Cristiano Ronaldo overtakes Lionel Messi as FIFA 17's best player

In the wake of Portugal’s Euro 2016 triumph, football’s greatest supervillain has once more achieved something bound to leave his rivals green-eyed: Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest rated player in FIFA 17.  

The Real Madrid star goes one better than last year, where he was pipped to top spot by Barcelona and Argentina wizard Lionel Messi. Ronny is scored 92 for pace, 92 for shooting and 91 for dribbling, resulting in an overall rating of 94. 

For Messi, the relegation from numero uno isn’t an especially humiliating one - he still ranks as the second best player in virtual football. His best rating is 96 for dribbling, with 90 shooting and 89 pace adding up to a 93 OVR.

Team-mate Neymar comes in third, with 95 dribbling, 91 pace and a 92 OVR. You can see player cards for all three at the official FIFA 17 website.

That makes the top 10 players in FIFA 17, which EA began revealing late last week, run as follows:
 

  • 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - OVR 94
  • 2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - OVR 93
  • 3. Neymar (Barcelona) - OVR 92
  • 4. Luis Suarez (Barcelona) - OVR 92
  • 5. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) - OVR 92
  • 6. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) - OVR 90
  • 7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) - OVR 90
  • 8. Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich) - OVR 90
  • 9. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - OVR 90
  • 10. David De Gea (Manchester United) - OVR 90

FIFA 17 is out on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC on 29 September. 

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Ben Wilson

I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even after three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.

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