The 100 best football players in the world

Think of the best players in the world in 2022. Close your eyes and take this one seriously. See anyone special? 

We've considered a few things when conjuring our own definitive ranking of every one of the best footballers on Earth right now. Of course, principally, talent. Pure ability is the most valuable currency to our list, while we've allowed some leeway, due to injuries or poor collective form of a club. 

There are some players here who have made the list due to historic brilliance – they're still good players and we want to be as fair as possible, here. 

Then there's influence and importance. Players towards the top end of this list are sorted not just by how much they can affect games but how much they do. And overall, this is how the list is looking…

By Tom Hancock. Contributions from Ed McCambridge, Ryan Dabbs, Alasdair Mackenzie, Mark White