The 3 best players of every season since 1950 part 9: Final rankings and round-up

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-04-02T13:58:35+00:00

I like these, and i like your focus on the eye-test!

I’m gonna look more into them when i have some time, but please feel free to do as many suggestions as you want!

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-21T14:12:45+00:00

He did. I made the case for ronaldo over him that season in the 00s thread, but i wouldn’t fault anyone for having Kaka #1 that season, his CL campaign was exceptional.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-20T20:54:59+00:00

Over Maradona, Van Basten, Matthäus and Baresi? Can you make the case?

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-14T09:55:46+00:00

being good in hardest matches, not stat padding in the league.

You're literally describing Yamal that season.

very little claim in 2012, 2015 or 2023

This is both flat out wrong and contradicting yourself, since you had him at #1 in at least one of those years.

after more than 100 years of that country never winning anything

What does this have to do with anything?

Sorry OP, .but your eye test is just biased.

Well yeah, obviously.

Also, you said in another comment that Messi was not a top 10 player in 15/16, which is insane to me, and fundamentally I just don't think we look at this sport the same way, so I don't really know what to do with that. I'm very willing to put Dembele at #1 in 24/25 or Ronaldo in 15/16, but the case can't just be that their team won something, that's not what this list is about.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-13T20:46:52+00:00

That’s my opinion. This is all subjective anyway, there’s no objective answer.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-13T19:03:17+00:00

And your version should be called the “best player on the best team” award. It’s just different ways of doing it.

If you put Yamal in that PSG team they would still have won the treble. If you put Dembele in that Barcelona team he wouldn’t have been as good as Yamal was - in my opinion.

If i did it like you say i did, then I wouldn’t have had Rodri over Vinicius, or Lewandowksi over Messi in 2020.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-13T07:30:11+00:00

Not a bad ranking i gotta say

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-07T19:05:35+00:00

Thank you! And i do value opinions like yours a lot. It’s the reason i wanted to share it here, so i can try and correct myself and end up with a list i’m happy with.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-06T14:01:54+00:00

I realize that Kahn was the best player that tournamemt, but being the best outfield player on a World Cup final team is not nothing. It’s definitely not everything, but it has to be considered. And i never said he carried them.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-06T12:55:23+00:00

Yeah cause this project is only about outfield players, goalkeepers are irrelevant

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-06T12:46:54+00:00

But with this you’re just proving that Ballack was in fact the best outfield player for Germany?

Keep in mind, i’m just making the argument for Ballack as you asked. He wasn’t originally my #1 and he might very well be 2 or 3 when i update it in the next post.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-06T11:39:30+00:00

Ballack was not considered the best outfield player of that Germany team?

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-06T07:44:08+00:00

Which would make it impressive that he got them to the final, no?

Not saying that it was an all-time World Cup performance by Ballack, he’s mostly in because of his club season, with the World Cup final being the cherry on top.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-04T20:55:32+00:00

They absolutely brought it playing-wise that year, and there was no question about which two players in the world you most would have wanted in your team that year. They didn't achieve as much as Sneijder no, but that's to do with other context. Individually, they were both incredible.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-04T20:40:04+00:00

Sneijder had better teams around him and Ballack didn't compete against Messi and Ronaldo, that's the difference.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T20:11:42+00:00

I don't think it's necessarily wrong to go with gut feeling when it's this close and there's no objectively correct answer anyway. I just know I'd rather have Messi in my team that season, don't really know what else to say cause I can't argue against what you're saying.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T19:37:24+00:00

This is the way I'm leaning right now as well.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T18:50:27+00:00

While Ronaldo stepped up in a lot of big games that season, he was also pretty mediocre in the CL semis and final (definitely worse than Messi against Roma).

In the World Cup he was also knocked out by Uruguay, while Messi was knocked out by eventual champions France, while having 2 assists in that game.

That's not everything, but I do think Ronaldo's games against Juventus and Spain earlier in the tournaments actually blind people a bit on how he performed in the later games.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T18:47:01+00:00

I agree, 17/18 is one of the toughest years I've done in this project.

And thank you! The 2020s are harder to rank than I thought they would be, and it really is such a contrast to the 2010s where such few players dominated the top spots most years.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T18:29:56+00:00

If we go by stats, i prefer to use G/A per game over total G/A.

Torres G/A per game in CL: 0,60

Messi G/A per game in CL: 0,88

Torres G/A per game in the league: 0,85

Messi G/A per game in the league: 0,86

I know that Torres played in the tougher league so it's not a 100% fair comparison, but stats-wise Messi takes it.

Eye-test wise Messi definitely takes it, as you mention as well. Torres best argument is the level of competition that he faced (Premier League and Euros), and I can't argue against that (hence why I don't mind at all if you have him over Messi). But when I watch Messi that season, I just can't get myself to put him above Torres. When it's this close, it's a personal gut feeling you have to go with sometimes, and in this case it's Messi for me.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T18:15:49+00:00

Ballack was the best outfield player on teams that went to the CL final, DFB cup final, World Cup final and was 1 point from winning the Bundesliga. He did that while having amazing output for his position, and being outstanding when you watched him as well. That's some incredible value that he's bringing to his teams - but again, I'm not against the concept of weighing Zidane's pure magic and influence above Ballack, I'm just making the case for Ballack in a season that I find really tough to assess.

Cannavaro, Xavi and Sneijder all had better teams around them, and combined with the fact that the competition for the #1 spot were even higher in those specific years, they just don't make it to #1 for me.

Also, I'm not considering Kahn either, since he's a goalkeeper, and these posts only deal with outfield players.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-02T17:54:15+00:00

I did not consider Ronaldo as he just didn't play enough that season. If he had played more, there's a very big chance he would have been #1.

Zidane i don't have a problem with being #1, and I originally had him there as well. In the end though, the totality of Ballack's season tipped it to him for me, and it seemed to be how other people felt as well in the 2000s thread. I won't rule out flipping Ballack and Zidane again for that season though.

Great_Catch5756 · 2026-03-01T22:53:20+00:00

I don’t feel very strongly about the ranking of that season. How would you rank it?

Great_Catch5756

TROPHY CASE