Van Dijk Or Ruben Dias? Who Is A Better Player?
We have witnessed various players dominating at the various levels of football with their unique game style, dedication, and hard work. Many players with a very humble background have developed themselves into very experienced and inspirational figures in the past and many are continuing to do so. In this article, we will be comparing the two very well-known centre-backs in the current football scenario who have been performing staggeringly throughout their career.
Virgil Van Dijk is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and also captains the national football team of the Netherlands and Premier League club Liverpool. He is currently one of the best defenders in the world and is also very loved among football fans. He is known for his strong leadership qualities, strength, aerial abilities, and speed in his gameplay. He has a very dispiriting past as his father left his family when he was just 11. Starting his journey from playing in the streets, concrete cages, or anywhere he got to play, he struggled a lot to reach where he is today. He is an inspiration and motivation for many young players and can be considered as a result of sheer hard work and practice of the sport.
Ruben Dias is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for the Premier League club Manchester City and also for the Portugal national team. He is currently counted among the best in the field and is known for his defensive prowess and aerial abilities. He started his career in Benfica’s Youth Academy and got promoted to the Senior division in 2017. In the earlier days of his life, he was not under any professional guidance and used to play on the streets or inside his house with his younger brother Ivan.
It would be interesting to compare these players based on various categories to explore more about their achievements, gameplay, and the success of their careers.
1: Personal Stats
Dijk initially struggled to get a spot in the playing team of Groningen but he made his debut for the club in May 2011 where he was a substitute. In the same month, he got another chance against the same opponents to prove himself and he did not disappoint anyone as he scored his first professional goal in the match where he scored two goals in the UEFA Europa League playoff match. He started performing consistently well and also played a major role in the club’s success in further tournaments.
Southampton was eagerly interested in signing him and finally, they signed Dijk on a 5-year deal at a reported fee of £13 million. After his signing, he became the most expensive Dutch defender. In 2017 he was also named the captain of the team but he suffered an uncle injury just after this announcement when he was playing against Leicester City. After a successful season, many English clubs wanted to sign him and after a few days in the 2017-18 season, it was announced that he would be joining Liverpool at a world-record fee for a defender.
He made his debut for Liverpool in the FA Cup and scored a winning header goal against Everton. He received a lot of appreciation for his contribution to the improvement of Liverpool’s defence mechanism. He was also included in the UEFA Champions League squad of the season and he also performed exceptionally well in the 2018 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid. However, Liverpool lost 3-1 but Dijk left a lasting impact. In the next season, he received the Liverpool Player of the Month award for his performances and was also nominated for the PFA Player’s Player of the Year award.
Ruben Dias was shown the way to the local club Estrela da Amadora by his relative and this is where he started his journey. He was moved to the Benfica youth academy where he was trained to be a midfielder until he was deployed as a center-back in the junior team. He performed exceptionally well on the junior side and helped the team bag the 4th position in the first season and also reached the final of the 2016-17 UEFA Youth League. After making his debut in the senior team in 2017, he became one of the best players for the club and was also awarded the Primeira Liga’s Best Young Player of the Year. At the end of the season, the manager revealed that this would be his last season with Benfica and he would be departing soon.
The young centre-back joined the English club Manchester City at a fee of 68 million euros on a 6-year deal and made his debut with the club in October 2020 against Leeds United in a 1-1 draw. On 15 September 2021, he also captained Manchester City for the very first time providing an assist in a 6-3 Champions League win. In March 2022 it was announced that he had suffered a hamstring injury due to which he wouldn’t be playing for the next 2 months. This 2-month gap ruled him out of the Manchester Derby of the season and also the Portugal qualification playoff for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In 2022-23 he started in played almost every minute of the campaign winning the Champions League trophy and completing a continental treble.
Both players have a good age difference due to which there is also a huge difference in the number of matches played by each. So we will be comparing both players based on their best stats to date to find out who was better in their prime.
| Van Dijjk | Dias | |
| Games | 38 | 29 |
| Goals | 5 | 2 |
| Assists | 1 | 4 |
After looking at these stats it is clear that Van Dijk was better than Ruben Dias in his best season as he played every single match of the campaign scoring 5 goals. However, we must appreciate Dias for the number of assists he provided in the season and for emerging as a star. But Dijk is slightly better than Dias when it comes to personal statistics.
