Who is the best Brazilian footballer in the world right now at this very second in 2025?
Using only advanced statistics at FBref.com and objectively analyzing data from the 2024/25 season, we ranked the top 10 Brazilian players in the world today.
10. Fiorentina RB Dodo
Dodo got some hype on Shakhtar Donetsk and was their actual best player in the early 2020s – not Mykhaylo Mudryk – but it took him a second season to really find his footing at Fiorentian.
Now, Dodo is arguably the best player on a Viola side that is a sneaky Serie A title contender, and while a top-four fight is more realistic, what Dodo and Fiorentian are doing in 2024/25 is undoubtedly impressive.
While Dodo may not be the first name on everyone’s lips when discussing the best Brazilian footballers in the world today, he should be. The 26-year-old has been the best wide carrier in European football this season and has made a profound all-around impact as a game-changer for the Serie A side, following suit in a great lineage of Brazilian fullbacks.
9. Atalanta CM Ederson
I have no idea why Manchester United and other big Premier League clubs didn’t jump all over Ederson this past summer, because the Red Devils or even Tottenham would have significantly changed their statuses in the league table with the Brazilian midfielder in tow.
Ederson is a do-everything player who defends at an elite level, reads the game well, knows how to come up and score goals around the box, and is one of the best ball progressors at the position.
8. Wolves DM Joao Gomes
You know a player is good when Liverpool, the only great team in world football right now, are seriously considering signing them, and Joao Gomes is, on paper at least, the perfect midfield destroyer for Arne Slot’s league leaders.
Gomes is getting some hype but remains highly underrated. The 24-year-old is in the literal 99th percentile among midfielders with nearly 4 tackles per 90 minutes, and he’s also plenty good with the ball at his feet at carrying possession into enemy territory. He’s a gem.
7. Strasbourg DM Andrey Santos
What Andrey Santos is doing for Strasbourg is beyond ridiculous, and Chelsea are about to have a serious embarrassment of riches in midfield if they can get Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Santos, and the Premier League’s best attacking midfielder Cole Palmer in the same squad next season.
Santos has been one of the best players in all of Ligue 1 this season at any position with 7 goals, 3.6 tackles per game, and 2.0 fouls drawn per game. You can make a strong case for Santos being the best all-around defensive midfielder of the 2024/25 season thus far.
6. Real Madrid RW Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo Goes needs to play much better for the Selecao in order to be taken seriously as a contender for best Brazilian player, but nobody can question his individual quality and Champions League resume.
The forgotten star of the Real Madrid attacking quartet, Rodrygo is arguably more consistent than Vinicius Junior, and there are some Madridistas who still feel that he’d be better than Vinicius Jr. if given a chance to start on the left-hand side.
5. Newcastle DM Bruno Guimaraes
Yes, Bruno Guimaraes is playing at a higher level than Rodrygo right now, and that’s because Bruno, not Alexander Isak, is the beating heart of Newcastle and a criminally underrated player who has no real weaknesses in his game.
The defensive midfielder is so press resistant that he’s nearly flawless in possession, his defending his as intelligent as Casemiro’s was for Real Madrid in his prime, and he has the technical ability to get goals and assists if the occasion calls for it.
In the prime of his career at 27, Bruno is greater than the 80th percentile among all midfielders in goals, assists, shot-creating actions, take-ons, and progressive passes as a No. 6. Honestly, he’s closer to Rodri’s level than a lot of people want to admit.
4. Manchester City LW Savinho
Savinho is almost the perfect modern-day winger, and it’s absolutely unfair that Manchester City got their hands on him. He was outplaying even Rodrygo in LaLiga for the one season he got to truly shine for the full campaign, and that Girona are no longer title contenders is a testament to the impact that was lost by Savinho’s move to the “parent club” in Manchester.
Capable of starting as an inverted winger on the right or a traditional one on the left, Savinho is actually a bigger threat in the old-school role because he’s so darn fast and explosive; he might be even better at creating clear-cut chances than Vini Jr.
Still only 20 years old, Savinho is in the 95th percentile or better in both progressive carries and successful take-ons.
3. Real Madrid LW Vinicius Junior
Vinicius Junior may seem to be a little low on this list, but he’s been disappointing in the 2024/25 season, squabbling with refs, diving, yelling at the team’s leaders, flat-out not defending, and genuinely going invisible in some of Real’s worst games of the season.
There’s a small margin for error at the top, and while Vini Jr. is on the wrong side of it, we can’t forget that he’s a two-time Champions League winner and on the road to building one of the all-time legacies in Europe’s marquee club footballing competition.
Even amidst a disappointing start to the 2024/25 campaign, Vinicius is in the 98th percentile or better in successful take-ons, shot-creating actions, and progressive carries.
2. Wolves AM Matheus Cunha
Matheus Cunha could very well have numbers approaching or even exceeding Vini Jr.’s if he played for a club closer in talent to Real Madrid than a club like Wolves, where he is carrying his team out of the reality of sure-fire relegation.
Although Wolves are only two points clear, it feels impossible to pick against them because they have Cunha, who is perhaps Mohamed Salah’s biggest rival in 2024/25 for the Premier League Player of the Season award.
The former RB Leipzig, Hertha Berlin, and Atletico Madrid man already has 15 goal contributions this season, compared to 13 for Vini in a better situation, and ranks in the 96th percentile in goals while in the 82nd in interceptions, highlighting a level of responsibility an all-around output that is missing from Vini’s game.
1. Barcelona LW Raphinha
Raphinha is the best Brazilian football in 2025 based on current analytics and output, and while there are some games in which his impact is frustratingly absent, such as the most recent battle with Rayo Vallecano, the reality is that Barca legend Lionel Messi spoiled us with expecting players to drop 8/10s every game.
Even with those performances included, Raphinha has been a menace this season, and whereas Vinicius Jr. was a ghost in the last Clasico, Raphinha tore Real Madrid to shreds in Saudi Arabia.
The ex-Leeds star has been Barcelona’s best player in a star-studded trident despite not even playing his original position. Thriving under Hansi Flick, Raphinha has 19 goal contributions and is in the 93rd percentile or better in goals, shots, expected assists, assists, and shot-creating actions. Nobody is providing end product at the rate Raphinha is, and he and Salah are the clear Ballon d’Or leaders right now.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.