La Liga campaign with 16 goals and 11 assists. The only players across the Big Five leagues with more goal contributions in 2024-25 were Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Michael Olise. Barcelona didn’t make their mark in the Champions League, but even there, Yamal had six goals and four assists in 871 minutes of action.I mentioned that Yamal has mostly avoided injury over his still-brief career, but a hamstring issue cost him the last few weeks of the domestic season and kept him on the bench to start this World Cup. Spain missed their star attacker, who made only a cameo as the national team shockingly drew 0-0 with Cape Verde in Atlanta.If all goes as planned and Yamal leads Spain to glory, he’ll hold onto the belt for another year. If not? Well, there are plenty of options waiting in the wings. Could Mbappe or Bellingham regain the belt? Would a stunning campaign from someone like Haaland return the belt to a No. 9? Everything’s poised in the weeks to come.
