What's in a Label?

Now that's probably the most debatable statement of the lot. World class. What is it and what does it mean and who exactly merits such a tag? It might be useful to understand what each of those two little words mean. A little session of grade two English may be in order.

World (noun) The earth, planet or universe. An individual group perspective or group setting.

Class (noun) Admirable behavior; elegance. A set, collection, group, or configuration containing members regarded as having certain attributes or traits in common; a kind or category.

So in essence, world class footballers are a category of elite players that share certain attributes, which distinguish them from others, la creme de la crop. Now that we have the difficult part out of the way, lets put the theory to test.

What justifies a player being labeled world class, rather than just a good player, or even a very good player. World class players are another species of the game, the rare, talented individuals with that extra "X-factor", which warrants the respect of their team-mates and the envy of the opposition. Now, the problem starts from people throwing around the caviar of footballing superlatives too often.

When it comes to judging a player, there are some players we all agree are, in the words of Jose Mourinho, "a bit special", but then comes the shady area, the gray zone, where finding the majority consensus is difficult. Let's take Ronaldinho. Without a doubt, the best player of his generation, and possibly on his way to becoming one of the legends, if not the best, of all time. But if Ronaldihno was the yard-stick for judging world class players, then in 2006, he would be in a league of his own, and there would not be any other world class players. Just don't make the golden mistake of trying to compare world class players with each other and you should be fine.

So how do we find these world class players. Simple. Which players would be able to instantly command a place in almost any starting line-up in the world? They are the special ones. The players that any club would want at their disposal. Would Ronaldinho make it into any club side in the world? Without a doubt. Would Andrei Shevchenko make it? He surely would. Who wouldn’t want John Terry marshalling their back four? The same goes about many other players such as Adriano, Alessandro Nesta, William Gallas, Samuel Eto'o, Michael Ballack, Gigi Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Deco, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, and Wayne Rooney.

The list is seemingly endless. Understandably it runs the risk of becoming dangerously subjective. That's where we go back to the initial question of how we find these special world class players? Just look for the men who turn games around, the same ones that make the fans get off their seats. Age is nothing, when it comes to world class players. Neither is race, religion, skin color or nationality. Those are irrelevant. The only common factor is that these men, if we can even call them that, are in a world of their own. Love them or hate them, we respect them, and we would pay to watch them. They are the pacesetters of their profession; they are the players who everyone else wants to play alongside; and the players who chairmen around the world will give their managers an open cheque-book for. They are the men supporters buy season tickets to watch, the talismen, the leaders with heart. And they always play on the edge. Without that edge, without that fire, they would just be like you and I.
There is a thin line between greatness and good enough and these players have cracked it.