Barcelona's Brazil international Dani Alves ended January as the world’s top defender in the FTBL ranking, with a score of 153.64 points, joining teammates Lionel Messi, the world’s top midfielder with 329.28 points, and Víctor Valdés, the world’s top goalkeeper with 141.54 points.

All three players also ended 2009 at the top of our rankings in their respective positions. Alves has added 10 points to the score he had at the end of the year. He scored in his last game against Real Valladolid, which the Catalans won 3:0.

In his next game Alves will face a plank of 17.60 points to beat. He will need to score to avoid a loss. Chelsea’s John Terry, the No. 2 in the world ranking at the moment with 145.49 points, will face a lower plank of 9.60 points to beat in his next game. Alves, therefore, looks likely to surrender the top spot.