Catching up on some recent posts. The best players of the 1954 World Cup: robfielder.substack.com/p/the-best-p...

The first post-war World Cup. Who were the best players of the 1950 edition? Going back to something i looked at with @footballarguments.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

Today's selection comes from the 1938 World Cup. Italy retain their crown, but who were the best players of the tournament? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

Moving on to the 1934 World Cup and another selection of the best players. Very interesting tournament and some tricky choices to make. robfielder.substack.com/p/the-best-pla…

Today we're going back, way back, to where it all began. Who were the best players of the 1930 World Cup? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

You might have noticed that the World Cup will soon be upon us. So why not look at the greatest players in World Cup history, how we might select them and what might change from the top 100 I selected back in 2018. robfielder.substack.com/p/rating-the-w…

In my latest post I look at the strength of the Copa America over history. From 1916 to today, how meaningful a competition is it, how tough to win? How does it compare to a World Cup or Euros? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

After yesterday's post considering the strength of the World Cup over time, today I turn to the European Championship. How has it changed over the years and how does it compare to a World Cup? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

So far I've spent a lot of time asking questions, this time I actually supply some answers. How strong was each World Cup and how has this changed over time? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

Follow up to this. Assessing tournaments using the Elo methodology. open.substack.com/pub/robfield...

Today's post looks at how we value tournaments. What criteria should we use and how does that change over time? This is the lead in to a series of detailed posts about individual competitions. open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

Underpinning all of my assessments is the importance of context. Today I look at the three broad eras of football history as an introduction to how we appraise achievements at different points in time. robfielder.substack.com/p/the-eras-of-…

Latest post looks at the art of creating a "top 100" listing of great players. How do we go about it, what is the process and what sort of balance do we need to consider? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

Today's post is about players' peak, prime and longevity. How long do you have to be great for, in order to be counted among the greats? open.substack.com/pub/robfielder…

It’s a 5-4 in a semi-final of a major tournament between probably the two best teams in the world. Of course people are going to think it’s good.

Today's newsletter is on the subject of trophies and whether they matter in assessing great players robfielder.substack.com/p/do-trophies-…

Today's newsletter is about the separation between ability and performance in football and the relative importance (or lack of) around completeness and versatility. robfielder.substack.com/p/understandin…

After threatening to do it for a long time, I've finally created a newsletter/blog on Substack. Will be focused on football's greatest players and how we think about greatness in the game. Would be grateful if people subscribe. substack.com/home/post/p-19…

New blogpost: Team of the World Cup 1958 The beginning of the Brazilian empire - and its finest ever player. As always, with massive thanks to @robfielder.bsky.social ! footballarguments.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/t...

The earliest “top 100 current players in the world” list that I’m aware of is World Soccer’s November 1991 version. Is anyone aware of an earlier list like this, either ordered or unordered?

Putting aside Messi and Ronaldo, what are the best individual seasons of the 21st century?

Don’t think @alimaxwell.bsky.social is fully taking account of the heat and altitude impacts of playing in a Mexican summer at midday but I do think this is an interesting question.

I’m interested in the type of books that those reading over 50 get through in a year. I try to read as broadly as possible, across subjects and genres.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more. 2024 was my best for probably 20 years and managed to roughly double that tally this year to average a book a week (combination of books and audiobooks). Hope to maintain that next year.

Ahead of the World Cup, am looking for some related reads. What’s the best World Cup connected book I might not have read?

New blogpost: Team of the Decade 2015-2025 Featuring the amazing @zonal-marking.bsky.social , @justin-kraft.de and @robfielder.bsky.social footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/t...

Am currently working on something considering greatness in different eras. One of the problems pre 1954ish is the top players virtually never played against each other which meant we have very little idea of how good they were. Now they hardly stop playing each other.

Question: I think there’s a general consensus now that the Champions League is a higher level of football than the World Cup. Is that due to player quality or the extra time that clubs get to train together?

The points listings remain one of the most interesting bits of these for me.

We’ve made it to 1957-58 in our team of the season series. Some of history’s greatest ever figures feature in one of the most competitive editions yet.

It took a bit longer than usual, but then again the season ended in an unusual way. But here it is! New blogpost: Team of the Season 2024-2025 With player portraits by the amazing @lgambrose.bsky.social and @robfielder.bsky.social ! footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/t...

Final plug for the new blogpost!

As always, really enjoyed being able to contribute to this.

New blogpost, once again with the wonderful @robfielder.bsky.social: Team of the Season 1956-57 Di Stefano produces a GOAT season, Argentinians en masse, the last full season of the Busby Babes - a memorable year for reasons both good and bad! footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/03/23/t...

I’m not sure why this thread got so little engagement, whether it’s just not an interesting topic or something about the way Bluesky displays threads. But at long last, I got to the end.

A couple of observations on my Liverpool selection. One of the hardest to pick a timeframe on and one most disadvantaged by the 3 year timeframe. Over a longer period they would obviously beat a lot of other teams.

Maybe not the time but I reckon Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore would have had a shot.

New blogpost: Team of the Season 1955-56 The first European Cup, the first Ballon d'Or, the end of the Hungarian reign, Fiorentina somehow not conceding a lot... lots to unpack in this historical year! Featuring the great @robfielder.bsky.social! footballarguments.wordpress.com/2025/01/17/t...

I struggled with which was Bayern’s best team. This one, the turn of the century team, Pep’s side or the 2013 CL winners.

This is so linked to the days before Christmas for me. Overall I think it’s an ok list in a tough year. Most of the voters seem to have stuck to the brief and focused on the calendar year.

Earlier this month we were lucky enough to enjoy a few days' stay at @shakespeareandcompany.com and our part of the bargain was David having a conversation about the History of Ideas. It really was a fantastic event, one of our best. Have a listen 🎧 ⬇️

Remember how the English bid wasn’t allowed more than 2 stadiums in London and only one city with more than 1. But Qatar were allowed to use stadiums in “cities” not built that were in a tiny desert location.

“Get the guitar out”

I’m often intrigued as to whether lists like this for other sports are halfway credible. Because with respect, most football journalists are generally terrible at these because they’re not historians so they tend to just copy previous lists.

I found rating this Arsenal side one of the hardest to slot in. Domestically so good but never showed in European competition that they were truly among the Continent’s premier teams.

I’ve “read” more this year than for quite some time and a big part of that has been getting Audible. I used to be a bit snobby about audiobooks but they are a brilliant resource and some of the free ones available are superb, with the narrators really adding something to the experience.

One of my highlights of the season is the Financial Times’ books of the year edition. And very nice to see @samfr.bsky.social deservedly featured.

I’ll defend Allison Pearson’s right to be obnoxious – as she should defend mine | Kenan Malik

Harry Kane now has more top flight league goals in total than Alan Shearer scored in the PL. Still 20 behind overall when you include Shearer’s Division 1 goals.

The 50 Best Club Teams of the Last 100 Years Before I get into my list of the best 50 club teams of the last 100 years, I wanted to lay out some of the criteria behind it.