250 Greatest 21st Century Men's Footballers

 I last did Top 100 men's footballers in early 2015. That time, I included anyone who'd played this century, but only in terms of what they'd done since 2000, which was maybe more correct, but a bit unsatisfactory to measure current players against e.g. half-Zidane. So, this time, it's anyone who's played significantly this century, and taking into account their whole career. Which realistically means this is most of the footballers of the Premier League and Champions League age. 

Some players I didn't include, just because they barely crossed, as top class players, into this century - Deschamps, Weah, Hagi, Redondo, for example, but the likes of Laurent Blanc, who joined Man Utd in 2001, I did. [The Deschamps/Blanc line is the somewhat arbitrary cut-off. Both won Euro 2000 then stopped internationals, but Blanc went that little bit longer at the top level after that. Not entirely satisfactory ...]

How do you measure players' greatness? - in domestic leagues, putting Liga, Premier League highest, then Serie A and Bundesliga, then the rest, in Champions League, then in internationals, with particular weight towards big tournaments.

As you'll see, because this incorporates most players of the last 30 years, there are an awful lot of good ones - pretty much everyone in the Top 100 has a claim to greatness - as in, major impact in a major footballing event, or being one of the best few players in the world at a certain time, or a stellar, extended career at the very top level.

It's heavily weighted at the top, inevitably, to players from the big clubs and the top countries - as it gets further down, there are few more players from further afield, but, unfortunately, such has been the nature of top-heavy modern football. Even international major tournaments have been dominated by a certain few countries, though I was a little surprised to remember that Turkey and Russia both reached the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

No doubt I am missing quite a few, hopefully no one completely obvious. 

Still, bit of fun.

250        Gary McAllister

249        Hamit Altintop

248        Maxi Rodriguez 

247        Igor Akinfeev

246        Keisuke Honda

245        Joao Moutinho

244        Enner Valencia

243        Stiliyan Petrov 

242        Gaizka Mendieta

241        Ivica Olic

240        Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

239        Rustu Recber

238        Edin Dzeko

237        Hossam Hassan

236        Toby Aldeweireld

235        Victor Valdes

234        Bruno Fernandes

233        Theo Zagorakis 

232        Jan Oblak

231        Pablo Zabaleta 

230        Darijo Srna

229        Giorginio Wijnaldum

228        Massimo Ambrosini

227        Joaquin

226        Ruben Diaz

225        Claudio Pizarro

224        Goran Pandev

223        Asamoah Gyan

222        Isco

Is Isco good? I don't know really. Some people are just in the right place, aren't they?

221        Kakha Kaladze

220        Jay-Jay Okocha

219        David da Gea

218        Carlos Marchena

217        Mario Gotze

216        Dejan Lovren

215        Radamel Falcao

214        Gonzalo Higuain

213        Ali Daei

212        Antonio Valencia

211        Seydou Keita

210        Marco Materazzi

209        Dimitar Berbatov

208        Christian Vieri

207        Christian Pannucci

206        Lukas Podolski

205        Jordan Henderson

204        Kazuyoshi Miura

203        Steve McManaman

202        James Rodriguez

201        Granit Xhaka

200        Miralem Pjanic

199        Marquinhos

198        Patrick Kluivert

197        Achraf Hakimi

196        Filippo Inzaghi

195        Juan Roman Riquelme

194        Ceasr Azpilacueta

193        Park Ji-sung 

192        Tim Cahill

191        Diego Milito

190        John Stones

189        Hernan Crespo

188        Claudio Marchisio

187        Jerome Boateng

186        Esteban Cambiasso

185        Bransislav Ivanovic

184        Ederson

183        Jaap Stam

182        Frank de Boer

181        Ivan Helguera

180        Robin van Persie 

179        Blaise Matuidi

178        Hong Myung-bo

177        Giovanni van Bronckhorst 

176        Marc Van Bommel 

175        Keylor Navas

174        Roberto Ayala 

173        Pedro

172        Dida

171        Mauro Camoranesi

Pure punk 

170        Vinicius Jr

169        David Alaba

168        Fernando Torres 

167        Gilberto Silva

166        Sinisa Mihailovic

165        Youri Djourkaeff

164        Daniele De Rossi 

163        Walter Samuel

161        Joshua Kimmich

160        Petr Cech

159        Aymeric Laporte

158        Michel Salgado

157        Son-Heung Min

It's mad that Son is probably the best ever player from a continent of almost 5 billion people

156        Gianluigi Donnarumma

155        Antonio Rudiger

154        Marek Hamsik

153        Roy Keane

152        Edgar Davids

151        Dejan Stankovic

150        Deco

149        Michael Essien

148        Eden Hazard

147        Henrik Larsson

146        Anatoly Timoschuk

145        Sami Khedira

144        Demetrio Albertini

143        Nicolas Otamendi

142        Ruud van Nistelrooy

141        Michael Owen

140        Edinson Cavani

139        Carlos Tevez

138        Alisson

137        Kyle Walker

The Ashley Cole of his generation. 

136        Riyad Mahrez

135        Olivier Giroud

134        Raheem Sterling

133        Kaspar Schmeichel

You know Kaspar Schmeichel's only one inch shorter than his dad. You wouldn't think that, would you?

132        David Trezeguet

131        Fernandinho

130        Rui Costa

129        Jordi Alba

128        Maicon

127        Patrice Evra

126        Mario Mandzukic

125        Robbie Keane 

124        Mesut Ozil

123        Nemanja Vidic

122        Thiago Alcantara

121        Romelu Lukaku

120        Sol Campbell

119        Paul Scholes 

Scholes is overrated. I think that has to be said. He really is. Where did all that come from?

