Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the best player by World Soccer magazine, according to their ranking of the best footballers on the planet. Ronaldo secured the top position with 1,075 points, surpassing Lionel Messi (926 points) and Franck Ribéry (870 points), who took the second and third positions, respectively.
The top 10 players in the World Soccer ranking are as follows:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal) – 1075 points
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) – 926 points
- Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich & France) – 870 points
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain & Sweden) – 658 points
- Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich & Netherlands) – 324 points
- Neymar (Santos/Barcelona & Brazil) – 286 points
- Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich & Germany) – 255 points
- Robin Van Persie (Manchester United & Netherlands) – 251 points
- Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund & Poland) – 250 points
- Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur/Real Madrid & Wales) – 187 points
This ranking comes one month before the announcement of the Ballon d’Or, and historically, the winner of World Soccer has often gone on to win the Ballon d’Or. However, there have been exceptions, such as in 2010 when Xavi Hernandez won World Soccer, but Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or.
