FourFourTwo’s Best 100 Players in the World features more Real Madrid players than Barcelona for a third successive year.
The 2015 edition of the list features 12 Madridistas - one more than last year - compared to Barcelona's 10, although three of the Camp Nou club’s players - Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez - feature among the top five.
And for the second year running, both Real Madrid and Barcelona lag behind Bayern Munich, who are the most represented side in the FFT100 with 13 players.
Messi tops the chart for the first time since 2012, closely followed by Neymar (3) and Suarez (5) after the trio plundered 122 goals between them last season.
Ivan Rakitic rises 18 places after a stellar debut campaign in Catalonia after signing from Europa League winners Sevilla, with midfield colleague Andres Iniesta three spots below the Croatian. Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano both improve on 2014’s placings, while there are returns to the elite group for central defender Gerard Pique and flying full-back Jordi Alba.
Contrastingly, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema all fall following a trophyless campaign; CR7 losing his grip on top spot having claimed it in each of the past two editions.
However, there is a FFT100 debut for €31.5 million summer signing Danilo, who has begun life at Santiago Bernabeu well after an impressive year with Porto.
Elsewhere, Manchester City take over from Chelsea as the highest ranked Premier League club, with eight of Manuel Pellegrini’s side included in the 100. Sergio Aguero is the best player plying his trade in England, while Kevin De Bruyne is the highest new entry after starring in Germany last season.
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Juventus, Champions League finalists in 2015, are the joint-fifth most represented side in the list with seven players, level with Paris Saint-Germain, who sealed a third straight Ligue title in 2014/15 after losing just three games.
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
