Last week, we kicked off ESPN Insider's Position Power Rankings by outlining the world's top-10 goalkeepers. Next up: defenders.
While the goalkeeper position provides an apples-to-apples comparison, defenders often play significantly different roles. As a result, we've split our list into two ranks: the top-10 centre-backs and the top-10 full-backs. Further, some players qualify for multiple positions. In such cases, as with Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm and David Alaba, the panel classified them based on the position they most frequently played this season (full-back for Lahm, centre-back for Alaba).