1 Cristiano Ronaldo

After years of going almost neck and neck with Lionel Messi, the Portuguese now stands head and mighty trapezius muscles above any other player in the world. He drove Real Madrid to the holy grail last season, leading the club’s charge for their 10th European champions title, and he will probably have smashed the Champions League scoring records by the time the Ballon d’Or is handed out, having already set historic scoring streaks in Spain this season. He has been relentlessly excellent. Injury hampered him at the World Cup but still his country’s star

2 Manuel Neuer

Not only does the 28-year-old excel at everything a goalkeeper is supposed to do well, he has redefined his position. Neuer’s exceptional reading of the game and nimble feet enable him to act as an auxiliary sweeper and allow Bayern Munich and Germany to tighten their grip on opponents. Neuer conceded just 18 goals in 31 matches as Bayern won the Bundesliga in record time and dominated his country’s rearguard as Germany won the World Cup for the first time in a generation

3 Thomas Müller

The Bayern Munich forward’s shrewdness, strength and skill make him as hard to categorise as he is for defenders to contain. Able to influence matches from anywhere in midfield or across the front line, he has an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and to make the right decisions. He scored eight goals in five matches as Bayern added the German Cup to their league title and won the silver boot at the World Cup

4 Leo Messi

This was the year in which perhaps the best player of all time showed unprecedented signs of decline, meaning he was only brilliant. He was not helped by the fact that some of his Barcelona team-mates waned even more, which is why it was a year of relative underachievement for Messi even though he produced his finest World Cup performances (though he was subdued in the latter stages) and became the all-time leading scorer in El Clásico thanks to a superb hat-trick against Real Madrid in March

5 Philipp Lahm

The man that Pep Guardiola considers the cleverest player he has ever coached showed himself to be among the most influential midfielders on the planet while helping Bayern win the domestic double and confirmed his reputation as the best right-back around while captaining Germany to victory at the World Cup

6 Neymar

At the age of 22 the Brazilian shouldered a burden of pressure that few players have ever endured at a World Cup and he did so with rare skill and infectious insouciance. He illuminated the tournament until he got injured, whereupon the hosts unravelled. After a difficult first season at Barcelona he evolved to become a worthy peer of Messi

7 Thibault Courtois

The young Belgian demonstrated phenomenal talent and exceptional composure to help Atlético Madrid to an unlikely Spanish title and to the final of the Champions League, withstanding unusual scrutiny to knock out his parent club, Chelsea, in the semi-final. Once his loan at Madrid expired, he returned to London, relegated the superb Petr Cech to the role of substitute and has helped give Chelsea renewed solidity

8 Diego Costa

It was one of the biggest pities of the year that Diego Costa was not fully fit during the Champions League final or the World Cup. He had been outstanding before that, serving as a ferocious one-man forward line for Atlético before moving to the Premier League and solving Chelsea’s striker problem

9 Arjen Robben

The Dutchman may hit the floor faster than a juiced-up disco dancer but he also uplifts matches in a way few others can. In an era of football technocracy, he can shatter any system with his explosive dribbling and shooting. Bayern Munich would not be so dominant without him and Holland would not have made the semi-finals of the World Cup either

10 Toni Kroos

The German has further embellished his reputation as the ultimate modern playmaker, combining huge dynamism with rare vision and almost flawless passing precision. Some questioned how he would fit in to Real Madrid following his move from Bayern Munich in the wake of his triumphant World Cup, but he has already made his new team more fluent

11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

One of the most sorely-missed absentees from the World Cup, the Swede was the second-highest scorer in last season’s Champions League and struck 10 goals more than anyone else in Ligue 1 as Paris Saint-Germain romped to the title in France

12 James Rodríguez

The Colombian went to the World Cup on the back of a club season in which he finished as the leading assist-provider in Ligue 1. He continued to display wonderful creativity in Brazil and also finished moves, winning the Golden Boot at the tournament. That was enough to persuade Real Madrid to buy him for nearly twice the €45m fee that Monaco had paid Porto for him the year before

13 Bastian Schweinsteiger

Injury meant the midfielder was not always available but he still featured enough for Bayern and Germany to serve as the smooth engine in their midfields as both teams enjoyed great success

14 Angel di María

The waifish winger spent 2014 wreaking havoc on opposing defences. With his speed, trickery and exquisite crossing, he was the leading provider of assists in La Liga and the Champions League. He shone at the World Cup until injury cut him down in the quarter-final. That left Argentinians aghast and Real players and fans shared that feeling when the Spaniards sold him to Manchester United, where he has been the outstanding player of the season so far

15 Gareth Bale

The Welshman wore the ‘world’s most expensive player’ tag with casual elan. It was not just his carefully-honed physique that made him look tailor-made for Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning team, but also his elegant explosiveness and game-breaking skill. His goal in the Champions League final was fitting reward for a fine first season at Real and he has helped ignite hope that Wales will soon earn a place in the international spotlight too

16 Yaya Touré

Few players have ever dominated Premier League midfields the way that Touré did in Manchester City’s triumphant 2013-14 campaign. With a unique blend of power and finesse he plundered 20 league goals as City held off a Luis Suárez-inspired Liverpool. The Ivorian would surely appear higher in the rankings if he had been able to help City go farther in the Champions League and if injury and bereavement had not complicated his World Cup

17 Javier Mascherano

A diligent defender for Barcelona, the Argentinian was one of the outstanding performers at the World Cup, providing the solidity and drive that enabled his team’s more glamorous players to thrive. He exemplified the extent to which he was the heart and brains of his team by tearing his anus while making a last-minute, goal-saving tackle on Arjen Robben

18 Paul Pogba

Manchester United fans must have felt like those game-show losers who are shown “and here’s what you could have won”, as the player whom Sir Alex Ferguson could not persuade to stay at Old Trafford drove Juventus to the Serie A title. Voted Fifa’s best young player of the year for 2014, the Frenchman showed both for his club and country that he is among the most potent all-round midfielders on the planet

19 Mario Götze

Following his acrimonious move from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich the youngster did not quite find consistency but he did show flashes of refined skill and intelligence, most obviously when volleying the winning goal in the World Cup final

20 Karim Benzema

After ending a mammoth barren streak for France, the striker finally began to convince his compatriots that he was not wasting his potential and he contributed to a decent World Cup showing by his country. For his club, he dovetailed swiftly and smartly with Ronaldo, Bale & co

21 Eden Hazard

After José Mourinho demanded he be more focused and decisive, the Belgian showcased his magical dribbling and defence-busting passing with greater regularity than ever this year. If he could add more goals to his game, especially for his country, than he would surely elevate himself to the highest level

22 Andrés Iniesta

A sub-par year by his standards, but Iniesta remained one of the most deftly dangerous midfielders on the planet. His control is such that the ball seems part of his anatomy. German technik may have overtaken tika-taka, but really only time could diminish Iniesta’s influence

23 Sergio Ramos

If red cards sometimes make him a liability his excellent defending usually makes up for it, and last season he added another skill to his repertoire, becoming a scorer of crucial goals. He netted twice in the Champions League semi-final win against Bayern Munich and a late equaliser to force the final to extra time. He played with a different central defensive partner in each of Spain’s matches during their World Cup flop