What makes a player World Class?

Let me start by saying that the term World Class is over used. If you tell me that Ronaldo (buck tooth original) and Zinedine Zidane are World Class (WC), we on the same page, but Eric Cantona and Dennis Bergkamp we have problems.

Effectively you’re putting occasional Premier League winners in the same category as World Cup Winners. This is not to say that all World Cup winners are (WC), it is just that the two we mentioned have also won personal accolades. Fifa World Player of the Year for example, so how can we mention all of them in the same breath? These four had abilities that clearly set them apart from the ordinary.

Remember Bergkamps’ wonder goal in the World Cup 1998? or contender for goal of the decade in the Premier league 2002 ? How about Cantona’s sheer presence as a catalyst for the great Manchester United team of the 90s? If we analyse all four in terms of individual technical ability, there is not too much difference in a one- off game. But being (WC) is supposed to be for a select few. So surely consistency in big games and winning big competitions as well as ability can separate the very good from the truly great. That’s why Ronaldo and Zidane are in different category to Cantona and Bergkamp.

The term (WC) should only go to those very few individuals who outperform their counter-parts on a regular basis especially in big competitions and big games. And those who do things out of the ordinary but not consistently in the biggest competitions should be labelled as having World Class ability. There you go, simple. What follows is a short table of (WC) players on one side and those with (WC) ability on the other.

World Class	World Class Ability
Ronaldo Zidane Ronaldinho Cristiano Ronaldo Giggs Xavi Raul	Drogba Bergkamp Cantona Zola McMannaman Fabregas Shearer