Best male soccer player in the world: Championship Belt by year - ESPN

The world's biggest superstars have descended on North America. While the Copa América and Club World Cup brought oodles of talent to our shores in recent years, there's nothing quite like a World Cup. While there are exceptions for players who didn't qualify (Gianluigi Donnarumma) or who appear to have gravely offended their national team coach (Trent Alexander-Arnold), virtually every star on the planet is appearing on pitches across Canada, Mexico and the United States right now.

We're about to find out which country's side is best. But what about the players? Who is the best in the world? Sure, there will be a Golden Ball handed out at the end of the tournament, but after years of being able to easily point to Lionel Messi, the answer to that question isn't quite as clear. Kylian Mbappe? Erling Haaland? Rodri? Ousmane Dembele? The answer might be different from one week to the next.

Today, we're here to settle that problem… throughout the past 45 years of history. I'm excited to run all the way back to the 1979-80 season and detail the history of the «Best Male Soccer Player Alive» championship belt, picking out the single best men's player at any given time. (I've done several of these in the past, including championship belts for NFL pass rushers, quarterbacks, head coaches, starting pitchers and American athletes.)

Now, of course, there are already awards that try to address this. Every soccer competition of note has some sort of a best player award. The Ballon d'Or picks the best player in the world in a given year, as does the various flavors of the FIFA Player of the Year award over the years. Those awards, though, are more about rewarding performance in a given timeframe, like our Most Valuable Player honors