Best Football players of the 21st century

Ronaldinho leads with an ELO of 1,602, ahead of Thierry Henry (1,583) and Gianluigi Buffon (1,578). Ranked over 511 duels between 30 contenders, last updated September 27, 2026.

Rank the best football players of the 21st century! From Messi to Ronaldo, Mbappé, Lewandowski and the legends. Who's your favorite?

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.