Steve Darby Laos General Manager, Asian football consultant
Mattar M’boge Assistant manager of Gambia
Alisher Nikimbaev Technical expert, competitions and players affairs, Qatar Football Association

Ed Aarons Deputy news editor, the Guardian
Ahmed Adala Journalist at Radio IFM Tunisie and Coaching Foot in Tunisia
Aanu Adeoye Journalist working for CNN Africa bureau in Lagos, Nigeria
Omar Al Raisi Founder of Dantani, Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of The Sports Journal in the UAE
Tobias Altschäffl Chief footballer reporter at Sport-Bild in Germany
Nick Ames Football writer, the Guardian
David Amoyal Writer for the Athletic and host of the Calcioland podcast
Juan Arango TV commentator/Contributor Aficion Central (Ecuador), Sportsmax (Caribbean) and Al-Jazeera
Philippe Auclair Senior writer, France Football
Gregg Bakowski Football writer, the Guardian
Paolo Bandini Italian football correspondent, the Guardian
Marcelo Barreto Sports journalist and Presenter at Sportv in Brazil
John Bennett Broadcaster, BBC World Service & BBC 5 Live
Mina Finstad Berg Pundit and football expert at TV 2 in Norway
William Bi Football writer based in China
Christoph Biermann Football writer for 11Freunde in Germany
Andreas Böni Head of football at Blick in Switzerland
Anne-Laure Bonnet Journalist and presenter beIN Sports
Mareike Boysen Reporter at Ballesterer magazine in Austria
Andy Brassell European football writer/broadcaster
Costas Bratsos Football writer at Sport24.gr in Greece
Rodrigo Bueno Football journalist and FOX commentator in Brazil
Gevorg Burnuchyan Editor-in-chief of football365.am in Armenia
Mariana Cabral Football writer for Expresso and Sporting U-19 women’s team coach
Pedro Canelo Journalist at El Comercio in Peru
Lédio Carmona Football journalist and SporTV commentator in Brazil
Antonio Casale Host of En La Jugada at RCN Radio and presents a TV show on Winsports in Colombia
Khachik Chakhoyan Uefa Media representer in Armenia
Martin Charquero Uruguayan football journalist on Tenfield, Teledoce and Radio Sport890
Ivaylo Chilev Football journalist and Champions League broadcast producer at bTV Media Group in Bulgaria
Marcus Christenson Football editor, the Guardian
Solace Chukwu Football Writer for the Africa Desk of goal.com
Paulo Vinicius Coelho Football writer and Fox commentator in Brazil
Junior Coimbra CEO of Jogo das Estrelas, Host of Rap77 Podcast and Ambassador of the Adventure of Humanity Project in Brazil
James Corbett Sports writer and principal of deCoubertin Books
Joe Crann Soccer Laduma journalist in South Africa. Part-time TV and Radio analyst
James Dart Sports editor, theguardian.com
Kirill Dementyev Channel One commentator in Russia
Salif Diallo Journalist at Agence de Presse Sénégelaise
Paul Doyle Football writer, the Guardian
John Duerden Asian Football Correspondent for the Guardian
Vincent Duluc Senior reporter at L’Equipe
Magnús Már Einarsson Editor of fotbolti.net in Iceland
Claudia Ekai Kwese Sports Correspondent in Kenya
Mohamed Amine Elamri Sports journalist at Le Matin in Morocco
Kasper Elissaar Editor-in-chief at Soccernet in Estonia
Muhannad El Shennawy Online journalist at Sky News Arabia in the UAE
Rodrigo Errasti Sports editor in chief of the Agencia Colpisa-Vocento in Spain
Alejandro Etcheverry Journalist working for Espn Deportes Radio in Egypt
Amr Fahmy Journalist working for beIN Sports in Egypt
Christian Falk Head of football at Sport-Bild in Germany
Eric Faria Football journalist at TV Globo in Brazil
Mohammed Fayad Editor of www.ahdaaf.me, based in Australia
Dominic Fifield Football writer, the Guardian
Ben Fisher Football writer, the Guardian
Solomon Fowowe Football journalist at the Guardian in Nigeria
Johanna Frändén European football correspondent for Swedish paper Aftonbladet
Jesús Garrido Spanish football journalist
Jonas Giaever Norwegian football journalist
Barry Glendenning Football writer and Guardian Football Weekly regular
Mélisande Gomez Football reporter at L’Equipe
Cristian Grosso Sports editor of La Nación in Argentina
Andreas Hagenauer Football journalist at Der Standard
Thomas Lund Hansen Football writer at Jyllands-Posten in Denmark
Pavel Hartman Czech football writer at Sport daily
Gudmundur Hilmarsson Sport journalist at Morgunbladid and mbl.is in Iceland
Johannes Hofer Presenter at Sky Sport Austria
Andy Hunter Football writer, the Guardian
David Hytner Football writer, the Guardian
Sasa Ibrulj Bosnian football writer
Wael Jabir Editor Ahdaaf.me, Dubai
Jamie Jackson Football writer, the Guardian
Behnam Jafarzadeh Deputy editor at Varzesh3.com, Iran
Paulius Jakelis Lithuania’s most well-known TV football commentator
Stuart James Football writer, the Guardian
Ott Järvela Football journalist and chairman of Estonian Sports Press Association
