Poll: Who Is the Best Football Player in the World?

It’s that time of the year where several shortlists for different awards in the world of sports begin to appear. And football has not been left behind. Earlier this month, France Football released a 30-man shortlist for the 2017 Ballon d’Or award.

This announcement came after FIFA had released a list of nominees for several categories which included the Best FIFA Women’s Player, the Best FIFA’s Men Coach and of course the Best FIFA Men’s Player.

Neymar’s inclusion got some tongues wagging. The public was split as to whether or not he should have made the final shortlist for the men’s award. And it is arguments like this that has made us to write this kind of article.

When talking about the best football player in the world, what exactly makes one player – or a set of players – stand head and shoulder above their colleagues? Let’s focus on the three players that made the Best FIFA Men’s Player of the year award.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. all made the final 3-man shortlist. The award will take place on Monday, 23^rd October. So, which of these three men deserves to be crowned the best football player in the world?

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

As if winning the UEFA Champions League title last year was not enough, Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to yet another UCL trophy – the club’s 12^th European trophy – earlier this year. The Portuguese striker who scored 12 goals in the UCL last season also lifted the La Liga around the same time.

Add to that qualifying for the World Cup and also the UEFA Super Cup, and it seems like CR7 may just be on his way to continuing his reign as the best football player in the world. But what about his poor start to the new season?  Could this hurt his chances?

2. Lionel Messi

The 2016-2017 football season wasn’t particularly the most interesting one for Lionel Messi. The “down-to-earth” Argentine had to endure a season with little to no trophies, judging by the Barcelona standard.

It seemed like he came second to Cristiano Ronaldo in everything this year: trophies won, of course games won, and goals scored – that’s if you’re not considering this new season.

He has started the new campaign pretty well, banging in goals for fun and single-handedly taking Argentina to the FIFA World Cup finals in Russia. But has he done enough to earn the accolade for best football player in the world come Monday?

3. Neymar Jr.

The world’s most expensive player by a fair distance, Neymar, according to some pundits, made the move out of Messi’s shadows with his transfer from Barca to PSG. He has since then been doing wonders with his new partners-in-crime, Edison Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.

No one can tell whether it is this move that earned him a spot in FIFA’s final list for The Best award. Yes, he has been an instant wonder in the French capital. He’s been running the show for Unai Emery and his presence alone makes PSG look like strong Champions League contenders again.

But has he done enough this year to beat CR7 and Messi and become the best player in the world? What do you think? Which of these players has done enough to be crowned the best football player of the year?

Share your thoughts with us by leaving us a comment. We’d love to hear from you.