I rarely make threads, as you lot know, but I wanted to make this one to help you guys understand how I perceive the definition of the term "world-class." This definition has gotten me into a lot of heated discussions with people who have a different interpretation.

I consider "world-class" to be a combination of four sides of eleven that all shape up in this formation:

------------------------------GK---------------------
RB/RWB---------CB-----------CB--------LB/LWB
RM/RW-----CM/CDM----CM/CAM-----LM/LW
--------------------ST/CF-----ST/CF---------------

They go as follows, best 11 one, best 11 two, best 11 three, and best youth team (e.g. 23 and younger).

Any player that makes it into one of these sides, irrelevant of which one it is, I consider to be world-class. Basketball and the NBA do something similar with their 1st/2nd/3rd team all-stars, and I have always regarded it as the standard for the elite level of a sport. I encourage you guys to share your sides in this thread, to help me understand how this forum and its members generally regard the best players in the game. Try to avoid trolling if at all possible, because I want to take the players and rate them based off of your posts, so the more people that participate, the better.

Side One:

------------------------------Buffon---------------------
Carvajal---------Chiellini---------Ramos--------Marcelo
Messi-----Vidal----Modric-----Ronaldo
--------------------Suarez-----Lewandowski---------------

Side Two:

------------------------------De Gea---------------------
Juanfran---------Hummels------Godin--------Sandro
Bale-----Verratti----Kroos-----Neymar
--------------------Griezmann-----Higuian---------------

Side Three:

------------------------------Neuer---------------------
Florenzi-------Alderweield-------Bonnuci--------Alaba
De Bruyne/Sanchez-----Pjanic----Pogba-----Hazard
--------------------Kane-----Lukaku---------------

Youth Side:

------------------------------Donnarumma---------------------
Kimmich---------Sule-----------Varane--------Bellerin
Sane-----Saul---Asensio-----Alli
--------------------Dyabla-----Rashford---------------

It's a fair bit of work, I know, but I'd appreciate if you gave it a shot for my data purposes.

I think that a world class talent like you put Dybala and Alli there with those guys can be in a world class team because they can already play and perform vs the best and they got the world class potential.

------------------------------Perin------------------------------
Bellerin-------Varane-------Sánchez--------Guerreiro
Lemar---------Ceballos--------Pogba-----Mbappe-----------
---------------------Milinkovic-Savic-------------------------
-----------------------------Morata-------------------------------

Crazy young world class team :D

------------------------------Donnarumma---------------------
Borthwick Jackson ---------Bailly-----------Varane--------Bellerin
Mbappe-----Bernardischi---Alli ----Ascensio
-------------Correa-------Rashford---------------

I think Borthwick-Jackson is criminally underrated. He may be alright in defence, but his crosses were by far the best I've ever when it comes to young talents.

--------------------------Donnarumma(18)--------------------------
Bellerin(22) -------Jose Gimenez(22)---------Laporte(23)-------Theo(19)
Dembele(20)------------Saul(22)----------Kovacic(23) ----------Asensio(21)
--------------------Mbappe(18)-------------Dolberg(19)---------------

Phew, all 23 or younger :)

@Golazo @iHeartfootball @Yvan21 Aren't we suppose to make 4 starting eleven though? Or I didn't get this right? Anyway, will post mine later when I have more time for it. Expect something ridiculous. ;)

@Golazo @iHeartfootball Aren't we suppose to make 4 starting eleven though?

Yeah. Feels bad. It's a lot of work, I know, but truly think on it, there are some tough cuts at the end.

@emo yea, but going with this for now because the other best elevens are going to be kind of repetitive in terms of names :v

Here's the rest of it:
Side One:

------------------------------Neuer---------------------
Carvajal---------Chiellini---------Godin--------Marcelo
Messi-------Vidal-------Modric------------Ronaldo
--------------------Suarez----------Kane---------------

Side Two:

------------------------------Buffon-------------------------
Dani Alves---------Bonnuci------Ramos--------Filipe Luis
Bale--------------Casemiro--------Kroos-----------Neymar
----------------Lewandowski----------Aubameyang--------

Side Three:

------------------------------Oblak---------------------------
Kyle Walker-------Varane-------Thiago Silva--------R. Guerreiro
Isco----------Busquets----------Veratti----------------Hazard
------------------Higuain-------------Alexis Sanchez-----

@emo @sunf sorry I will try to make all lineups later

Interesting!!!

