Ranking the 25 Best Central Defenders in World Football on Form

Bleacher Report brings you the Top 25 central defenders in world football right now.

This listing takes into account performances for the 2012-13 season only and is based on form over the opening eight or nine games.

Nemanja Vidic is missing. His return didn't see him play his best football, and now he's injured again.

Vincent Kompany, along with the entire Manchester City defence, is out of sorts and isn't featured here.

Big names don't equal an inclusion.

Enjoy the slideshow and feel free to add your opinions below.

25. Chico, Swansea City

Chico's importance to Swansea and manager Michael Laudrup should not be underestimated—he was a major contributing factor to their excellent start to the English Premier League season.

His red card in the 2-2 draw to Sunderland immediately coincided with the Swans' loss of form, who lost the next three games on the bounce.

His return to action saw the South Wales club stop the rot with a draw against Reading, underlining his importance to the side while simultaneously highlighting Alan Tate's lack of ability.

24. Dante, Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich just broke the Bundesliga record as they made it eight wins from eight games to start the season.

While scoring 26 goals is impressive, conceding just two is just as good an achievement. It's difficult to see who's responsible for such a fantastic record at the back, and Dante sneaks onto this list despite carrying a degree of doubt from German football aficionados.

With Holger Badstuber ineligible for this list due to his current great form being executed from left-back, Dante gets the nod over Jerome Boateng, who still looks prone to making big mistakes.

23. Paulao, Real Betis

Paulao featured in my La Liga Team of the Week on October 8, as his headed goal helped Real Betis down the impressive Real Sociedad on October 6.

He hasn't done a lot wrong on either side of that game, scoring against basement boys Espanyol the week before, then combining with Damien Perquis for a clean sheet against Osasuna the week after.

While those achievements may be against La Liga's worst teams right now, it's easy to forget just how desperate they'll be for goals due to their already perilous circumstances.

22. Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City

Stoke City's defensive line seems to be back to its best, and Ryan Shawcross' form is a big reason for this.

He had a relatively disappointing 2011-12 campaign—mostly due to high expectations set from the previous season—but he's managed to regain an international standard of play.

Stoke have kept Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool scoreless, while holding the mercurial Chelsea to just a single strike.

21. Angelo Ogbonna, Torino

Angelo Ogbonna is the Torino defender catching all the eyes right now.

He was in Italy's 2012 Euro Cup squad this summer and remained unused, but his form for the Granata this season has had Manchester United, amongst others, circling (via SkySports).

So integral to the side is he that Torino fans have erected a banner in the Stadio Olimpico that reads, "If you sell Ogbonna, prepare the coffin."

20. Timm Klose, FC Nuremberg

While Nuremberg may be underperforming this season, Timm Klose is having a standout year.

He is aerially superb, winning 3.8 duels per game, and has shut down both Marcus Berg of Hamburger SV and Robert Lewandowski of Borussia Dortmund so far this season (via Allan Jiang).

If Per Nilsson could up his game and match Klose's exceedingly high standards, Der Altermeister may slowly crawl away from the relegation zone.

19. Sebastian Langkamp, FC Augsburg

Sebastian Langkamp has caught a case of Timm Klose.

He's playing for a team that will spend the entire season fighting off relegation and conceding goals, yet he acquits himself brilliantly for Augsburg whenever he plays.

The Fuggerstadter are without a win in six games and have been conceding ground on the pitch. Langkamp is continually mopping up the mess with 7.7 clearances, 3.7 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game.

18. Mamadou Sakho, Paris Saint-Germain

Mamadou Sakho's coming-of-age form has been in the making for a while now, and he's finally finding some consistency under PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti.

He's learning quickly next to Thiago Silva and, with the interest of longevity, should really take up Alex's mantle as the first-choice central partner for the former AC Milan star.

The most impressive part of his game is his passing—his 90.6-percent completion rate off an average of 45.7 passes per game is superb from the young Frenchman.

17. Maicon, FC Porto

Maicon of FC Porto isn't exactly known for being consistently sturdy, but right now he's playing good football on a team that has conceded just four league goals this season.

Furthermore, in the UEFA Champions League, The Portuguese centre-back has helped the Dragons clean sheets against free-scoring Paris Saint-Germain and Dinamo Zagreb.

He won't make any classic lists of football's best performers, but he's certainly playing well at the moment.

16. Facundo Roncaglia, Fiorentina

When Fiorentina swapped Matija Nastastic for Stefan Savic, it was generally felt that the Viola received the raw end of the deal.

No matter, as manager Vincenzo Montella has unearthed another gem in Facundo Roncaglia, who plays on the right side of his three-man defensive system and supports Juan Cuadrado.

He scored a golazo against Parma, then followed it up with some great performances during clean sheets against Bologna and Juventus.

15. Emir Spahic, Sevilla

Sevilla's steady start to the season has been built on the back of a great defensive effort. Seven goals conceded compared to eight goals scored lets you know what manager Michel Gonzalez's focus is.

Of the defensive line, Cicinho has been impressive from right-back, and Emir Spahic has been influential from the centre.

He's currently recording an average of 3.4 tackles and 2.7 interceptions per game as he does the dirty work for his underperforming midfield colleagues.

14. Thiago Silva, Paris Saint-Germain

Anyone who harboured concerns regarding Thiago Silva's performances after a big-money move has been appeased—he's doing just fine.

