Rodri stands tall on top of the world after year of glory and pain

One of the worst things about seeing Rodri in agony on the pitch against Arsenal in September – and the subsequent news that he had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament – was that he had criticised the workload being put on players in the buildup to the injury. It was as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

In April, after an epic 3-3 draw at Real Madrid the Manchester City and Spain midfielder said: “I do need a rest.” He added: “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.”

His club manager, Pep Guardiola, said that if Rodri needed a rest he would get a rest but in the end the midfielder missed only the game against Luton in the Premier League, although he was taken off 11 minutes early against Brighton with City 4-0 up.

Only a week before the 2-2 draw against Arsenal when he sustained the injury, Rodri said players were prepared to go on strike over the calendar. “I think we are close to that – it is easy to understand,” he said. “If you ask any player he will say the same; it is not the opinion of Rodri or whatever. It’s the general opinion of the players. And if it keeps this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option. It’s something that worries us because we are the guys that suffer.”

And suffering he is, forced to watch as City struggle in his absence while he goes through a gruelling recovery programme. His importance to City was clear when he was playing; it has become even more obvious with him out.

Since Rodri joined Manchester City in 2019, their win percentage is 73.5% with him in the side and 57.1% without. In the Premier League the gap is even wider: 74.1% v 53.1%. When it comes to winning possession in the middle third he is the outstanding leader in the Premier League since his arrival in England (788 to second-placed Declan Rice’s 716) as well as in the Champions League (242 to Ilkay Gündogan’s 165).

So when it came to ranking the best male footballers in the world in 2024, it did not matter to our judges that Rodri had been out since September. Our exercise, having asked 197 former players, coaches and journalists to contribute, ended with Rodri becoming the sixth player to top our ranking of the 100 best footballers in the world, following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland. It is testament to the midfielder’s qualities and importance to his club as well as to Spain, who won the Euros with him as a driving force, that he finished ahead of Vinícius Júnior, Haaland, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Lautaro Martínez and the others in the top 10.

As the names of the previous winners and Rodri’s competitors this year indicate, it is not easy to outshine the wealth of attacking talent in the game. Rodri becomes the first defensive-minded player to win our award since it was introduced in 2012.

Vinícius came very close to finishing top. It was one of the tightest finishes, with a mere 68 points separating the two, Rodri collecting 7,495 points compared with the Brazilian’s 7,427. Haaland, in third, was almost 800 points behind.

The competitiveness at the top is confirmed by the fact that fewer than half the judges had Rodri at No 1. Vinícius placed top of 72 of 197 voting slips while Dani Carvajal, another ACL injury victim in the autumn, made the top 10 partly because 10 judges had him at No 1.

There was movement in the clubs represented in the top 100 as well after Real Madrid won a record 15th European Cup. The list tends to favour the Champions League winners and this year was no different. The La Liga side leapfrogged Manchester City with 12 of their players making the final list, compared with the Premier League champions’ 10. Bayer Leverkusen were notable climbers, with six entries in the top 100 after a sensational season , including going undefeated to claim a first Bundesliga title.

More than 300 players were voted for, showing the breadth of talent around the world as well as the global set-up of our judges, with 69 countries represented on the panel.

Waldemar Anton, Martin Baturina, Leonardo Fernández, Christoph Baumgartner and Lewis Ferguson were among those who got only one vote, which may not sound much but does mean they can claim to be among the 303 best players in the world according to our judges.

Nationality-wise Spain are back on top with most players on the list, up to 13 from five last season. Twelve of the 13 were part of the Euro 2024-winning squad while the young defender Pau Cubarsí placed 81st despite being left out of Luis de la Fuente’s 26-man squad for the tournament in Germany.

The impact of the European Championship is shown in that the beaten finalists, England, are joint-second with two other countries who went far in Germany, the hosts and France. Lionel Messi this time has two fellow Argentinians ahead of him – Lautaro Martínez and Emiliano Martínez – after their Copa América triumph. Georgia have two players on the list for the first time with Giorgi Mamardashvili​ (80th) joining Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (49th).

There is movement among the leagues as well with the Saudi Pro League dropping out of the top five with only two representatives (Cristiano Ronaldo and Aleksandar Mitrovic). The Premier League still has the most players included but La Liga is closing the gap, presumably partly because Madrid are kings of Europe again.

Some players came mightily close to making the list with Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski finishing 101st, three points behind Marcel Sabitzer. Rodrigo De Paul, Estêvão, Martín Zubimendi, Teun Koopmeiners, Ayoub El Kaabi and Robert Andrich were also among those who finished just outside the top 100. In this piece you can see how every player placed and how many votes and points they got as we publish the full spreadsheet.

Maybe next year we will see some of them in our top 100 as the list continues to evolve. And will there be another Lamine Yamal, gatecrashing the top 10 before their 18th birthday? Will we have as many goalkeepers as we did this year (10)? Will someone replace Rodri at the top? In 12 months’ time we will know.