The IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) put out their ranking for the top 10 soccer players in 2023, and there was one glaring omission, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Al Nassr star has 53 goals in 2023 but none of that mattered apparently as “better” leagues were taken into consideration.
The ranking has Erling Haaland in first followed by Kylian Mbappé in second and Lionel Messi, who played half the year with PSG and the other half with Inter Miami in third.
Not happy with what he saw on Instagram, Cristiano Ronaldo responded to the ranking on A Bola, a Portuguese sports website, with some emojis.
CR7 responds to IFFHS 2023 ranking
Cristiano Ronaldo responded to the ranking by placing four emojis, “😂😂😂🙈”. CR7 seems to think the ranking is a joke and while his season has been impressive numerically, the numbers were achieved in the Saudi Pro League.
Under that same analysis, seeing Messi in third is questionable given that he did not play the last 2 months of the MLS season with an injury despite the initial buzz and good form of Inter Miami, the team fumbled near the end of the season missing the MLS playoffs.
The IFFHS ranking is as follows:
1 – Erling Haaland
2- Kylian Mbappé
3- Lionel Messi
4- Rodri
5 – Jude Bellingham
6- Kevin De Bryune
7 – Harry Kane
8 – Bernardo Silva
9 – Vinicius Jr
10 – Lautaro Martínez