Nicholas John Snr Asst Vice President, Sports Production , Astro Sports, Malaysia
Kristján Jónsson Sport journalist for Morgunblaðið/mbl.is in Iceland
Boris Jovanovic Editor in Chief Sportske.net
Eduard Kalantaryan Head of Armenia TV sport
Ugur Karakullukcu A Spor pundit and Sabah journalist in Turkey
Celestine Karoney Kenyan sports journalist
Hideki Kasuya Japanese football journalist, commentator and broadcaster
Ali Khaled Editor of FourFourTwo Arabia
Shinya Kizaki Japanese football journalist, broadcaster and commentator
Pavle Knezevic Reporter at Sportske.net
Freddhy Koula Football writer at TDA/Canal+Afrique
Charbel Krayem Presenter at the Golden Ball football show, commentator on MTV Lebanon and head of sport Al Akhbar newspaper
Ermal Kuka Sports journalist at vipsport.al in Albania
Cecilia Lagos Sports journalist. Columnist at Medios Regionales El Mercurio and cecilialagos.com
Steven Lavon Sports journalist and editor-in-chief of africatopsports.com in Lomé, Togo
Amy Lawrence Football writer, the Guardian
Sergio Levinsky Journalist working for Infobae and Jornada in Argentina as well as Kicker in Germany
Gianluca Lia Sports journalist at Times of Malta
Pablo Londinsky Uruguayan football journalist at Tenfield
Sid Lowe Spanish football correspondent for the Guardian
Olof Lundh Swedish football writer for Fotbollskanalen and Dagens Industri, pundit for TV4 and C More and author
Ben Lyttleton Football author and consultant
Ben Mabley Japan-based television commentator for J Sports, SkyPerfecTV, and DAZN
Jaime F. Macias Football analyst at BeIN Sports USA
Paul MacInnes Sports writer, the Guardian
Hatem Maher Senior Sports Editor at Ahram Online in Egypt
Carlos Eduardo Mansur Football writer for O Globo in Brazil
Luca Marchetti Chief Editor of Sky Sport Italia
Milos Markovic Football writer, Sportske.net
Gergely Marosi Freelance sports journalist and football writer in Hungary
Everaldo Marques Football journalist and ESPN broadcaster in Brazil
Tom Marshall Football writer based in Mexico
Ana Thaís Matos Brazilian journalist and SporTV commentator
Martin Mazur Argentinian football journalist for El Gráfico, FourFourTwo and La Gazzetta dello Sport
Ugur Meleke Football columnist at Hürriyet Daily. Also a pundit for CNN Turk and Radyospor
Renata Mendonça Journalist and UOL columnist in Brazil
Maher Mezahi Freelance journalist covering North African football
Janusz Michallik Former US international and ESPN football analyst
Nick Miller Football writer, the Guardian
Luo Ming Sports Editor, Titan Sports, China
Adriana Monsalve Broadcaster and journalist for Univision Deportes in Venezuela
Tomasz Mortimer Hungarian football writer
Elena Mpountou Football writer at sdna.gr
Hassanin Mubarak Football writer
Hirofumi Nakano Journalist and radio show host in Japan
Sachin Nakrani Football writer, the Guardian
Christian Nourry Editor-in-chief, Get French Football News
Vladimir Novak Freelance journalist and producer based in Belgrade, Serbia working for various international media such as World Soccer and World Soccer Digest
Hernan O’Donnell Journalist working for Universo Deportivo who has previously written for El Gráfico and La Nación
Antonis Oikonomidis Greek freelance football writer
Oluwashina Okeleji Reporter for BBC Sport, World Soccer and Al Jazeera online
Collins Okinyo African football journalist and managing editor of soka25east.com
Rafael Oliveira Football journalist and ESPN commentator in Brazil
Ichiro Ozawa Japanese football journalist, commentator, and broadcaster
Fernando Palomo ESPN commentator and the voice of FIFA 17 in Latin America
Juan Carlos Pasman Argentinian journalist who presents his own shows on DirecTV Sports and Radio La Red
Mauro Cezar Pereira Football journalist and ESPN commentator in Brazil
Artur Petrosyan Russian football journalist and uefa.com reporter
Thiago Rabelo Brazilian football journalist at Sagres 730 and Guardian contributor
Andrey Raychtock Sports reporter at Rede Globo in Brazil
Melissa Reddy Senior football correspondent at FootballJOE
Aysha Ridzuan Social Media Manager SEA at Dugout Limited, Singapore
Roberto Rivera Sports commentator and producer with his own company, Gol Dreams Films. Also presenter of a show on WAO (radio) and Gol Magazine (TV) in Panama
Jorge Luiz Rodrigues Football journalist and SporTV Head of production in Brazil
José Armando Rodríguez Editor-in-chief, Deporte Total USA
Fabrizio Romano Sky Sport Italy journalist and Guardian contributor
Barney Ronay Senior sports writer, the Guardian
Gonzalo Ronchi Journalist at Radio Sport890
Emanuel Rosu Romanian football writer at Sport.ro
Stephan Roth Reporter at Swiss daily Blick
Guillermo Rubio “Gumi” Freelance sports journalist working for, among others, FOX Sports Argentina and Onda Cero in Spain

