Who is the best male centre-back of the 21st century?

Is it Paolo Maldini? Many fans' pick for the greatest defender in history who won the Champions League in three different decades and amassed over 900 appearances for AC Milan.

Is it Nemanja Vidic? The two-time Premier League Player of the Season who became a legend at Manchester United for showing so much commitment that you'd think he'd head a brick if it meant keeping a clean sheet.

Is it Fabio Cannavaro? The last centre-half to win a Ballon d'Or who captained Italy to World Cup glory and showed that size needn't matter by dominating at Juventus and Real Madrid.

Or is it Sergio Ramos? The juggernaut who captained Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions League titles, scoring over 100 goals from defence and winning 180 senior Spain caps along the way.

The top 50 centre-backs of the 21st century

It's a tough question, there's no denying it, but the team at Copa90 have tried their very best to answer it by running through a fascinating top 50 that they've uploaded to their Instagram page over the past few days.

Their choices were made based on the following criteria: the art of defending, personal and club success, personality and cult status, loyalty, stand-out moments and performances this millennium.

Other than that, the list is - of course - subjective, so be sure to join us in debating who the best centre-back of the 21st century truly is by checking out Copa90's brilliant list and wondering what changes you'd make down below:

50. Bruno Alves

Alves lines up for FC Porto.

Football - Stock 06/07 , 6/12/06

Bruno Alves - FC Porto

Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Michael Regan

49. Gary Cahill

48. Cristian Chivu

47. Jan Vertonghen

46. Martin Demichelis

45. Aymeric Laporte

Laporte with the Premier League trophy.

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44. Miranda

43. Nicolas Otamendi

42. Dante

41. Sami Hyypiä

40. Kolo Toure

Toure playing for Arsenal.

Football - Stock - 08/09 - 29/4/09

Kolo Toure - Arsenal

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39. Toby Alderweireld

38. Luisao

37. David Luiz

36. Raúl Albiol

35. Kalidou Koulibaly

Koulibaly signed for Chelsea.

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34. Jamie Carragher

33. Ledley King

32. Jerome Boateng

31. Andrea Barzagli

30. Javier Mascherano

Mascherano warms up for Barcelona.

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Barcelona's Javier Mascherano during training

Action Images via Reuters / Jason Cairnduff

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29. Marquinhos

28. Iván Córdoba

27. Rafael Marquez

26. Roberto Ayala

25. Mats Hummels

Dortmund's Hummels battling away.

Soccer Football - Bundesliga -Borussia Dortmund v SC Freiburg - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - January 14, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels in action with SC Freiburg's Roland Sallai REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO.

24. Leonardo Bonucci

23. Marco Materazzi

22. Sol Campbell

21. Raphael Varane

20. Walter Samuel

Samuel in his Inter days.

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Walter Samuel - Inter Milan

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19. Vincent Kompany

18. Diego Godin

17. Jaap Stam

16. Lilian Thuram

15. Ricardo Carvalho

Carvalho on the ball for Chelsea.

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Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea

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14. Giorgio Chiellini

13. Pepe

12. Lucio

11. Virgil van Dijk

10. Nemanja Vidic

Vidic scores for Man Utd.

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Nemanja Vidic celebrates after scoring the third goal for Manchester United

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9. Gerard Pique

8. Rio Ferdinand

7. John Terry

6. Thiago Silva

5. Sergio Ramos

Ramos playing for PSG.

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - Angers v Paris St Germain - Stade Raymond Kopa, Angers, France - April 20, 2022 Paris St Germain's Sergio Ramos celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

4. Fabio Cannavaro

3. Carles Puyol

2. Paolo Maldini

  1. Alessandro Nesta
Nesta plays a pass for AC Milan.

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AC Milan's Alessandro Nesta

Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Andrew Couldridge

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Nesta named the greatest

Centre forwards the world over must be hyperventilating as they read through that.

By the time you get to the likes of Stam, Chiellini, Pepe and Varane only to see that they don't even make the top 10, then you know that the standard of defending has been through the roof since the turn of the century.

However, it's none other than Milan legend Nesta who takes the gold medal with Copa90 remarking: "Nesta made defending an art form. He turned slide tackles into ballet. If the ball was in his orbit, it was his. The classiest, most elegant centre-back of the 21st century."

As head-scratching as it might seem that Nesta gets the edge over Maldini at first glance, when the two main criteria are 'centre-backs' and '21st century', it's easy to see how the glass slipper fits the former just a little bit better.

Italy's Nesta and Maldini.

Italy's Paolo Maldini (R) is substituted for Alessandro Nesta after an injury during their group B European Championship match against Sweden in Eindhoven June 19.

DS

Plus, there's no shame in second place because the quality within the list is absolutely extraordinary with Copa90 forced to settle plenty of tough debates along the way.

No doubt fans will have plenty to say about Van Dijk finishing below Vidic, Terry getting the better of Ferdinand, Puyol outdoing Ramos and Chiellini edging Carvalho, but that's the joy of the topic in the first place.

So, having read the list, which stars of the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s would you want shoring up your defence if your life depended on it? There's plenty of quality to choose from.

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