His debut for Paris Saint-Germain saw him find the net during a 4-1 thumping of Dynamo Kiev, and he's followed that up with clean sheets against Reims, Sochaux and Bastia.

13. Paolo Cannavaro, Napoli

For a long time, Paolo Cannavaro was "the other Cannavaro," in reference to his hugely successful older brother Fabio.

But now, Paolo is taking on the mantle with some wonderful performances under manager Walter Mazzarri.

Last season, he looked a little shaky and prone to errors, but he's cleaned up that side of his game to an extent and now looks like a top Serie A defender.

12. Anderson, Eintracht Frankfurt

Here's some Eintracht Frankfurt love for you.

They've been playing so well it's impossible not to notice the fact that they're second in the Bundesliga, behind record-breaking Bayern Munich.

While their 19 goals scored is quite the effort, they've been mopping up at the back, too. Bastian Oczikpa has been mightily impressive at left-back, but so has Brazilian defender Anderson in the middle.

11. Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid

Sergio Ramos just continues to impress.

On Saturday, he was temporarily moved out to right-back to cover the loss of Alvaro Arbeloa, showing he could still play at a world-class level in his old position.

Aside from this injury-enforced switch, he's been solid at centre-back and even threatens to usurp Pepe as Real Madrid's best in that position.

10. Phil Jagielka, Everton

Phil Jagielka is in the form of his life right now, and that has been justly recognised by Everton manager Roy Hodgson's reward of a starting role on the England team alongside Joleon Lescott.

He put in yet another brilliant display for Everton against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday as he continues to play a significant role in the Toffees' great start to the season.

The former Sheffield United man has been threatening to show this kind of form on a consistent basis for years and has finally exploded.

9. Heiko Westermann, Hamburg

Speaking to Bundesligafanatic, they all but confirmed my suspicions that Heiko Westermann is practically on fire right now.

He has played crucial roles in Hamburg's wins over Borussia Dortmund, Greuther Furth and Hannover 96, taking the leading role in a partnership with former Chelsea youngster Michael Mancienne.

8. Douglas, FC Twente

Having received his Dutch passport, Douglas of FC Twente could be well on his way to solving the Netherlands' central defensive issue.

He has been in imperious form once more this season, helping the Tukkers defence become watertight. They've conceded just six goals from nine games, and the former Joinville defender is one of manager Steve McLaren's most talented assets.

Ron Vlaar, Johnny Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen haven't really done for the Oranje in recent seasons—is Douglas the answer?

7. Per Mertesacker, Arsenal

After last season's performances, I'd have called you mad if you suggested Per Mertesacker would be Arsenal's most indispensable defender during their opening eight games of the season.

But it's true.

When the German ducked out of the starting XI due to a virus and Laurent Koscielny took his place, Gunners fans were left hoping for their towering centre-back to return.

6. Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Schalke 04

Schalke 04 are looking seriously good this year, with just one loss on record to the imperious Bayern Munich.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos has continued the influential form he produced during the 2012 Euro Cup for manager Huub Stevens in the Bundesliga, notching an incredible 4.5 tackles and 2.5 interceptions per game.

So far this season, he has nullified Mario Mandzukic, along with a host of other strikers and has even bagged a goal against Augsburg.

5. Martin Demichelis, Malaga

According to Bleacher Report's own Michael Cerna, Martin Demichellis has been the standout defender in La Liga so far this season.

I agree.

He has taken his fair share of criticism since the decline of his career at Bayern Munich, but he's standing out alongside Weligton in Malaga's defence.

Not only is he doing a great job aerially, he's also doing well to cover the marauding forward runs of Los Boquerones full-backs Nacho Monreal and Jesus Gamez.

4. Juan Jesus, Inter Milan

Juan Jesus had a really, really bad 2012 Olympic Games tournament.

He looked positionally poor, despite being led by Thiago Silva, and even managed to get into a fight with Rafael.

But for Internazionale, he has been incredible. He has made a pretty decent transition to the three-man system manager Andrea Stramaccioni has introduced and looks to have a long future at the San Siro on this form.

More information on Juan can be found here.

3. Hugo Campagnaro, Napoli

Hugo Campagnaro is another defender playing a three-man line in Serie A.

While it's becoming more common to play this system, that doesn't mean it's getting any easier. It requires positional perfection, great judgement and borderline flawless decision-making.

Manager Walter Mazzarri's Napoli have been hot so far this season, sitting in second place after narrowly losing out to top dogs Juventus on Saturday.

Clean sheets have been the basis of success, and Campagnaro is back in the Argentine national team's thoughts thanks to his brilliance.

2. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus

It appears Juventus can't be stopped.

They are unbeaten in 47 league games now, and Giorgio Chiellini's influence in them cannot be underestimated.

He's playing superb football alongside Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli and covers the holes left by the explosive Kwadwo Asamoah with seasoned expertise.

1. Andrea Ranocchia, Inter Milan

Andrea Ranocchia's performance in Internazionale's 2-0 win over Catania on Sunday was just the latest in a string of phenomenal performances so far this season.

Last year, he was truly awful. Positionally, he was terrible, and he never found any essence of form under any of the three managers the Nerazzurri employed.

But this season, the partnership between him and Juan Jesus has blossomed. He's in the most in-form central defender in the world right now.

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Statistics via WhoScored?