What is a 'World-Class' footballer?

[AltiUn]

Oh you meant the world XI, I thought you said he isn't world class.

Nah, he’s definitely world class, just been a bit below his own usual standard this season.

 

[Turnip]

I always thought it was related to the difficulty settings on Fifa?

If De Bruyne isn't world class, I dunno who is.
Although if you mean he is currently injured.

Well he's got worse numbers than Bruno and plays basically the same position in a better overall squad. If De Bruyne is world class than so is Bruno, but they can't both be the best.

 

[Lord SInister]

I always thought it was related to the difficulty settings on Fifa?

Well he's got worse numbers than Bruno and plays basically the same position in a better overall squad. If De Bruyne is world class than so is Bruno, but they can't both be the best.

Bruno is obviously world class.
World class isn't equal to best in the position IMO.
By that logic two of the Alisson, Neuer and Oblak isn't world class, depending on who you choose on goal. Which would be a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[Cascarino]

I always thought it was related to the difficulty settings on Fifa?

Well he's got worse numbers than Bruno and plays basically the same position in a better overall squad. If De Bruyne is world class than so is Bruno, but they can't both be the best.

That's part of the problem when reducing players contributions solely down to numbers. That's not a comment on De Bruyne or Bruno, just that using statistics alone to gauge a players level doesn't work.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Vardy and lukaku? Dont kill me today. When has anyone ever thought of those two as starting for any European elite. They can both be effective but consistency(lukaku) and talent(vardy) is missing.

Lukaku has and does. My point is I don’t think he’s world class but he’s definitely an elite striker. I personally think he’s overrated but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone putting him in that bracket purely on his stats.

Name a more consistent PL No9 over the last 5 years outside of Kane/Aguero? Just because he plays for Leicester doesn’t mean he’s not elite - if anything he should get more kudos because he’s not playing for a City, Pool, Chelsea type team.

 

[KennyBurner]

Confidence has done so much for our defenders. Did you just see lindelof comfortably switch play to Shaw under pressure?

 

[Stacks]

In the top three in their position in the world. Plus someone who is consistently at that level for 2-3 years

For me the term gets confused.

In my opinion, world class players are players who are in the top 2-4 of their respective positions. So if there was a 25 man UCL dream team, these guys should be in it.

3 GKs
2 RB
2 LB
4 CB
2 RW
2 LW
2 DMF
2 AMF
2 CM
4 ST

Fill in that team and you have a world class squad.

A few world class players (past or present), which will be no surprise to anyone are: CR7, Neuer, Messi, Lahm, Henry, Keane etc

Some players occasionally put in world class performances (Pogba) or have a short run where they feel like they are world class players (Ozil) but for me, there has to be consistency. At least 4 years or so at the top.

Nah. There could be a time when there is a lack of talent in your position. Imagine if Tony V was the best RB due to lack of comp. Wouldn't make him world class

 

[Stacks]

To be world class you have to be someone who wouldn't look out of place in a hypothetical world 11 or 15 or whatever squad number you choose. Your inclusion shouldn't be too contentious among the community or neutrals

 

[BenitoSTARR]

Two legs

How many legs do the Martians have?

 

[Stacks]

For me the term gets confused.

In my opinion, world class players are players who are in the top 2-4 of their respective positions. So if there was a 25 man UCL dream team, these guys should be in it.

3 GKs
2 RB
2 LB
4 CB
2 RW
2 LW
2 DMF
2 AMF
2 CM
4 ST

Fill in that team and you have a world class squad.

A few world class players (past or present), which will be no surprise to anyone are: CR7, Neuer, Messi, Lahm, Henry, Keane etc

Some players occasionally put in world class performances (Pogba) or have a short run where they feel like they are world class players (Ozil) but for me, there has to be consistency. At least 4 years or so at the top.

Kaka Ronaldinho Rivaldo Zidane were all world class at the same time and could all make the AMC role. It shouldn't be a limited number for each position. You could have zero world class left backs and 8 world class centre midfielders at one time

 

[Poltophagy]

Being world class is doing stuff only the best can do. If you have competitors, they are on the world stage.

 

[Mr Smith]

How about something as simple as "a player that any coach would want and could reasonably get into most teams in the world".

 

[Isotope]

They'd never be world class without playing in Premier League.

Joking aside, I 'd think that they need to deliver in one of the "big League" for around 2-3 years; combined with in CL or Europa Cups, or in any of National Team competition.. I'm just talking about recent players, though. For past players, is a bit harder to define.

 

[city-puma]

Given a position, the top 15 from the five European leagues are all world class I think. That’s about 3 per position per league. They are top of the top elites in the game.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I have come to terms with the "world class" term when used by pundits and fans long back. It cannot have a generic guideline. Lot of bias goes into it. Nationality bias in particular. For some others, it is the league bias (PL > La Liga > etc etc).
I have seen it get used in the threads on Pogba, Martial, Shaw, Maguire, Rashford, Sancho and loads of others over the years. So in general, it means feck all.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

That makes no sense. If I take a subset of all GKs who have played over the last century or whatever, and it so happens the top 10 of those happened to play at the same time, then 5 of those wouldn't be labelled world class? So they would be top 10 of all time but not world class when they were playing?

So if Puskas, CR7, Di Stefano, Messi, Cryuff, Pele and Maradona were all playing at the same time then a couple of them wouldn't be labelled world class?

Sorry for the late response - but yeah, essentially that is what it means.

However:

1) Those you mention do not necessarily belong to the exact same category (in terms of roles/positions), so they wouldn't compete for the exact same spots in the teams/squad(s).