Jeff Rueter Football writer for The Athletic
Max Rushden Presenter of the Guardian Football Weekly and The Warm-up Show on Talksport
Arlind Sadiku Sports journalist and commentator at Digitalb/Supersport Kosova
Marwan Saeed Operations manager of KingFut.com
José Luis Sánchez Journalist for La Sexta TV in Spain
Emre Sarigul Editor and founder of turkishfootball.com
Santiago Segurola Football writer for El País/AS
Hyungwook Seo MBC Football pundit, Footballist Editor
Cagdas Sevinc Journalist at Futbol Arena in Turkey
Metodi Shumanov Bulgarian football writer
Vidir Sigurdsson Sports editor of Morgunbladid and mbl.is and author of the Icelandic Football Yearbook
Mojmir Stasko Football writer for Dennik Sport in Slovakia
Jacob Steinberg Football writer, the Guardian
Vladimir Stognienko Russian football expert and VGTRK commentator
Julia Stuart TV presenter at SuperSport in South Africa
Saku-Pekka Sundelin Football journalist at Ilta-Sanomat
Aet Süvari Estonian football reporter
Agris Suveizda Reporter for Sportacentrs.com in Latvia
Sindri Sverrisson Sports journalist at Morgunbladid and mbl.is in Iceland
Nuno Travassos Portuguese football writer at Maisfutebol
Duc Truong Tran Chief football reporter, Ving.vn, Saigon, Vietnam
Mihalis Tsohos Gazzetta.gr director, commentator on Cosmote TV and host of a radio show on sport-fm.gr
Vaios Tsoutsikas Director at sport-fm.gr with his own daily show on the radio station
Darren Tulett Presenter at beIN Sports in France
Will Unwin Football writer, the Guardian
Patrick Urbini Football writer for France Football
Andres Vaher Football writer for Postimees in Estonia
Lari Vesander Journalist at Urheilulehti in Finland
Bart Vlietstra Dutch football journalist working for de Volkskrant and SANTOS magazine
Lukas Vrablik Slovakian freelance football writer
Ville Väänänen Finnish football reporter at Ilta-Sanomat
Ola Wenström TV presenter at Viasat in Sweden
Greg Wilcox Sports Editor Arab News
Tomasz Wlodarczyk Chief football writer, Przeglad Sportowy
Carl Worswick Football writer based in Colombia
Michael Yokhin European football writer
Ahmad Yousef Egyptian football journalist and editor at KingFut.com in London
Víctor Zaferson Football scout & consultant, Diario de un Scout magazine in Peru
Federico Zanon Italian football journalist working for Sky Sport and Eurosport
Tim Zinoviev Chief Editor of Football.by in Belarus
Volodymyr Zverov Ukrainian TV presenter with his own football show

• Our judges were sent a longlist of more than 500 footballers drawn from leagues on every continent and asked one simple question: who have been the best male players in the world in 2018?

• We asked our judges to choose 40 names each, and rank their selection in order from 1-40, No1 being their choice of the best male player in the world this year.

• The No 1 choice of each judge was awarded 40pts, No 2 given 39pts, down to 1pt for their No 40 choice. All the votes were added together to give a raw score.

• To minimise the influence of outliers in the list, the highest score awarded to a player was then deducted to give a final score.

• A player needed to receive votes from at least five judges to qualify for the list.

• If players are level on points in the scoring, the number of individual votes cast is used as a tie-breaker.

• The individual voting breakdown will be published when the full list has been revealed.

• We are very grateful to our judges for taking part, and none have been paid for participating in this project.

• To allow our judges the freedom to express their opinions without fear or favour, individual voting records will be anonymised in the full breakdown of scores.

• Voters are identified only by their category and a number chosen at random. The judges’ numbers bear no relation whatsoever to the alphabetical list of judges’ names presented above.