Top 5 Best Footballers In 2024: The year 2024 in football was the year of ‘once agains’ sprinkled in with some ‘first-time evers’. While Manchester City won the Champions League for the first time after years of being one of the best teams in Europe, Lionel Messi won his record-breaking eighth Ballon d’Or. While all the usual suspects won the top leagues in Europe, football in this continent is without its two biggest names, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time.
In this year, several future legends stamped their authority, while some of the current greats showed why they are amongst the best in the world.
Today, we will be looking at the best player in 2024 in 5 positions – goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, winger, and striker –
Top 5 Best Footballers In 2024
Goalkeeper – Ederson (Manchester City)
Despite being a world-class goalkeeper for years, Ederson has been the No.2 goalkeeper in Brazil for years. As part of Manchester City’s treble-winning squad, Ederson can make the case that he has had a better year than Liverpool’s Alisson. In fact, he might have been the best goalkeeper in the world.
Having played a crucial role in Man City’s immense success in the 2022-23 season, the Brazilian proved himself to be one of the best showstoppers in the world based on his ability to make spectacular saves. In Pep Guardiola’s model, he has also become solid with the ball on his feet.
Defender – Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich)
The latest South Korean football superstar, Kim Min-Jae was an absolute defensive and he was the main reason why won their first league title in over three decades. He pipped the likes of Heung Min Son to win the South Korean FA Player of the Year award this year.
Since joining Bayern Munich, he has only added to the strengths of the German Giants, making it nigh on impossible to take the ball past him.
Midfielder – Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
This field saw one of the fiercest competition for being the best here. The likes of Jude Bellingham and Rodri had a great 2024, but it was the continued excellence of Kevin de Bruyne that not only made him the best midfielder in the world this year but also one of the best players in the world.
An absolute chance-creating machine, he is the pivot that the treble-winning Man City team rotated around. His 16 assists in the 2022-23 Premier League season is an insane stat. And in what is a very well-known fact now, KDB’s vision on a football field is unparalleled.
Winger – Mo Salah (Liverpool)
The latter half of the 2022-23 season provided fierce competition when it comes to picking the best player on the wings in the world. The likes of Vinicius Jr., Kyle Walker, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had an absolute banger of a season. But the 2024-24 season has made it absolutely clear that Liverpool and Egypt’s Mo Salah is the best winger in 2024.
Coming in from the right side of the pitch, Salah scored 8 goals in the Champion League and 19 in the Premier League in 2022-23. He is only looking to improve upon those stats, as he has already scored 14 in 20 games in the Premier League this season.
Attacker – Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Erling Haaland emerged from the cocoon of ‘potential greatness’ and evolved into one of the best footballers in the worldin his first season with Manchester City in 2022-23. In that season, he broke the Premier League scoring record, scoring a whopping 36 goals in the season. In the UCL, he scored 12 goals on route to winning the Big-ears trophy.
The answer to Man City’s attacking woes, Haaland has hit the ground running in the 2024-24 season as well, scoring 14 goals in 15 Premier League games this year. He was also one of only four players to cross the 50-goal mark in 2024. Doing that in the most difficult league in the world makes him the best.
