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10 years of FIF
Nostradamus
Most Passionate MemberThought it'd be a nice discussion. A decade is too long, so a 5 year period far better reflects players' peaks and primes.
Starting from 1980-85 (which pretty much means 1 January 1980 till 31 December 1984), your top 3 players per each 5 year era. It's tough of course to use only three, so if you want to mention several others, it is recommended.
As it is a 5 year period, sometimes can be unfair (ie Adriano might feel left out as his best years were between 2003-2006] but this also means that all 5 seasons need to be included. Some players had very good seasons during a 5 year period and one great one, but that imo should not beat someone else with say 3 great seasons, even if the one season earned a Ballon D'Or consideration or award. So we seek the accumulation of performance and not just peak. If a player doesn't have 4 seasons at the top level, I tend to exclude them from consideration. So Messi in that 2005-2010 is a no for me even if his two amazing seasons alone could warrant a top 3 spot in that era. A player like Veron also misses out with a 97-01 peak for example.
Anyone not comfortable with having an opinion on some eras can simply leave them out. And you are free to add 70s and even 60s if you wish.
So here goes. Hate, love, discuss and dismiss away.
1980-85 (in no order)
Zico
Michel Platini
Diego Maradona
[honorable mentions: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Socrates, Oleg Blokhin, Zbigniew Boniek, Berndt Schuster, Falcao]
1985-90
1. Diego Maradona
2. Marco van Basten
3. Lothar Matthaus
[honorable mentions: Franco Baresi, Ruud Gullit, Emilio Butragueno, Hugo Sanchez, Gheorghe Hagi, Jean-Pierre Papin, Ronald Koeman, Frank Rijkaard, Andreas Brehme, Gary Lineker, Manuel Amoros, Enzo Francescoli]
1990-95
1. Roberto Baggio
2. Hristo Stoichkov
3. Michael Laudrup
[honorable mentions: Romario, Paolo Maldini, Dejan Savicevic, Franco Baresi, Jurgen Kohler, Matthias Sammer, Ruud Gullit, Walter Zenga, George Weah, Lothar Matthaus]
1995-2000
1. Ronaldo
2. Luis Figo
3. Alessandro Del Piero / Rivaldo / Gabriel Batistuta
[honorable mentions: Zinedine Zidane, Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Alessandro Nesta, Lilian Thuram, Patrick Kluivert, Hernan Crespo, Stefan Effenberg, Cafu, Dennis Bergkamp, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Redondo]
2000-2005
1. Zinedine Zidane
2. Francesco Totti
3. Raul Gonzalez Blanco
[honorable mentions: Javier Zanetti, Thierry Henry, Christian Vieri, Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Roberto Carlos, Michael Ballack, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Paolo Maldini, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Pavel Nedved, Walter Samuel, Alessandro Nesta, Ruben Baraja, Roy Makaay]
2005-2010
1. Ronaldinho
2. Kaka
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic / Cristiano Ronaldo
[honorable mentions: Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Maicon, Arjen Robben, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Francesco Totti, Fabio Cannavaro, Esteban Cambiasso, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Carles Puyol]
2010-2015
1. Lionel Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
[honorable mentions: Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Manuel Neuer, Xavi, Arjen Robben, Sergio Aguero, Dani Alves, Radamel Falcao, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Philip Lahm, Robert Lewandowski, Sergio Ramos, Diego Godin, Thiago Silva, Alexis Sanchez, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Edinson Cavani, Arturo Vidal, Franck Ribery, Andrea Pirlo]
2015-2020
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Neymar
[honorable mentions: Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Angel Di Maria, Luis Suarez, Ngolo Kante]
More honorable mentions does not mean that there were better players around, but mostly that there's a lot of room for discussion as to who would comprise the top 5-10 of that period. A couple of them are obviously of lesser quality than others but I just added their names since a lot are forgotten as the concept is to focus on the top 3.
Anyways, this is my take. Hoping to see people post their own, using the same time periods.
Starting from 1980-85 (which pretty much means 1 January 1980 till 31 December 1984), your top 3 players per each 5 year era. It's tough of course to use only three, so if you want to mention several others, it is recommended.
As it is a 5 year period, sometimes can be unfair (ie Adriano might feel left out as his best years were between 2003-2006] but this also means that all 5 seasons need to be included. Some players had very good seasons during a 5 year period and one great one, but that imo should not beat someone else with say 3 great seasons, even if the one season earned a Ballon D'Or consideration or award. So we seek the accumulation of performance and not just peak. If a player doesn't have 4 seasons at the top level, I tend to exclude them from consideration. So Messi in that 2005-2010 is a no for me even if his two amazing seasons alone could warrant a top 3 spot in that era. A player like Veron also misses out with a 97-01 peak for example.
Anyone not comfortable with having an opinion on some eras can simply leave them out. And you are free to add 70s and even 60s if you wish.
So here goes. Hate, love, discuss and dismiss away.
1980-85 (in no order)
Zico
Michel Platini
Diego Maradona
[honorable mentions: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Socrates, Oleg Blokhin, Zbigniew Boniek, Berndt Schuster, Falcao]
1985-90
1. Diego Maradona
2. Marco van Basten
3. Lothar Matthaus
[honorable mentions: Franco Baresi, Ruud Gullit, Emilio Butragueno, Hugo Sanchez, Gheorghe Hagi, Jean-Pierre Papin, Ronald Koeman, Frank Rijkaard, Andreas Brehme, Gary Lineker, Manuel Amoros, Enzo Francescoli]
1990-95
1. Roberto Baggio
2. Hristo Stoichkov
3. Michael Laudrup
[honorable mentions: Romario, Paolo Maldini, Dejan Savicevic, Franco Baresi, Jurgen Kohler, Matthias Sammer, Ruud Gullit, Walter Zenga, George Weah, Lothar Matthaus]
1995-2000
1. Ronaldo
2. Luis Figo
3. Alessandro Del Piero / Rivaldo / Gabriel Batistuta
[honorable mentions: Zinedine Zidane, Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Alessandro Nesta, Lilian Thuram, Patrick Kluivert, Hernan Crespo, Stefan Effenberg, Cafu, Dennis Bergkamp, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Redondo]
2000-2005
1. Zinedine Zidane
2. Francesco Totti
3. Raul Gonzalez Blanco
[honorable mentions: Javier Zanetti, Thierry Henry, Christian Vieri, Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Roberto Carlos, Michael Ballack, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Paolo Maldini, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Pavel Nedved, Walter Samuel, Alessandro Nesta, Ruben Baraja, Roy Makaay]
2005-2010
1. Ronaldinho
2. Kaka
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic / Cristiano Ronaldo
[honorable mentions: Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Maicon, Arjen Robben, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Francesco Totti, Fabio Cannavaro, Esteban Cambiasso, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Carles Puyol]
2010-2015
1. Lionel Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
[honorable mentions: Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Manuel Neuer, Xavi, Arjen Robben, Sergio Aguero, Dani Alves, Radamel Falcao, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Philip Lahm, Robert Lewandowski, Sergio Ramos, Diego Godin, Thiago Silva, Alexis Sanchez, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Edinson Cavani, Arturo Vidal, Franck Ribery, Andrea Pirlo]
2015-2020
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Neymar
[honorable mentions: Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Angel Di Maria, Luis Suarez, Ngolo Kante]
More honorable mentions does not mean that there were better players around, but mostly that there's a lot of room for discussion as to who would comprise the top 5-10 of that period. A couple of them are obviously of lesser quality than others but I just added their names since a lot are forgotten as the concept is to focus on the top 3.
Anyways, this is my take. Hoping to see people post their own, using the same time periods.
