FIFA 15: Breaking Down Biggest Surprises from Top 50 Rankings

For FIFA fans, nothing is more fun than playing the game. But one thing might come close: arguing about the player rankings.

Like in any sports video game, comparing your own opinions of athletes with the makers of the game is a time-honored tradition. Sure, you may overrate players on your team and underrate others, but other than that, you've got a pretty good grasp on this whole thing.

Well, let's put this year's rankings to the test. Let's see how this year's top-50 rankings look, who might be a bit overrated and who perhaps deserves to be higher on the list. I promise it will be almost as much fun as actually playing the game!

Rankings

Ranking	Player	Club	Ranking
1.	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	93
2.	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	92
3.	Arjen Robben	Bayern Munich	90
4.	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	Paris Saint-Germain	90
5.	Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich	90
6.	Andres Iniesta	Barcelona	89
7.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	89
8.	Bastian Schweinsteiger	Bayern Munich	88
9.	Franck Ribery	Bayern Munich	88
10.	Eden Hazard	Chelsea	88
11	Robin van Persie	Manchester United	88
12	Radamel Falcao	Manchester United	88
13	Philipp Lahm	Bayern Munich	87
14	Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	87
15	Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid	87
16	Thiago Silva	Paris Saint-Germain	87
17	David Silva	Manchester City	87
18	Luka Modric	Real Madrid	87
19	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	87
20	Vincent Kompany	Manchester City	86
21	Xavi	Barcelona	86
22	Yaya Toure	Manchester City	86
23	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	86
24	Serio Aguero	Manchester City	86
25	Angel di Maria	Manchester United	86
26	Marco Reus	Borussia Dortmund	86
27	Thomas Muller	Bayern Munich	86
28	Mesut Ozil	Arsenal	86
29	Mats Hummels	Borussia Dortmund	86
30	Neymar	Barcelona	86
31	Thibaut Courtois	Chelsea	86
32	James Rodriguez	Real Madrid	86
33	Edinson Cavani	Paris Saint-Germain	86
34	Petr Cech	Chelsea	85
35	Arturo Vidal	Juventus	85
36	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	85
37	Diego Costa	Chelsea	85
38	Mario Gotze	Bayern Munich	85
39	Carlos Tevez	Juventus	85
40	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	85
41	Juan Mata	Manchester United	85
42	Jerome Boateng	Bayern Munich	85
43	Sergio Busquets	Barcelona	85
44	Javi Martinez	Bayern Munich	85
45	Hugo Lloris	Tottenham	85
46	Cesc Fabregas	Chelsea	84
47	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	84
48	Xabi Alonso	Bayern Munich	84
49	Andrea Pirlo	Juventus	84
50	Giorgio Chiellini	Juventus	84

The Players React

I React

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

We're going to break up surprises into the following categories: players who might be ranked a bit too high and players who perhaps deserved consideration for the top 50.

Obviously, we should mention before we begin that such rankings are incredibly subjective, and any critiques offered are due to my perceptions of players. It can be a bit tricky to come up with rankings for players in a sport like soccer, where so much is dependent on role, a club's particular philosophy, etc. 

My reactions are simply how I would have developed the rankings, not some universal code for judging the value of players. OK, let's get to it.

For starters, nobody is questioning the top two. You may not agree with the order of Lionel Messi at No. 1 and Cristiano Ronaldo at No. 2, but there is no doubt both players belong right at the top. It's just another notch in Messi's belt, per Bleacher Report UK:

And after his epic World Cup, Arjen Robben isn't a huge surprise at No. 3. Personally, I might have had Luis Suarez at No. 3, but that's the most minor of gripes.

The first player who is perhaps a bit high on the list is Bastian Schweinsteiger. For both Bayern Munich and Germany, Schweinsteiger is an important player, but he's hardly the main man he once was. At this year's World Cup, for instance, Toni Kroos seemed a far more important player for Germany than Schweinsteiger.

The next player who might be overrated Xavi, who has definitely seen his best days pass him by. He made just one appearance at the World Cup and played pretty poorly, earning a 6.04 average match rating from WhoScored.com. He's being phased out of the Barcelona midfield, with Ivan Rakitic gunning to be the main engine in Barcelona's midfield. 

Xavi is one of the best and most consistent players we've seen in recent history. But he's not that player anymore. The fact that he's ranked above players such as Kroos, Arturo Vidal and even Sergio Busquets doesn't reflect the impact those players have on the field.

Finally, Iker Casillas is overrated at 84 overall. Perhaps folks will accuse me of an anti-Spain bias, but I'm just going by what I've seen of late. He was horrid in the World Cup. He was displaced as the starter for Real Madrid a year ago. He was the best there was in his prime, but those days are far, far behind him.

As I went through and searched for who I might have expected to see on the top-50 list, five contenders came to mind: Alexis Sanchez, Koke, Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge and Aaron Ramsey.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Sanchez was phenomenal for both club and country last year and is absolutely one of the 50 best players in the world. Koke—like many of Atletico Madrid's players—is dramatically underrated and a top-notch midfielder.

Gerrard was huge for Liverpool last year, undertaking a new role but still scoring 13 goals and adding 13 assists. Perhaps England's poor showing at the World Cup hurt him. Perhaps it also hurt Sturridge, who scored 21 goals in 29 Premier League games.

Finally, there is Ramsey. Had he stayed healthy last year, he surely would have been on this list. All he did last year was score 10 goals and add seven assists in 23 league games for Arsenal while driving the play forward for the Gunners in his box-to-box midfielder role. With two goals in three EPL games thus far this year, Ramsey is picking up where he left off.

But Sanchez is the biggest snub, and Koke is a close second. Neither Xavi nor Casillas is better than those two at this point in their careers.

But hey, it's all personal opinion. You surely have a few too, so be sure to leave your biggest snubs or most overrated players in the comments. What's more fun than debating which players are better than others, after all?