Bloomberg Sports used their “Football Power Index” to rate players in club soccer throughout the world on a scientific 100-point scale over the past year’s play. They released the 50-player list today, and it’s topped by the Primera Division duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Those top two spots were obvious - Messi and Ronaldo have been top 2 for the last 3 years - but following them is an interesting cast.
Franck Ribery of treble-winning Bayern Munich grabs the third spot, followed by German foes Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus. Midfielder Andrea Pirlo of Juventus rounded out the top 5.
The Bundesliga, with two teams making the Champions League finals, again received evidence they’re a world-class league as they pulled the most players on the list (15). The English Premier League, despite having their highest-ranked player down at number 6 in Robin van Persie, put up quantity with 14 players making the rankings.
Bayern Munich had more players than any other club, placing five on the list, while Juventus had four.
Bloomberg describes their point system as in-depth, saying, “Our advanced analysis covers greater than 100 types of player actions, leading to roughly 1,000 to 1,500 data points for each European match. Evaluating the data, we shift to analyzing players based on their core responsibilities on the field. The ratings are updated continuously, allowing for player performance to be tracked on a weekly basis.”
The description also mentioned they pride themselves on recognizing players who may not have the biggest names but provide immensely valuable contributions to their clubs.
To view the rest of the players on the list, click here.