World Football Rankings: The Top 10 Players Who Don't Dive in Football

Yes, there's 10.

Diving has become such a part of football these days that it really is difficult to find those players who don''t do it. Sure, they all claim they don't and some of those deniers even go so far as to scold those who do (Steven Gerrard, it pains me to say).

Diving should not be confused with players who go down to avoid contact or anticipating contact. Diving is strictly players who go down purely to con the referee.

There are a select few footballers who really don't flop all over pitch every time they are around the ball, trying to get a call or get another player booked. And since that's such a rare thing these days, I thought I'd make a list pointing out who those brave souls are. 

Now, I'm not saying none of these players has ever taken a tumble, but these footballers aren't the serial divers we see so often these days. And it's not like I could just make a list of goalkeepers and center backs. I've limited it to attacking players.   

If I've left anyone out, do let me know. They deserve a nod. If you think anyone here doesn't belong, let me have it. 

10. Lionel Messi

Plenty will disagree with this choice I'm sure, but given the number of defenders always chipping at Lionel Messi's heels, he stays on his feet a surprising amount of the time. 

Messi just continues his run and usually goes down only when his legs are literally taken right from underneath him. Compare that to the other (or second) best player in the world at the moment Cristiano Ronaldo, and most of Messi's World Cup-winning teammates, and then tell me Messi is a diver.

I do wish he'd stop telling referees when to hand out cards though. 

9. Kaka

Kaka has been known to flop in the past, but like others on the list, it's not something you see a lot.

More often, you see fools like Kader Keita looking absolutely ridiculous and conning the referee anyway.  

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic does his best to play the game fairly, and maybe that's what's hurt him a bit in the Champions League. But he has won the league title in whatever league he's been in the last seven years running.

And he's done it staying on his feet. 

7. Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney has done his fair share of diving in the past as well, but those were his younger days. Watching him play these last few years, I'd say he's learned.

Or he at least learned that he'd never be as graceful a diver as Cristiano Ronaldo and stopped trying. 

But Rooney has matured on the pitch and now uses his talent to beat his opponents. Off the pitch is a different story. 

6. Xabi Alonso

The only Spaniard on this list, and that's just pathetic for the World Cup champions.

Xabi Alonso is quite an honest midfielder who relies on his talent to play the game and doesn't go down easily under challenges. And he takes an awful lot of tough challenges to boot. 

He's been suspected of diving in the past, and though he is sometimes overzealous in his own tackling (just ask Cesc Fabregas), he doesn't try to cheat his opponents into getting carded. 

5. Landon Donavan

There are a lot of things I dislike about Landon Donovan, but I'll give him credit for staying on his feet as often as he can. 

And for someone who dribbles into the box as often as he does, that's saying something.

He's even been known to call out his teammates for diving, and while I don't like that he jokes about it, it is just the MLS. 

4. Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt is constantly running up and down the pitch, and he's always sniffing around for a goal, so it's refreshing that he's never the one on the ground, whining for a foul.

He gets beat up each game as well, but he stands his ground and does the damage the old-fashioned way—capitalizing on defensive mistakes and his teammates' misfortune (see Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United, March 2011).  

3. Carlos Tevez

Carlos Tevez is way too much of a beast to dive, and he's a pretty tough footballer as well. 

He scores an obscene amount of goals, and the only diving he does is to head the ball into the back of the net. 

2. Yossi Benayoun

Diving has become such a part of the game that sometimes, you won't get a call you deserve if you don't go down, even if there is contact.

Just ask Yossi Benayoun, who was fouled by Vincent Kompany of Manchester City in 2010 and would've been awarded a penalty (the score was 0-0 in the waning moments) had he gone down.

Honesty is both a blessing and a curse. 

1. Dimitar Berbatov

Nothing ever seems to go Dimitar Berbatov's way. He topped the scorer's charts but still isn't good enough for Sir Alex Ferguson, and defenders flop around all over him, yet he's the one who gets called for the foul.

It's a wonder Berbatov doesn't argue with officials more because he certainly has a case a lot of the times. He gets handled pretty roughly at times but stays on his feet, and he watches defenders crash into him and sees the call go in their favor.

What luck.

Those are my attacking players who I feel play the game the way it was meant to be played, on their feet. But there's one defender I wanted to include...  

John Terry

John Terry has taken some nasty hits in his day, and he's dished them out too (like a no-nonsense defender should). But Terry despises diving, and he's not afraid to show it.

He's yelled at Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba so many times during games that the Ivorian has actually stopped flopping each chance he gets. And one of Terry's new teammates better take note of that as well.

Terry doesn't tolerate diving, and for that, I commend him. He's a pretty despicable human being, but his football is all class.