This is my own personal run-down of the top three strikers in world football. I’ve decided to represent three different clubs as well so there will not be two strikers from the same club in the list, otherwise Barcelona might occupy all three places! In no particular order, here are the three most effective forwards in the world at this moment.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Inter Milan
Ibramhimovic is one of the top earners in football and having seen his exploits on the pitch you can understand why. The Swedish international has an astonishing goals-to-games ratio and has nettedover 50 times for Inter in 80 appearances. He began his career at Swedish side Malmo before moving to Dutch giants Ajax where he achieved international recognition. Following a bust-up with Ajaxteam-mate Rafael Van der Vaart Zlatan moved to
Serie A side Juventus and began his Italian career, in 2006 he moved to Inter Milan in a mega-money move and quickly established himself as their star player.
He has already won two league titles with Inter and is all set to take a third this season. Zlatan is so highly rated by Inter coach Jose Mourinho that Mourinho has even claimed he is "the best player in theworld, ahead of (Cristiano) Ronaldo". Zlatan’s suberb control, ferocious shot and awareness of the game make him a force to be reckoned with and most would agree he is the best striker in the Italian league.
Didier Drogba – ChelseaDidier Drogba’s £24million+ move from French side Marseille to Chelsea raised a few eyebrows at first but after nearly five years at the club those initial doubts have been all but forgotten. The Ivory Coastinternational is one of the most effective strikers in the Premier League and he has notched up over 50 goals in around 130 appearances in a Chelsea shirt. The big frontman is so important to the Chelseaside that generally when he plays well, the whole team plays well and vice-versa, when he is having an off-day, it is a safe
football bet to make that Chelsea do as well. Though perhaps not as naturally gifted in terms of skill as Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney or Liverpool’s Fernando Torres, Drogba makes up for this with his physical attributes. His ability to win the ball in the air is second to none and he plays the way a classic Englishforward should do – with pace and power.
Despite the wealth of attacking talent the Premier League has to offer Drogba is perhaps the most respected of all the strikers in the league due to his wicked shot, aerial ability, pace and power.
Thierry Henry – Barcelona
Henry first rose to prominence with French side Monaco where he was initially used by then Monaco boss Arsene Wenger as a left-winger. His form for the Ligue 1 club earned him a move to Italian outfitJuventus. After a disappointing spell in Italy where Henry found it hard to adjust to the style of play he moved to Premier League club Arsenal and linked up again with Wenger. It was at Arsenal whereHenry was first utilized as a striker and he has become one of the best in the business since his move to a centre-forward role. Henry has won nearly everything there is to win in football, the World Cupand European Championship at international level and everything there is to win in England.
At his current club, Barcelona, Henry has the chance to win his first La Liga title and perhaps his first Champions League winner’s medal. He was a runner up in 2006 with Arsenal. Despite not playing as a traditional striker with the Frenchman frequently running down the wing and dropping deeper Henry has an astonishing goal ratio. In just over 250 appearances for Arsenal he notched up 174 goals and became the club’s record goal scoer. At Barca and internationally his record is close to one in two, which is still a phenomenal strike rate. For his pace, skill, touch, crossing ability, shot accuracy, and ability to take set-pieces, Henry had to make the list and for me Henry is not just one of the best strikers of the modern game, he may well be one of the best ever to play the game.
IFK Göteborg is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. The club is often referred to simply as IFK, although this can be confusing as there are many other clubs in Sweden whose name has that abbreviation as a prefix. The club, formed on 4 October 1904, has won 17 national championship titles, four national cup titles, and two UEFA Cups. With Malmö FF and AIK, IFK Göteborg are often considered to make up the classic "Big Three" in Swedish club football, with 42 championship titles among them, IFK arguably being the most successful club in Sweden, and perhaps in Scandinavia as well. IFK Göteborg is also the only Swedish team to have won a European cup competition, the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played the majority of the seasons during their existence. The last time they played in a lower division was back in 1976.
Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is arguably the most popular football club in the world, with over 50 million supporters worldwide;average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964-65.The club is also one of the most successful in English football; for over twenty years, since the 1986-87 season, they have won 18 major honours, which is more than any other Premier League club. They are the Premier League's reigning champions, and have won the Premier League/Football League 16 times. In 1968, they became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating S.L. Benfica 4–1, and they won a second European Cup in 1999. They also hold the record for the most FA Cup titles with 11.Since the late 1990s, the club has been one of the richest in the world, and until recently had the highest revenue of any football club for several years running. As of 2007, the club has the fourth largest turnover in club football,but remains the most profitable club based on operating income.Manchester United also remains the most valuable club in the world.The club is a founding member of the G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs.Sir Alex Ferguson has been manager of the club since 6 November 1986.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are an English football club, which play in the FA Premier League. The club is also known as Tottenham and Spurs , while their own fans also refer to them as the Lilywhites because of their traditional white shirts. Their home ground is White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London. Tottenham were the first club in the twentieth century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960-61 season. In 1963, Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy - the European Cup Winners' Cup.The club has a long-standing rivalry with near neighbours Arsenal and the series of matches between the two is known as the North London derby. The club motto is Audere est Facere (lit: "To dare is to do") and their emblem is the cockerel and ball.
Club Atlético de Madrid is a Spanish football club based in Madrid. They currently play in the Primera División of La Liga. Their home stadium is the Vicente Calderón Stadium.The club has won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey on nine occasions, including a double in 1996. They also won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1962 and were European Cup runners-up and Intercontinental Cup winners in 1974. Atlético play in red and white striped shirts and blue shorts.
Aris Thessaloniki Football Club is a Greek football club that premiered on the 25th of March 1914 in Thessaloniki. The emblem of the team is the god of war resting (as depicted in the so-called Ludovisi Ares), always on guard to fight if necessary. The colors of the team are yellow and black, reminiscent of Byzantium, where Thessaloniki has always been the second most important city of the Empire. Aris has not captured any league titles since the formation of the First Division (Alpha Ethniki) in 1959 but has been awarded with one football cup. Aris has earned 3 league titles and 1 cup in football. The jersey color is yellow and black. The club is named after Ares, the god of war, whose image is portrayed on the club logo. The football team plays at Kleanthis Vikelides Stadium.
Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça , is a Catalan sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. It was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Catalan men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club). They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the Primera División. The club were also the first La Liga champions and they are the current champions of both Spain and Europe. The club's main stadium is the Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In September 2006, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 151,127, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide. 
Perth Glory Football Club is an football (soccer) club from Perth, Western Australia, playing in the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League. The other clubs included Adelaide United and the Newcastle JetsTony Sage, after becoming the Glory's sole owner, announced that Glory will play Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Fulham FC for two pre-season friendlies in July.
Philips Sport Vereniging (English: Philips Sports Union), widely known either as PSV or PSV Eindhoven, is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department.PSV is one of three European Cup winning football clubs in Netherlands, the other two being AFC Ajax and Feyenoord. The club won the European Cup in 1988 (against SL Benfica) and the UEFA Cup in 1978 (against SC Bastia). They are often nicknamed Boeren (Dutch for farmers) in reference to their original provincial city origins.The Philips Stadion is the PSV home base. Since the founding of the club, PSV's home base is still at exactly the same place where the PSV sports grounds were established in 1913. It was first inaugurated by the five year old boy named Frits Philips, in January 1911 when the Philips Elftal played their first game. PSV was not founded yet. The neighborhood where the stadium is located is the Philipsdorp ('Philips village'), close to the centre of Eindhoven. The current capacity has been achieved by various modernisation programmes.The stadium can accommodate 35,000 people on match days. Plans to further expand the ground to 45,000 seats are being examined. The average attendance for the season 2007/08 was 33,600. All seats are covered and heated. In the summer of 2005, the board of the club decided to remove the tall fences around the pitch, replacing them with 90 cm high railings keeping the spectators off the grass. Unauthorized persons who do invade the pitch will receive a 15,000 euro penalty and a ten-year-ban from visiting the Philips Stadion.
