Best five-a-side football players

1366 duels later, Messi is still #1 in the Football – Five-a-Side ranking, with Neymar close behind.

Messi edges out Neymar by 39 ELO points at the top, claiming first place with 1403 points and a 67% win rate across 257 duels. Neymar sits on 1364 points after 259 duels, while Ronaldinho takes third with 1347 points despite the highest win rate in the top three at 68%. The sharpest gap in the ranking sits between fourth and fifth: 88 points separate Zinédine Zidane from Ronaldo, a divide that signals a clear tier break after the top four. Zidane holds 1300 points with a 62% win rate, while Ronaldo drops to 1212 points and 54%. At the bottom, Zlatan languishes at #11 with just 972 ELO and a 27% win rate over 222 duels, suggesting the community prizes technical skill and close control over power and pace in five-a-side football. Mbappé, ranked #10, fares only marginally better with 1104 points and a 34% win rate.

The ranking draws on 1366 duels submitted by 53 players, comparing 11 contenders head-to-head. It was last updated on 11 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own votes and influence the debate on who reigns supreme in small-sided football.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →