Ronaldinho is the most complete player in the world

	Ronaldinho's toothy grin is one of the most familiar sights in all of world soccer. Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images
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No one doubts Frank Lampard is a great player. He earned 306 points in the vote for FIFA Player of the Year, and few could argue he wasn't deserving of recognition -- and 306 is a lot of points.

Anyone got a calculator? Take 306 and multiply it by three. That's 918. Thanks, but it's still not enough to win. The guy who did, Brazil's great World Cup hope, Ronaldinho (you may have heard his name), got 956 -- more than three times the points Lampard earned.

With mathematics behind us, let's move on to language skills. Who can translate the following?

• "Com sua mágica, ele leva premio de Melhor Jogador"
• "Ce le top du top, bien sûr"
• "Un'altra volta, sempre lui il Showman"
• "Er ist König der Fußballer"

Those were some of Tuesday's headlines in Portuguese, French, Italian and German, and you don't need to speak the language to understand what they mean. They were all talking about the Magician, the Top of the Top, the Showman, the King of Footballers.

You're doing well, class. Let's move on to history. Here's what some of the legends of the game have to say about Ronaldinho:

"No doubt, he is above all others!" says Diego Maradona.

Brazilian icon Zico agrees, saying, "When he has the ball at his feet, things magic can happen."

Pelé is even more flattering: "As I see it, no one, in the last 10 or so years could do what he does, and I do not believe that no one will in the next 10 years."

German idol Franz Beckenbauer: "When I see him playing, I see the future of football, because what he is, really, is an example of how the game should be taken and played, or how we all expect and hope it should be played."

The lessons are over. The bell has rung, and the school year is over, too, and the headmasters of FIFA have decreed Ronaldinho is the best -- for the second year in a row. So have the national coaches of more than 180 countries and around 200 national-team captains around the globe. And they're the ones who truly know what happens on the pitch. We don't.

For almost all of them, Ronaldinho is the man. For me, he is simply evidence that soccer, at the end of the day, is really just a game. He's living proof that the game is fun -- and if you keep smiling, good things happen for both players and fans.

Everyone is convinced, it seems, except for José Pekerman -- head coach of powerhouse Argentina, a land of talent and champions past -- who said Ronaldinho is "definitely not the best player in the world today."