118        Alexis Sanchez 

117        Didier Drogba 

116        Per Mertesacker 

115        Bernardo Silva

114        Diego Godin

113        Dani Carvajal

112        Jari Litmanen

111        Miroslav Klose 

111        Arturo Vidal

110        Erling Haaland

So far

109        Rafael Marquez 

108        Ilkay Gundogan

107        Gabriel Batistuta

106        Harry Kane

I had Batistuta above Kane, but no, I reckon Kane's better than Batistuta. If Kane gets one single solitary trophy, scores in one single solitary final, he'll jump to the top 50.

105        Franck Ribery

104        Gennaro Garruso

Classic punk

103        Diego Forlan 

If you only watched football closely at World Cups, you'd think Forlan was one of the very best, whereas if you only watched the Premier League, you'd think he was a bit rubbish. Funny that.

102        Andriy Shevchenko

101        David Villa 

100        Leonardo Bonnucci

99          Jorginho

98          Paul Pogba

97          Ivan Rakitic

96          Michael Ballack 

95          Sadio Mane

94          Edwin van der Sar

93          Christian Eriksen

92          Virgil van Dijk

91          Steven Gerrard

90          Bastian Schweinsteiger

89          Alan Shearer

88          Hugo Lloris

87          David Beckham

86          Xabi Alonso

85          Ricardo Carvalho

84          Pavel Nedved 

83          Mo Salah

82          Alessandro Costacurta

81          Casemiro

80          Thibaut Courtois

79          Kevin de Bruyne

78          Sergio Aguero

77          Marcelo

76          Luis Suarez

75          John Terry

74          David Silva 

73          Vincent Kompany

72          Dennis Bergkamp

71          Wesley Schneider

Dutch left-footers - that's an insane subcategory of genius, isn't it? Sneijder wasn't actually left-footed, he was two-footed. But anyway. Rafael van der Vaart was, like, the 8th best Dutch left-footed attacker this century

70          Zlatan Ibrahimovic 

I know he's too low, probably about 30 places too low, but he should have stopped for a second and made sure he won a Champions League/

69          Thiago Silva

68          Frank Lampard

67          Raul

66          Yaya Toure 

65          Rio Ferdinand

I genuinely think that for most of 2002 to 2012, Ferdinand was amongst the best centre-backs in the world, if not the best, and one of the best of all time. His presence was a huge guarantee for a team not to concede many goals.

64          Rivaldo

63          Alessandro Del Piero

62          Patrick Vieira 

61          Angel Di Maria

60          Peter Schmeichel

59          Cesc Fabregas

In the 1980s, in Spain, were born, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets. That's insane. And they all managed to get 100+ caps

58          Robert Pires

57          Fernando Hierro

56          Alessandro Nesta

55          Robert Lewandowski

There's always one where, however much you think you're a creature of logic, you slightly believe the evidence of your own eyes. I have just seen Lewandowski not be able to seize the moment in too many important games to really seem him as great as his numbers say he is.

54          Claude Makelele

53          Francesco Totti 

52          Bixente Lizarazu 

51          Ryan Giggs

50          Pepe

49          Gianluca Zambrotta 

49          Samuel Eto'o

48          Oliver Kahn

47          Laurent Blanc

46          Wayne Rooney

Rooney was so great. He was so great because he is, surely without question, the least selfish man ever to have scored more than 300 goals in their career.

46          Antoine Griezmann

45          Kaka

Kaka was very good and all, but again, he didn't do as much for as long as some other players.

44          Giorgio Chiellini 

42          Sergio Busquets

40          Gerard Pique

39          Raphael Varane

38          Dani Alves

37          Romario

36          Luis Figo

35          N'Golo Kante

34          Clarence Seedorf

33          Javier Mascherano

31          Carles Puyol

31          Neymar

30          Marcel Desailly

Does Desailly belong to the 21st century? During this century, he was not the best version of himself at Chelsea. But he led France to Euro 2000 and played internationally until 2004, and he was certainly one of the very best players of his era.

29          Gareth Bale

Bale has a confusing career. When he was at Spurs for the second time, I really saw why Madrid had grown a bit frustrated with him - he is just not there some of the time. But he grabbed his moments like almost no one else in the century.

28          Manuel Neuer

27          Javier Zanetti

26          Toni Kroos

25          Ronaldinho

I think Ronaldinho didn't do enough with his career to be up with the other greats. It all came and went a bit quickly

24          Ashley Cole

23          Karim Benzema

22          Iker Casillas

21          Andrea Pirlo

20          Roberto Carlos

19          Fabio Cannavaro 

18          Arjen Robben

17          Thierry Henry

16          Philipp Lahm

15          Lucio

14          Lilian Thuram 

13          Thomas Muller

12          Xavi

11          Kylian Mbappe

10          Andres Iniesta

I put Iniesta above Xavi because he scored the winner in a World Cup final.

9            Gianluigi Buffon

8            Cafu

7            Luka Modric

When I did this list in 2015, Modric was only placed about 95th … and I wasn't underrating him, I loved Modric, it's just, at that point, he had only achieved so much. What he's done in the last few years is incredible, and he truly has been the best player in the world at certain points.

6            Paolo Maldini

5            Ronaldo

4            Zinedine Zidane

3            Cristiano Ronaldo

2            Sergio Ramos

Just because. His dickishness is his glory and his purpose. That's not true of the guy in third. And Sergio Ramos won more than anyone.

1            Lionel Messi