For Liverpool’s England midfielder Steven Gerrard and Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Kaká (pictured left) today’s World Cup 2010 qualifiers will be an opportunity to return in the FTBL list of the world’s best players. Both were inevitable members of that list until today’s change in the rules governing the FTBL rating: Gerrard and Kaká slumped as games played a year and a half ago have been discarded from our archive.

Gerrard will have a plank of 13.50 rating points to beat when England host Croatia, and a victory for England will be enough for him to advance in the FTBL ranking. On the other hand, Kaká will have a higher plank of approximately 20 rating points to beat when Brazil take on Chile, which means he will have to score, and Brazil to win, in order to advance in our ranking.

Gerrard has an overall FTBL rating of 131.31 points at the moment, while Kaká has 131.48 points.