Introducing the Creator Tier List Series: What does it even mean?

Who can create? Who is good at it? Can the best chance creators in world football (Europe’s top seven leagues) be grouped into tiers? Who would fall into what tier? These questions will all be answered in this series, starting from this part.

Chance creation in football is a key component of effectiveness, and so is not really a matter of opinion (though some of it is). To accurately highlight the best creators in Europe’s top seven leagues, a lot of work has been put into it. A lot of data has been reviewed and analyzed. “How much data?” you might ask.

Think of the amount of data you think would be needed to comprehensively tackle this kind of topic. Now think of the work you think would be required to process and analyze that data. Multiply that work by 10, and you have still not arrived at the amount of work that went into this.

I can promise you I was thorough, I cannot promise you that you’d agree with all the tiers. In fact, I can promise you that you’d vehemently disagree with most of them.

This list would take into consideration key chance creation metrics including key passes, big chances created, shot-creating actions, and many other metrics. The leagues the players play in would also be considered.

This list would not rate the creation numbers of perceived lower leagues to be less, as the myth that it’s extremely hard to create chances in the Premier League has long since been debunked, and as such all creation numbers in the top five leagues would be treated the same, numbers in the Eredivise and Liga Portugal Betclic however, would not.

The ability to create chances doesn’t depend on the opponents as much as it depends on the team the player is playing in. Some well-respected creators first plied their trade in perceived “easy to score in” leagues but continued doing it in supposedly more difficult leagues.

Creators have come from the Eredivisie and the Bundesliga and thrived in the Premier League, so the ability of the player and the role he plays in his team is more important than the perceived level of opposition.

Lionel Messi will not feature in this list, nor will any other player who no longer plays in Europe’s top seven leagues, so don’t get enraged when you don’t see his name in the tier you expect. Messi’s next stop is retirement (one could argue he’s already there), so there’s no point putting him on any lists now.

The main purpose of this series is to identify the best creators in Europe’s top seven leagues, and then group them into tiers.

Strap in. Buckle up. Grab your drinks and popcorn 🍿🍹, and whatever else you grab when you want to consume something interesting, and let’s see who the Tier 3, Tier 2, and Tier 1 creators are.

If you don’t want to miss any part of this series, and you want to have conversations with me about potential creators and the tiers you think they should be in, follow me on Twitter (@McNobzy)