It there any point to comparisons when they're done like this?

Yesterday Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has been awarded the Ballon d'Or for a fourth year running as well as releasing the FIFA/FIFpro World XI.  Most of you will know that for the first time since its inception all of the players in World XI were from the same league, Liga BBVA. I often read other sports blogs and a few twitter feeds but I don't think I have ever seen such consternation to something like this before, people will obvious disagree with 1 or 2 of the list but like most I don't agree with 4 or 5 of them.

The Team is;

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)


That is the FIFA/FIFpro World XI and I think I know the reason why it is not very good,

The 50,000 professional footballers belonging to the players’ unions across the world that form FIFPro received voting forms to nominate their peers in a secret ballot for inclusion in their World XI and as far as I am concerned at least half of the footballers in the world are stupid and the other half will vote for their mates.  Messi reportedly gave Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Aguero the nod. "We are not against each other," the four-time winner said of Ronaldo, "It would be stupid not to consider Cristiano as one of the best. I just thought those were the players I should vote for"

I would like to see people try and argue that Messi and/or Ronaldo shouldn't be in that team but other than those two there is a fairly decent argument for someone else to be in that team. The lack of Kompany or Hummels in defense,  Pirlo or Ozil in midfield and RVP or Gomez upfront for me is wrong.  But I am not going to debate what the team should but that this is possible one of the worst methods to generate a fair comparison.

The worldwide players’ union FIFPro and FIFA announced, late last year, five goalkeepers, fifteen defenders, twenty midfielders and fifteen attackers as part of the 55-player final shortlist.  Once they did they created one the biggest popularity contests outside the world of politics.  When you want to compare multiple players from multiple leagues you have to be as accurate as possible, it is quite complex to do this fairly.  It would take analyst which have watched equal amounts of all the major leagues and equal amounts of games for all the players you want to compare.

I don't think there are many people out their who are qualified enough to do this but I would lie to see a team   selected by managers of the top league and just in case you wanted know my top team is I have detailed below (by the way, I am assuming that none of you will agree with me).


Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Vincent Kompany (Man City)
Matts Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Andrea Pirlo (Jucvntus)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Robin Van Persie (Arsenal/Man United)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)


Trivia Questions 5

Q: Who are the top 3 International goal scorers who have played in the English Premier League?

Answers to Question 4

Q: Robert Griffin III became the second quarterback to accomplish a perfect passer rating in a game in his rookie season, who was the first?

A: Drew Bledsoe of the New England Patriots accomplished this against the Indianapolis Colts on December 26, 1993