It is finally here! The Top 100 Footballers in the World for the 2016-17 season, set to be revealed over the next four weeks. 2016-17 gave us the happy surprises of Leicester City and AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League, the first ever back-to-back Champions League champions in Real Madrid and magical title winners like Antonio Conte’s Chelsea and Mourinho’s Manchester United. Throughout every single match in all of Europe’s top leagues and competitions, The Mastermind was breaking it all down in an attempt to compile a list and ranking of the Top 100 Footballers in the World. This is what we came up with. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts as it gets revealed week after week until the end of June!

How Does It Work?

So how on earth are players ranked? Well there’s a formula, and it works like this: Each player is given a score out of 100 in five different categories (overall ability, season form, club’s season form, contribution to club’s success, form from the previous season and difficulty of league). Each of these categories weigh a different amount towards the formula score as some are more important than others in ranking players. Overall ability weighs the most, a total of 40% of a player’s score, while season form is the next highest, worth 37%. Then club’s season form and league of difficulty are worth 6% each, form from the previous season is worth 5%, and contribution to club’s success is worth 4%. After that for every Mastermind Team of the Week appearance they make in any competition, they are given 0.02 added on, meaning that team of the week appearances are worth 2% of the total formula score. On top of that, a player will also be given bonus points worth up to 0.03 for things like making the team of the month, team of the season or winning a personal award.

For example, this is Kasper Schemichel‘s formula score this season. The Leicester goalkeeper had a brilliant season once again and ranks 120th on the 2016-17 list.

Overall Ability	83	x 0.40	33.2
Season Form	86	x 0.37	31.82
Club’s Season Form	81	x 0.06	4.86
2015-16 Season Form	87	x 0.05	4.35
Contribution to Club’s Success	99	x 0.04	3.96
Difficulty of League	95	x 0.06	5.7
TOTW Appearances	5	x 0.02	0.1
Bonus (POTM, POTY, TOTY, etc.)	3	x 0.02	0.06
Formula Score	———–>	-———->	84.05

Obviously bias still plays a factor but The Mastermind does its best at ensuring scores are reasonable and fair. The player with the highest formula score, is the best player in the world and so on and that is how the formula score works.

So with that, before getting into the actual list, it is now time to explore a few honourable mentions.

Honourable Mentions

Honourable Mention (#107): Mario Mandzukic

Mario Mandzukic has been brilliant for Juventus this season. To play that well in a completely new position in a 60 game season is highly impressive. Throughout his career Mandzukic has always been a target man; a goal-getting centre forward. This season, he’s been deployed out on the left wing and has still managed to have an incredible impact on his team. The 31-year old scored 7 goals with 4 assists in 31 Serie A matches and added 2 goals in the UEFA Champions League to that tally as well. The one knock against the Croatian that prevents him from making the Top 100 is that when he was given the chance to play up front, he did not take it, only scoring 4 goals in 19 appearances as a centre forward this season. Still though, Mario Mandzukic has been incredible as a left winger and has been one of the keys to Juve’s success as they made it all the way to the UEFA Champions League Final. Formula Score: 84.24.

Honourable Mention (#103): Andrea Belotti

Andrea Belotti used 2016-17 to establish himself as one of the world’s greatest goal-scorers. The Torino striker only burst onto the scene last year when he netted 12 goals in 35 Serie A matches but he did more than double that this season, really making a name for himself around the world. The 23-year old Italian bagged 26 goals with 7 assists in 35 Serie A matches, turning himself into one of the best strikers in the league. Without him, Torino would have finished nowhere near 9th place and now Italy have a goal-scoring centre forward reminiscent of Alessandro Del Piero again. If he can keep up this kind of goal-scoring form into 2017-18, Andrea Belotti could turn into one of the world’s best centre forwards. Formula Score: 84.35.

Honourable Mention (#101): Marcos Alonso

Few would have expected Marcos Alonso to have this much of an impact on Chelsea this season. A 23 million signing from Fiorentina, Alonso has established himself as one of the best left-back’s in the world this season and has been one of Chelsea’s most important players as they lifted the title. The Spanish defender was just so good for Conte’s men this season in both attack and defense. He scored 6 goals with 3 assists, more than any other Premier League defender, highlighting his fantastic attacking ability. But he also shone in defense, making 2 tackles per game and winning 2.4 headed duels per game. After an incredible season with Chelsea, Marcos Alonso is now one of the best left-backs in the world and if not was certainly the best in the league this season. Formula Score: 84.38.

So those are the honourable mentions, now it is time to get into the full list of the Top 100 Footballers of 2016-17, starting with numbers 100-81.