Barcelona's Lionel Messi has been ranked the best player competing in Europe, according to the inaugural Bloomberg Sports (BSports) "BSports Power Football 50" rankings released this week.
The rankings are a data-driven list of the best 50 soccer players in the world.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo came in second, followed by Bayern Munich's Franck Ribéry, Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus, and Juventus' Andrea Pirlo rounds out the top five.
The BSports soccer rankings analyzed the entire 2012-2013 season, focusing on the top five European leagues, covering over 100 types of player actions based on their core on-field responsibilities and using the statistical data of all players to their respective positions, taking into account the context of player performance relative to others at their position.
For example, a left back would be rated by calculations that reveal how efficiently he tackles, intercepts passes, and crosses while a fullback would be analyzed on a different scale - with formulas focusing on the players aerial abilities and clearance rate. The ratings were continuously updated, allowing for a players performance to be tracked on a weekly basis.
"Analytics is becoming more and more prevalent in both the minds of the fans and in the decision making power of the clubs, and we are confident this index will help both stir healthy debate and be a great measuring stick for player evaluation going forward," said Bill Squadron, President of Bloomberg Sports, in a statement. "We continue to look at new ways to use analytics that will be interesting to fans, and are pleased today to unveil what we believe will be a game-changer in the way professional football is looked at in the future with the 'Power Football 50'."
Launched in 2010, BSports has taken the data and analytic technology developed by Bloomberg for business analysis and applied it to the sports world, developing products used to create comprehensive scouting reports and data analysis for almost all the Major League Baseball clubs. Recently, Bloomberg Sports has introduced a consumer soccer product for European soccer, "Match Analysis," a predictive and analytic tool that forecasts game results.
"People are flocking towards using a 'second-screen' while they watch television and sports is no different," says Bo Moon, co-founder, EVP of Business/Products at Bloomberg Sports. "Sports fans are using these second screens to get more information, real-time information, beyond the play-by-play commentator. Fans like these stories and our information adds layers to those stories."
While Messi and Ronaldo finished the rankings at one and two respectively, the Bundesliga - with two of its teams representing the league in this year's UEFA Champions League finals, had five players finishing in the Top 25 (Ribery, Reus as well as Bayern Munich's Bastion Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller, and Toni Kroos), 15 players in all.
The Barclays English Premier League (EPL) had the second-most players listed on the 'Power Football 50', with 14 English-based players making the cut (Robin Van Persie was the highest ranked EPL player, landing at 6th). Series A had 11 players make the list, while six came from Spain's La Liga BBVA, and four from the France's Ligue 1.