Thierry Henry is the world’s best footballer.
At least that is the case according to FIFA World Cup 2010 sponsor Castrol through its Castrol Performance Index, ‘the world’s first truly objective football rankings system’.
The French international is followed by clubmate Leo Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (isn’t it lovely not having him in the Premier League anymore btw?).
The list looks fairly credible, until you scroll down the list to number 10 and find Claudio Pizarro.
Pizarro, who wasn’t even the 10th best player in the Chelsea squad during him time in England, has either undergone a phenomenal transformation during his return to Germany or the Bundesliga is, well, crap. It’s the latter, isn’t it?
That said, I find Pizarro’s baffling inclusion reassuring. While it makes interesting reading – and fair play to Castrol for sparking the debate – it just goes to show that not everything in sport in quantifiable, which for me is part of its magic.
Here’s the list in full;
- Thierry Henry (Barcelona)
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- Garard Pique (Barcelona)
- Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
- Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale)
- Rafael Marquez (Barcelona)
- Luca Toni (Bayern Munchen)
- Carlos Puyol (Barcelona)
- Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)
