Football canon (as determined by videogames) has named Cristiano Ronaldo, recent European champion, as the best player in the game today. FIFA 17 ranks him one point above Lionel Messi and a host of other hopefuls in EA’s recently revealed top ten.
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There’s a lengthy post by them showing off the top 50 and giving some highlights of their stats, but here’s each of the top 10 with their overall rating.
- 10 – David De Gea (Manchester United) – 90
- 9 – Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) – 90
- 8 – Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich) – 90
- 7 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) – 90
- 6 – Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – 90
- 5 – Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) – 92
- 4 – Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – 92
- 3 – Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. (Barcelona) – 92
- 2 – Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 93
- 1 – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – 94
While we’re having fun with numbers, using purely the top 10, Manchester United come in with a low 180 overall, Real Madrid sneak it with 184, Bayern get 272 and Barca dominate the field with 277. It’s B-based mirror matches all round, as I assume every other team is, basically, terrible.
Ronaldo hitting the top spot replaces Messi from last year. In the intervening period Ronaldo’s won both the European Championship and the Champion’s League, while Messi and his dad have been done for tax fraud and handed a 21-month jail sentence. Slight reversal of fortune there that probably outranks his placement in a videogame list as far as notable occurrences this past 12 months. At least he’s still the best dribbler.
We reached out to our network partner and FIFA experts Futwiz for some more informed opinions. “In general ratings appear to have gone up across the board,” explains co-founder Dan Bellis. “For example the number of players rated 90+ has doubled compared to the start of FIFA 16. Ronaldo beating Messi to the number one spot is a new one, but he’s had an incredible year at both club and international level so it’s not massively surprising to see him take the top spot! It is interesting to note that Messi has dropped below 90 pace for the first time in FUT, though he’s had an upgrade to dribbling and shooting.”
If you want to know more, Futwiz have their own player search tool for FIFA 17. You can filter on everything from league played in to free kick accuracy. Many of them are younger than me, even a dude called Eden Hazard who, while not pronounced that way, does sound like he could give Duke Nukem a run for his money.
Thanks, EG.