SP. The 10 best left-footed players in the world right now have been named and ranked – order

While the majority of the world is predominantly right-footed, there is a select group of people who favour their left foot. Better than that, there are some who are very, very talented with it too. Some of the best footballers on the planet are actually left-footed and the top 10 in the world right now have been ranked.

Across a variety of different positions, these 10 players are the very best in the sport today who are more comfortable using their left foot than their right. There are incredible goalscorers, dazzling wingers and even midfield linchpins included. Let’s take a look at the 10 best left-footed footballers in the world right now.

10 Granit Xhaka

Bayer Leverkusen

Granit Xhaka’s career resurgence at Bayer Leverkusen has been nothing short of remarkable. In fairness, he’d already turned things around somewhat at the Emirates Stadium before his departure in the summer of 2023, but he’s still taken things to unforeseen heights in Germany.

Just a few years ago, Xhaka was being booed by his own fans and his career looked to be heading in one direction. Now, he’s been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, recently won a treble with Leverkusen and went the entirety of the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign without tasting defeat. Not bad at all.

9 Antoine Griezmann

Atletico Madrid

After a disappointing spell at Barcelona, Antoine Griezmann has rediscovered the form that once made him one of the most sought-after forwards in all of football. His return to Atletico Madrid has done wonders for his career. Whether it’s outwide or down the middle, the Frenchman can regularly be seen finding the back of the net and according to Football Whispers, he’s scored 155 goals with his left foot over the years.

Griezmann is 33 years old now, but has started the 2024/25 campaign in very impressive form. In the opening eight games across La Liga and the Champions League, he’s recorded eight goal contributions. Not bad at all.

8 Martin Odegaard

Arsenal

Having initially shown promise at a very young age, it looked for a while that Martin Odegaard wouldn’t live up to his insane hype. He struggled to get regular minutes at Real Madrid following his move to the Bernabeu as a teenager, but he’s now thriving in England and Arsenal have a very special player on their hands.

The midfielder has been key to everything Mikel Arteta has done over the last few years and his influence in the Gunners’ transformation from outsiders to title challengers can’t be overstated. In his career, the Norwegian has scored 66 goals and 36 of them were with his left foot.

7 Lamine Yamal

Barcelona

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s had a better 12 months than Lamine Yamal. At the start of the 2023/24 campaign, the Spaniard was just emerging into the Barcelona first-team and looked like someone who could maybe one day be considered a top talent in football. Fast-forward to today and he’s already reached that level far quicker than anyone ever expected.

The forward has been sensational for both club and country. Having been pivotal in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph, he’s carried that rich vein of form into the new season and has arguably been Barcelona’s best player as the Catalan giants top La Liga. Whether it’s pulling off simply ridiculous assists or terrorising defenders, he’s well on his way to becoming the best left-footed player in the world and maybe even the outright best, period.

6 Phil Foden

Manchester City

Having won the Premier League Player of the Year award last season, Phil Foden has finally realised the potential that he’s been teasing throughout the majority of his career. Pep Guardiola took his time developing the Englishman and it worked a treat. He’s a magician with the ball at his feet.

He relies heavily on his left-foot, scoring 64 of his 87 goals with it. Still, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and he’s clearly found a winning formula. The 2024/25 campaign has started a little slowly, with Foden not featuring too often right now for City, but after his exploits last season, he’s earned the rest.

5 Bukayo Saka

Arsenal

While he’s still only 23 years old, Bukayo Saka has already cemented his place as one of Arsenal’s greatest ever academy graduates and for good reason. The Englishman is electric on the flank for the Gunners and there isn’t a defender in the world capable of containing him when he’s at his best.

There are few players on the planet that are as comfortable carrying the ball up the pitch and no one can glide past opposition defenders quite like Saka can. He hasn’t scored many to start the 2024/25 campaign, but he’s done an excellent job providing for his teammates so far. It’s scary to think about how much better he can still become.

4 Cole Palmer

Chelsea

For years to come, Cole Palmer’s move from Manchester City to Chelsea will be remembered as the moment everything changed for the Englishman. He showed great promise at the Etihad, but no one could have predicted just how good he’d become once he moved to Stamford Bridge.

Palmer has been nothing short of electric for the Blues and it’s hard to imagine where they’d be right now if they didn’t have him to rely on. He might not have featured heavily for England at Euro 2024, but there’s no doubt how important he is to Chelsea and he’s already picked up 11 goal contributions this season. His recent four-goal rout against Brighton & Hove Albion is the second time he’s scored four times in a Premier League game since moving to London last year. Unreal.

3 Lionel Messi

Inter Miami

He might be closing in on the end of his career now, but Lionel Messi is still one of the most talented players in the world. Injury issues over the last few months have seen him spend a lot of time on the sidelines, but he quickly reminded the world why he’s regarded as the greatest player of all-time when he returned to action and bagged a brace recently.

There’s never been anyone who is capable of doing what the Argentine can do with the ball at his feet. He’s incredible with both feet, but it’s his left that is the stronger of the two. In 2023, he joined Inter Miami with the young MLS club rooted at the bottom of the table. One year later, he’s already led them to their first ever piece of silverware and has them sitting top of the league. Just incredible.

2 Mohamed Salah

Liverpool

Mr consistency, Mohamed Salah has been one of the best players in the world for close to a decade now. Following his move to Liverpool in 2017, the Egyptian took the Premier League by storm and he’s been key to all of the Reds’ success in the years since. He’s comfortable using both of his feet, but is definitely more prone to using his left and has scored 178 of his 294 goals with it throughout his career.

Despite Jurgen Klopp’s departure earlier this year, and Arne Slot’s arrival, Salah hasn’t missed a beat and has started the new season as strongly as he ended the last one.

1 Erling Haaland

Manchester City

There’s no one quite like Erling Haaland in the beautiful game today. In fact, it’s fair to say that there’s never been anyone like him in the history of the sport. He’s scoring at an astonishing rate since his arrival in England back in 2022. He’s smashed multiple records at City and isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

In just six Premier League games, he’s already found the back of the net 10 times and will likely secure the top flight’s Golden Boot award by Christmas if he keeps it up. With a pretty impressive catalogue of goals throughout his career, Haaland has demonstrated his ability to score with pretty much any area of his body, but he certainly favours his left foot. Over half of his strikes have come with his left foot and considering how dominant he’s been for several years now, there’s no doubt he’s the best left-footed player in the world today.

All statistics courtesy of Football Whispers and Transfermarkt and accurate as of 17/10/2024