In second place came the English midfielder of Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham (7,541) and third was the Frenchman, Kylian Mbappe (7,500) of Paris Saint-Germain.

Rounding out the top five are Harry Kane (highest ever) who steals the show in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and City's Spanish midfielder Rodri, who in 2023 produced perhaps the best performances of his career to date, and possibly if he fought aggressively he would have reached much higher...

As for the winner of this year's Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi, he took 10th place as the relevant invitation stated emphatically that the vote is for 2023 and of course does not include the World Cup (2022).

The Guardian's Top 100 list.

1. Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

2. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

3. Kylian Mbappe (Paris)

4. Harry Kane (Bayern)

5. Rodri (Manchester City)

6. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)

7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

8. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

9. Victor Osimhen (Napoli)

10. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

11. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City()

12. Kvitsa Kvaratshelia (Napoli)

13. Lautaro Martinez (Inter)

14. Boukayo Saka (Arsenal)

15. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico)

16. Ilkay Guyndogan (Barcelona)

17. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)

18. Martin Odergard (Arsenal)

19. Julian Alvarez (Manchester City

20. Jamal Musiala (Bayern)

21. Ruben Diaz (Manchester City)

22. Declan Rice (Arsenal)

23. Ederson (Manchester City)

24. Son (Tottenham)

25. Luka Modric (Real)

26. John Stones (Manchester City)

27. Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nasr)

28. Gavi (Barcelona)

29. Nicolo Barella (Inter)

30. Rafael Leao (Milan)

31. Fede Valverde (Real)

32. Pedro (Barcelona)

33. Rodrigo (Real)

34. Marc Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

35. Alisson (Liverpool)

36. Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad)

37. Kim Min-jae (Bayern)

38. Leroy Sane (Bayern)

39. Thibaut Courtois (Real)

40. William Saliba (Arsenal)

41. Phil Foden (Manchester City)

42. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

43. Eduardo Kamavinga (Real)

44. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

45. Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

46. Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)

47. Ashraf Hakimi (Paris)

48. Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen)

49. Jack Grealish (Manchester City)

50. Olivier Giroud (Milan)

51. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern)

52. Dominic Soboszlai (Liverpool)

53. Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal)

54. Josko Guardiol (Manchester City)

55. Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter)

56. Ronald Araujo (Barcelona)

57. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

58. Yassin Bounu (Al Hilal)

59. Alexis McAllister (Liverpool)

60. Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle)

61. Federico DiMarco (Inter Milan)

62. Andre Onana (Manchester United)

63. Kieran Trippier (Newcastle)

64. Victor Boniface (Leverkusen)

65. Herman Cano (Fluminense)

66. Xavi Simmons (Eindhoven)

67. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

68. Luis Diaz (Liverpool)

69. Frankie De Jong (Barcelona)

70. Toni Kroos (Real)

71. Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)

72. Serhou Girassi (Stuttgart)

73. Alvaro Morata (Atletico)

74. Alex Grimaldo (Leverkusen)

75. Santiago Jimenez (Feyenoord)

76. Radal Colo Muani (Paris)

77. James Maddison (Tottenham)

78. Darwin Nunes (Liverpool)

79. Alessandro Bastoni (Inter)

80. Romelu Lukaku (Roma)

81. David Alaba (Real Madrid)

82. Enzo Fernandes (Chelsea)

83. Angel Di Maria (Benfica)

84. Mike Maighan (Milan)

85. Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal)

86. Aurelian Chouameni  (Real)

87. Alexander Isaac (Newcastle)

88. Christian Romero (Tottenham)

89. Jan Oblak (Atletico)

90. Lois Openda (Leipzig)

91. Antonio Riediger (Real)

92. Riyad Mahrez (Al Ahli)

93. Granit Xhaka (Leverkusen)

94. Marcelo Brozovic (Al Nasr)

95. Teo Hernandez (Milan)

96. Alphonso Davies (Bayern)

97. Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan)

98. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)

99. Warren Zaire-Emery (Paris)

100. Marcus Thuram (Inter)