FM23 Best Players: Highest Rated Players In Football Manager 2023

FM23 Best Players: Highest Rated Players In Football Manager 2023
Images via Sports Interactive

Written by 

Harry Boulton

Published 

10th Nov 2022 17:24

The latest Football Manager game is finally out, and what better way to celebrate than to find out who the FM23 best players are. As the greats of the past decade and a half are getting older, we might start to see new names take the top spot in Football Manager, but it is sure to be a close battle. So, to find out who the FM23 best players are, make sure to continue reading down below for the full list.

  • While they might not be worthy of being on this list, you really can't go wrong with any of the FM23 bargains found in this guide.

FM23 Best Players

Click to enlarge

While Football Manager does not have a traditional 'ratings' system compared to a game like FIFA, where players are graded on a one to 99 scale overall, we can look towards the hidden Current Ability rating to determine who Sports Interactive deem to be the best players in the game.

If you've not encountered Current and Potential Ability in Football Manager before, they are ratings on a scale from one to 200, which determine how good a player currently is, and their maximum potential ability. While there is no official guidance to what the numbers equate to in terms of real-life performance, the general consensus is that anything with a Current Ability above 170 is deemed a world-class player, so when you start to get closer to 200 you should really be impressed.

So, check out the list below for all of the FM23 best players, sorted by current ability from highest to lowest:

  • Kevin De Bruyne - 189
  • Kylian Mbappe - 188
  • Robert Lewandowski - 186
  • Karim Benzema - 185
  • Mohamed Salah - 185
  • Erling Haaland - 185
  • Harry Kane - 183
  • Thibaut Courtois - 181
  • Virgil van Dijk - 181
  • Lionel Messi - 180
  • Luka Modric - 179
  • Neymar - 177
  • Joshua Kimmich - 177
  • Bernardo Silva - 176
  • Sadio Mane - 176
  • Alisson  - 176
  • Ederson - 175
  • Manuel Neuer - 175
  • Rodri - 175
  • Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 174
  • Ruben Dias - 174
  • Vinicius Jr - 174
  • Son Heung-min - 173
  • Jan Oblak - 172
  • Thomas Muller - 171
  • Reece James - 169
  • Thiago - 169
  • Raheem Sterling - 169
  • Aymeric Laporte - 168
  • N'Golo Kante - 167
  • Kai Haverta - 167
  • Joao Cancelo - 167
  • Jack Grealish - 166
  • Luis Diaz - 166
  • Bruno Fernandes - 166
  • Antonio Rudiger - 166
  • Toni Kroos - 166
  • Leroy Sane - 165
  • Ilkay Gundogan - 165
  • Edouard Mendy - 165
  • Mason Mount - 165
  • Federico Valverde - 165
  • Leon Goretzka - 164
  • Jorginho - 164
  • Mateo Kovacic - 164
  • Fabinho - 164
  • Yannick Carrasco - 164

As you can see, quite a lot of world football's biggest names are in the list above, but there are a few strange omissions. If you were wondering where Cristiano Ronaldo is for example, he's unfortunately got a Current Ability of only 158.

So, that wraps up this list of the FM23 best players, giving you an indication of the world's best footballers in Football Manager this year, according to their Current Ability rating at least. If you're wanting to find out who the players destined to be on this list in a few years though, make sure to check out our FM23 wonderkids guide.

Harry Boulton
About the author
Harry Boulton
Harry is a Guides Writer at GGRecon, having completed a Masters of Research degree in Film Studies. Previously a freelance writer for PCGamesN, The Loadout, and Red Bull Gaming, he loves playing a wide variety of games from the Souls series to JRPGs, Counter-Strike, and EA FC. When not playing or writing about games and hardware, you're likely to find him watching football or listening to Madonna and Kate Bush.
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