Insight

New Talent and Familiar Faces: Who Made the FIFA 22 Best Players List?

It’s September again, so that means that Electronic Arts, the publishers of best-selling game franchise FIFA, have announced the ratings of the best football players in the newest instalment of their series.

The very top of the chart remains familiar: Lionel Messi has retained his top spot for the third year in a row, after being pushed to second place for three years before that by rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

On the more unpredictable side, Ronaldo has been downgraded from a total score of 92 last year (second only to Messi’s 93) to 91 this year, which has put him in joint third with Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Jan Oblak.

Ronaldo lost his spot to rising star Robert Lewandowski, making it the first time the Portuguese player has fallen below the top two.

Explore how FIFA player rankings have changed over the years in the interactive visualisation below. Click the “Replay” button to restart the animation.

Of the top 22 announced on Monday, Paris Saint-Germain managed to snag up four spots, the most of any team. It was followed by Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Real Madrid with three each.

Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur had two players in the top 22, with Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona and Roma also managing to make it on the list with one player.