FIFA World Cup

With a final between France and Argentina, the absence of these teams goalkeepers is a surprise. With plenty of minutes played, Noppert’s rating reflects the incredible performance of a GK who nobody expected to be called up by Van Gaal for the Dutch national team.

Player	Rating	Defense	Minutes Played	Country
Yann Sommer	7.99	Back 4	180	Switzerland
Andries Noppert	7.98	Back 5	450	Netherlands
Sergio Rochet	7.72	Back 4	180	Uruguay
Mohammed Al-Owais	7.70	Back 4	270	Saudi Arabia
Keylor Navas	7.63	Back 5	180	Costa Rica
Unai Simón	7.60	Back 4	360	Spain
Aymen Dahmen	7.53	Back 5	270	Tunisia
Dominik Livaković	7.52	Back 4	630	Croatia
Wojciech Szczęsny	7.34	Back 4	360	Poland
Guillermo Ochoa	7.26	Back 4	180	Mexico
Yassine Bounou	7.26	Back 4	450	Morocco
Devis Epassy	7.16	Back 4	180	Cameroon
Kasper Schmeichel	7.11	Back 5	180	Denmark
Thibaut Courtois	7.01	Back 4	180	Belgium

Conditions for the presented data: 

– Minimum minutes played in the competition: 180 minutes (equivalent to 2 full games) per type of defense played (Back 4 or Back 5);

Data from FBref.

The 2022 World Cup was the first World Cup held in December. With the players taking a mid-season break from club level, the fitness level shown was quite remarkable compared with the past World Cups. In this list, the first rating that stands out is the 9.27 rating by Rodri, who played the whole tournament at CB, a position further back than usual. Despite this, his average rating was the highest recorded in this tournament. It is also necessary to highlight Pepe’s performances at 39 years of age.

Player	Rating	Defense	Minutes Played	Country
Rodri	9.27	Back 4	390	Spain
Aymeric Laporte	8.93	Back 4	300	Spain
Harry Maguire	8.33	Back 4	429	England
Thiago Silva	8.30	Back 4	390	Brazil
Marquinhos	8.22	Back 4	390	Brazil
John Stones	8.18	Back 4	434	England
Jurriën Timber	8.18	Back 5	390	Netherlands
Ben Davies	8.17	Back 5	180	Wales
Andreas Christensen	8.16	Back 5	180	Denmark
César Montes	7.89	Back 4	180	Mexico
Pepe	7.84	Back 4	360	Portugal
Jean-Charles Castelletto	7.79	Back 4	180	Cameroon
Jan Vertonghen	7.74	Back 4	180	Belgium
Nicolás Otamendi	7.73	Back 4	570	Argentina
Toby Alderweireld	7.73	Back 4	180	Belgium
Joško Gvardiol	7.70	Back 4	690	Croatia
Maya Yoshida	7.64	Back 4	180	Japan
José Giménez	7.53	Back 4	180	Uruguay
Tim Ream	7.51	Back 4	360	United States
Yassine Meriah	7.47	Back 5	270	Tunisia
Félix Torres Caicedo	7.36	Back 4	180	Ecuador
Nico Elvedi	7.36	Back 4	180	Switzerland
Dejan Lovren	7.34	Back 4	600	Croatia
Ibrahima Konaté	7.32	Back 4	286	France
Joachim Andersen	7.32	Back 5	180	Denmark
Antonio Rüdiger	7.11	Back 4	270	Germany
Nathan Aké	7.09	Back 5	479	Netherlands
Walker Zimmerman	7.06	Back 4	270	United States
Virgil van Dijk	7.04	Back 5	480	Netherlands
Ko Itakura	7.00	Back 4	180	Japan

Conditions for the presented data: 

– Minimum minutes played in the competition: 180 minutes (equivalent to 2 full games) per type of defense played (Back 4 or Back 5);

Data from FBref.