I have slightly different opinion about world class too :D, but in general almost exactly the same as yours.

For me one important key of "world-class" and I put that above all is: consistency and professionalism.

The measurement for those terms are:

• 2 years for youth (U21),
• 5 years for U27
• 7 years for U30
• 10 years for U32+

without ditching your team and have a law suit, sneak around and have social media bitch fight with your boss or teammates... Racism or constant provocation to fans.

Mind that, the dirty mind game can screw are the people's performance, and while competing professionally, this will keep messing up with opponents.

And then I uses it to put it in to formation, which is similar to yours. :) (great idea).

@Golazo @iHeartfootball @Yvan21 Aren't we suppose to make 4 starting
eleven though? Or I didn't get this right? Anyway, will post mine
later when I have more time for it. Expect something ridiculous. ;)

No, you're totally right, I was just in the train typing it all on my phone, so to do 4 squads of that would take hours lol. I'll do the other squads whenever I can, but it's like what Yvan said, its gonna have a lot of repeated names :p

Side 1:

------------------------De Gea-------------------------
Alves--------Ramos-------Chiellini------Marcelo
Modric----------------Pogba----------------Hazard
Messi------------Lewandowski----------Ronaldo

Side 2:

--------------------------Oblak------------------------
Walker-------Bonucci-------Godin------Sandro
Vidal-------------------Kroos-------------Sanchez
Bale------------------Suarez--------------Neymar

Side 3:

------------------------Neuer-------------------------
Carvajal----Varane---Alderweireld------Alaba
De Bruyne-------Rodriguez-----------Coutinho
Dybala-----------Griezmann---------------Reus

Youth Side:

----------------------Donnarumma---------------------
Alexander-Arnold--Tuanzebe--Sanchez--Theo
Alli--------------------Asensio-----------Bernadeshi
Dembele-------------Mbappe-------------Rashford

Obviously this doesn't capture all the world-class players as there are going to be more than 44 world-class players to be quite honest!

^ +1 for tidy formatting, mine look pretty messy lol

thanks @yvan

Obviously this doesn't capture all the world-class players as there are going to be more than 44 world-class players to be quite honest!

While I appreciate your opinion, the whole reason I made this thread was because I believe that to be incorrect. People in my mind are confusing "the best in the world" and therefore "world-class" with the "very good players of the world." Imo, if you are the top 3 in the world at your position, or the best younger player in the world at your position, then you are world class. No more, no less. 44 sounds a bit much to be tbh, but whatever.

I get that isn't the most popular definition, but it's the one I have. And based off of the sides that you guys submit, I'm going to create a table that shows our "ultimate" world class team based off of what everyone submits. Obviously, I'm going to need at least 10 or more people's sides to do this.

Here's what I got. Tried to include everyone that I watch consistently, but here's some that I had to leave out b'cuz lack of space.

• Fabregas
• Hazard
• Busquets
• Casemiro
• Hummels
• Oblak
• Koke
• Isco
• Muller

But yeah, here's the big 3 squads I came up with.

1st team:

2nd team:

3rd team:

Personally, I prefer a 4-3-3 because I place more importance on the ability of a midfielder than a forward, but I made the formations by @Sun's rules. If you ask me in person, though, I'll always answer with a 4-3-3.

For example, I would replace Neymar with Kroos on my 1st team to make it a 4-3-3 with Messi pushed up. 2nd team: I'd drop Aguero and Griezmann to the 3rd team and put Kante in the 2nd team to make it a 4-3-3. Etc, etc.

@sun what are you going to do about the fact people have used the same player in different positions...just say Ronaldo was used 5 times as a left winger in people's teams and 5 times as a striker where would that leave him cos you can't have 2 Ronaldo's!

@sun what are you going to do about the fact people have used the same player in different positions...just say Ronaldo was used 5 times as a left winger in people's teams and 5 times as a striker where would that leave him cos you can't have 2 Ronaldo's!

I'm just going to count them up in points, 1st team has 3 points, 2nd team gets 2 points, 3rd team gets 1 point, youth players get 1/2 point. Then make a list of who has the most points. Positions don't factor into the overall calculation, they are just used to make sure that people don't put 44 strikers as the best players, I want actual well-rounded teams.

@sun good plan +1

I agree with Dynastian's choices for the 3 sides almost one hundred percent. The only thing I'd do is put Thiago Silva instead of Pepe for team 3. So instead of creating my lineups you can multiply the points by 2.