The World Cup’s most beautiful players ranked by science – and the winner may surprise fans

New research has revealed the World Cup players whose faces are closest to the Golden Ratio, with Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul taking the top spot.

The study, conducted by DreamGF, looked at confirmed World Cup players to find which footballers have the most mathematically balanced faces.

The Golden Ratio of the face, often represented by the Greek letter Phi, is a mathematical proportion used to measure facial symmetry, balance and harmony. Faces that align more closely with these proportions are often perceived as naturally attractive.

To create the ranking, the study first created a list of players announced and confirmed for the World Cup. It then looked at the most popular players based on global Google searches, before analysing the Golden Ratio scores of the 150 most searched players.

Rodrigo De Paul ranked as the most beautiful World Cup player according to the Golden Ratio, with a score of 74.18%. The Argentina midfielder, who plays for Inter Miami, came out ahead of every other player analysed in the study.

Kai Havertz placed second, scoring 74.10%. The Germany and Arsenal forward was only slightly behind De Paul, making the top two one of the closest results in the ranking.

Noni Madueke ranked third, with a Golden Ratio score of 73.29%. The England forward was the highest-ranking English player in the study, placing ahead of several of football’s biggest global names.

Mohamed Salah took fourth place, scoring 73.27%. The Egypt and Liverpool forward was one of the most recognisable names to feature near the very top of the ranking.

Endrick ranked fifth, with a score of 73.25%. The Brazil forward completed the top five, placing just 0.02 percentage points behind Salah.

Son Heung-Min placed sixth, scoring 73.24%. The Korea Republic forward finished narrowly behind Endrick, showing how tightly packed the top of the ranking is.

Nick Woltemade ranked seventh, with a score of 73.00%. The Germany and Newcastle forward was one of three German players to appear in the top 10.

Jonathan Tah took eighth place, scoring 72.92%. The Bayern Munich defender was the highest-ranking defender in the study.

Wout Weghorst ranked ninth, with a score of 72.88%. The Netherlands forward was followed by Scotland’s Scott McTominay, who completed the top 10 with a score of 72.85%.

Several other major names also made the top 25, including Cody Gakpo, Bruno Fernandes, Alisson, Neymar and Jude Bellingham. Cristiano Ronaldo ranked 45th with a score of 70.98%, while Vinícius Jr followed closely in 46th with 70.97%.

Georgi Dimitrov, CEO of DreamAI SRL, commented on the findings: “The fun thing about this ranking is that it does not simply mirror football fame. Some of the names people might expect to dominate are much further down, while Rodrigo De Paul comes out on top ahead of some of the most recognisable players in the world.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the best example of that. He is one of the most image-conscious footballers ever, but he ranks 45th here, which shows how specific the Golden Ratio is. It is not measuring style, grooming, confidence or how marketable someone is. It is looking at facial proportion, which is a very different thing.

“Germany doing so well near the top is also a nice surprise. Kai Havertz ranks second, Nick Woltemade seventh and Jonathan Tah eighth, so Germany has three players in the top eight. That is probably not the country most people would immediately expect to stand out in this kind of ranking.

“There are a few other interesting contrasts too. Neymar and Jude Bellingham both make the top 25, but they still sit behind players like Noni Madueke, Endrick and Son Heung-Min. Mohamed Salah ranking fourth is also notable, because he is already one of the most recognisable faces in football and also scores very highly on facial balance.

“What this shows is that beauty on paper and beauty in the real world are not always the same thing. A player can have huge presence, style and charisma without ranking right at the top, while someone else can score highly because their features happen to sit closer to the Golden Ratio.”