2) The scenario is extremely unlikely.

3) If you actually ended up with X historically great players competing for Y spots (as per the model), it seems likely enough that it would be difficult (if not impossible) to rank them with any degree of certainty: If you determine that they're all on the same level - well, you'd simply have to increase the size of the (hypothetical) squad due to exceptional circumstances.

 

[SambaBoy]

I think everyone has a different opinion for world class. In the Prem alone, I only think KDB, VVD and Kane are world-class. Likes of Salah, Mane, Fernandes, Pogba, Son, PEA, Sterling and Aguero are not quite there.

I'd have probably have had Aguero in there 1-2 seasons ago, but I haven't seen him contribute for a while now. De Gea was world class a few seasons back.

 

[meamth]

If the player's overall is above 85 he is considered word class.

Not many can achieve that level.

okay. sorry.

 

[Acheron]

I can why it can be vague with people throwing it around so often but it shouldn't be that difficult to grasp the general idea of the term refereeing to a player consider one of the best in the world. Then even if we're talking about the best players in the world typically is the European leagues that attract the best players all around the world with Spain, England, Italy and Germany having the best leagues. Then you have the best teams in those leagues always competing and trying to sign the best talents in the world.

 

[Sassy Colin]

A World class footballer is a player who would get into any team in the World. i.e. the World's best teams would want this footballer in their team.

 

[arnie_ni]

Pretty much, yes.

As you mention, it will be more difficult to reach "world class" status for certain positions. Similar to my "two world squads" model mentioned above, it will normally take more to make it into those squads for an attacker than it would for a goal keeper.

And precisely what it takes to be "world class" in your position will vary from time to time.

One could perhaps say that if Luke Shaw is "world class", this indicates that the overall level of LBs in the world isn't all that at the moment. But that isn't an argument against Shaw being "world class" (at this point in time - but I would say, again, that there has to be an evaluation period: you can't be "world class" based on a nice run of form over some weeks).

I'd disagree with that last wee bit. I think you could have a "best at their position" without being world class if the level is that low.

 

[jus2nang]

Kaka Ronaldinho Rivaldo Zidane were all world class at the same time and could all make the AMC role. It shouldn't be a limited number for each position. You could have zero world class left backs and 8 world class centre midfielders at one time

Pretty much this.

It's the level of player, rather than where he ranks.

 

[Stacks]

Pretty much this.

It's the level of player, rather than where he ranks.

You could imagine a hypothetical world where Antonio Valencia was the best RB in the world, he still not world class because I have seen him play and he just isn't. Same with Gary Neville. If paired with some of the names listed, they would look out of place and teammates wouldn't want to pass the ball to them. Lahm, Dani Alvez on the other hand, they would probably be starting and building up play themselves and be used as key anchors to the team.

 

[Stacks]

A World class footballer is a player who would get into any team in the World. i.e. the World's best teams would want this footballer in their team.

Not quite. At Barcelona's prime during Pep years, plenty for players could not get into their team. Zlatan for example was eventually sold, Torres probably wouldn't start for them but doesn't mean they aren't world class (at the time). Aguero wouldn't have started either. Simply put, the demands of the worlds best teams are contextual and complicated. Some lesser players may get picked over more talented due to the role they fill, rather than their quality.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Not quite. At Barcelona's prime during Pep years, plenty for players could not get into their team. Zlatan for example was eventually sold, Torres probably wouldn't start for them but doesn't mean they aren't world class (at the time). Aguero wouldn't have started either. Simply put, the demands of the worlds best teams are contextual and complicated. Some lesser players may get picked over more talented due to the role they fill, rather than their quality.

Yup, you've completely missed my point.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

I'd disagree with that last wee bit. I think you could have a "best at their position" without being world class if the level is that low.

Well, in practice you probably wouldn't go around calling a fairly ordinary (relative to the normal level) player "world class"...I guess, what you'd say - in practice - is that Player X actually is among the very best in the world in his position right now...but that the level is abnormally low...or something along those lines.

Somewhat similar (but less realistic, I'd say) to a scenario where Player X deserves to be selected for his national team in spite of not being particularly good (compared to past selections) simply because the alternatives wouldn't be better. You'd have to say that he's "national class" - but add that he wouldn't have been that a couple of years ago, etc.

 

[Stacks]

Well, in practice you probably wouldn't go around calling a fairly ordinary (relative to the normal level) player "world class"...I guess, what you'd say - in practice - is that Player X actually is among the very best in the world in his position right now...but that the level is abnormally low...or something along those lines.

Somewhat similar (but less realistic, I'd say) to a scenario where Player X deserves to be selected for his national team in spite of not being particularly good (compared to past selections) simply because the alternatives wouldn't be better. You'd have to say that he's "national class" - but add that he wouldn't have been that a couple of years ago, etc.

like the current France world champs. If you compare them to the 1998-2004 its a bit frightening the difference. same with Brazil, Italy, Germany and the current Spain team to the golden era

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Kaka Ronaldinho Rivaldo Zidane were all world class at the same time and could all make the AMC role.

Yeah, but you could fit more than one of those players into the same XI. If you had all those at your disposal, you wouldn't bench three of them.

 

[Stacks]

Yeah, but you could fit more than one of those players into the same XI. If you had all those at your disposal, you wouldn't bench three of them.

yeah I guess.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

like the current France world champs. If you compare them to the 1998-2004 its a bit frightening the difference. same with Brazil, Italy, Germany and the current Spain team to the golden era

True (at least in my opinion). The quality of national teams has gone down.