Victor Osimhen, Fermín López and Estêvão are placed between numbers 70 and 41 as we continue our countdown of the best players on the planet

• Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

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Didi Hamann, Romário and Dunga were part of our 219-strong voting panel to decide who should make our list this year

If someone, back in 1994, had said that at one point in my life I would work on a project selecting the world’s best footballers together with Romário, I would not have believed them.

That summer I was living in Rosersberg, seeing Sweden make their way to a World Cup semi-final, watching the late games at the local Blå Laguna pizza restaurant. Tommy Svensson’s team finally came unstuck against a Brazil side not only containing the wonderful Romário, but also Bebeto, Dunga, Jorginho and Raí. Brazil went on to win the World Cup, beating Italy on penalties in the final.