The Spanish National Football Team, commonly referred to as La Roja, is the national football team of Spain and is controlled by the Real Federación Española de Fútbol. They are the current European Champions, having won the 2008 UEFA European Championship. This is their 2nd time as European Champions. In July 2008, Spain rose to the #1 spot in the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in their history, becoming only the sixth nation (and the first who has never won the World Cup) to top these rankings. They have been undefeated for 31 matches in a row after they were defeated by Romania in a friendly match on November 15, 2006.
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian: Шахтар Донецьк) is a Ukrainian professional football club, playing in the city of Donetsk, the capital of Donetsk region.The club was originally formed in May 1936 and was initially named Stakhanovets after Aleksei Stakhanov, a coal-miner in the Donbas. The first success for the team was in 1951, when then-renamed Shakhtar took third-place in the USSR Championship.In 1996, Rinat Akhmetov took over as president and subsequently invested heavily in the club.In the newly independent Ukraine, Shakhtar along with Dynamo Kyiv became perennial first place competitors. In 1999, a Shakhtar Football academy was opened and now hosts football training for roughly 3000 children.For the last several seasons Shakhtar has the highest home attendance in a league, averaging at about 20,000 per game.In 2009, they became the first team from Ukraine to win an European competition, the UEFA Cup, beating Werder Bremen in the final, with goals from Brazilians Luiz Adriano and Jadson.
FC Rubin Kazan (Russian: Футбольный клуб Рубин Казань, Futbolniy klub Rubin Kazan; Tatar: Рубин Казан футбол клубы, Rubin Qazan futbol klubı), is a Russian football club, based in the city of Kazan (Tatarstan republic). Rubin are the current Russian Premier League champions for 2008.The team was also previously called "Iskra" from 1958 to 1964 and then "Rubin-TAN" from 1992 to 1993.Rubin never played in the Soviet Top League. They advanced to the Russian Premier League in 2003, and came third in the league in their debut year, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Their 2004 campaign was less successful, they came 10th. In 2005 they were competing for UEFA Cup zone again, finished 4th. In October 27, 2008, after FC Dynamo Moscow lost 1-3 to PFC CSKA Moscow, Rubin had been confirmed to take a place in UEFA Champions League (2009-2010) Group stage.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (usually known simply as Real Madrid)are a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It is the most successful team in Spanish football and was voted by FIFA as the most successful club of the 20th century, having won a record thirty-one La Liga titles, seventeen Spanish Cups, a record nine European Cups and two UEFA Cups. Real was a founding member of FIFA and the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association.
Football Club Lyn Oslo is a Norwegian professional football club and a department of the sports club Ski- og Fotballklubben Lyn, whose members also participate in nordic skiing and orienteering. They are based in the city of Oslo and play their home games at Ullevaal Stadion.
Bayern is one of three professional football clubs in Munich. Bayern's main local rival is TSV 1860 Munich, who were the more successful club in the 1960s, winning a cup and a championship. 1860 have since moved between the first and second divisions. 1860 are often referred to by sections of the Bayern support as "gymnasts", insinuating a lack of footballing pedigree. The rivalry has, at least from a Bayern point of view, lost importance over the last decade, reflecting the lopsided state of the achievements of the two clubs and the absence of players for whom local grudges would still matter. 1860 is considered more working-class, and therefore suffers from a diminishing fan base in a city where the manufacturing sector is declining whilst tertiary industries are booming.
Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça , is a Catalan sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. It was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Catalan men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club). They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the Primera División. The club were also the first La Liga champions and they are the current champions of both Spain and Europe. The club's main stadium is the Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In September 2006, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 151,127, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide.