2: Titles
Winning titles is a part of the game, one which makes you a decorated hero. We will be looking at the total titles won by these young stars to see who leads in this category. It is shocking how both of them have some of the best titles in the bag already.
| Van Dijk | Ruben Dias |
| 1 x Champions League | 1x Champions League |
| 1x Premier League | 3x Premier League |
| 1x FA Cup | 1x FA Cup |
| 1x Super Cup | 1x Super Cup |
| 1x EFL Cup | 1x EFL Cup |
| 1x Community Shield | 1x Supertaca Candido de Oliviera |
| 1x FIFA CWC | 1x Primeira League |
| 3 Others |
We can see that both players have almost the same number of trophies on their tables but Dijk turns out to be slightly better in terms of titles won as he has 1 more trophy than Dias. So he wins in this category as well.
3: Individual Honors
Carrying out a comparison is incomplete until we take a look at the individual honours of these two exceptional players. Van Dijk is undoubtedly the most important asset for his team as he has played some of the biggest matches and has never disappointed.
Ruben Dias, the young defender has stunningly improved his gameplay despite injury and has attained consistency which resulted in his incomparable continental derby success. Let us see who has more individual honours on their name and who wins here.
Individual Honors Of Virgil Van Dijk:
PFA Players’ Player of the Year: 2018–19
PFA Team of the Year: 2018–19 Premier League, 2019–20 Premier League, 2021–22 Premier League
PFA Player of the Month: November 2018
Premier League Player of the Season: 2018–19
Premier League Player of the Month: December 2018
Alan Hardaker Trophy: 2022
UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award: 2018–19
UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season: 2018–19
UEFA Team of the Year: 2018, 2019, 2020
UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2021–22
UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019
Liverpool Fans’ Player of the Season Award: 2018–19
Southampton Player of the Season: 2015–16
PFA Scotland Team of the Year: 2013–14, 2014–15
Celtic Players’ Player of the Year: 2013–14
FIFA FIFPRO World 11: 2019, 2020, 2022
IFFHS Men’s World Team: 2019, 2020, 2022
IFFHS World Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
IFFHS UEFA Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
Individual Honors Of Ruben Dias:
Cosme Damião Awards – Revelation of the Year: 2017
Primeira Liga Best Young Player of the Year: 2017–18
UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019
Primeira Liga Defender of the Month: March 2018, October/November 2019
Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2019–20
FWA Footballer of the Year: 2020–21
PFA Team of the Year: 2020–21 Premier League,2022–23 Premier League
Manchester City Player of the Year: 2020–21
UEFA Champions League Squad/Team of the Season: 2020–21,
Premier League Player of the Season: 2020–21
ESM Team of the Year: 2020–21
UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season: 2020–21
IFFHS Men’s World Team: 2021
FIFA FIFPro World11: 2021
After looking at these honours we can declare Van Dijk as the winner in this category as well. He has more individual honours than Dias, but he also started his career before him and has also played more than matches. Keeping this in mind we must not consider him any less but Van Dijk wins since this is a comparison.
4: International Career
Van Dijk is physically strong, tall, and a very speedy centre-back. After developing an accurate game style and becoming more skilled he made his debut for the Netherlands under 19 in a friendly against South Korea under 19. He also contributed to the Netherlands under 21 qualifiers and was finally selected for the senior team in 2014 but unfortunately couldn’t make his debut.
In 2015 he made his international debut for Netherlands in a 2-1 victory against Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play in the 2018 World Cup due to a serious injury but contributed a lot in the final qualification for the 2016 European championship in France. His first match as a captain was a friendly against England. His first international goal was against Portugal at the European championship on 26 March 2018 and also scored a winner against Germany in the UEFA Nations League.
Dias represented the under-17 Portugal National team in the 2014 Under-17 European Championship. He also captained the under-20 team and made his debut for the under-21 in the 2019 European under-21 Championship qualification match. After performing consistently when contributing majorly in the previous levels he was called up for the senior team in 2018 for friendly matches.
Dias was also named for the 2018 FIFA World Cup squad. He established himself as one of the most important assets of the international team over time and was featured in all of Portugal’s matches in the 2019 UEFA Nations League and also helped the team reach the finals. He was also selected in the Portugal Squad for UEFA Euro 2020 and was named in the 2022 FIFA World Cup preliminary Squad. He earned his 50th cap in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier match against Luxembourg.
| Van Dijk | Dias | |
| Games | 60 | 50 |
| Goals | 6 | 2 |
| Assits | 0 | 0 |
We can see from the stats that both players have not played a hefty amount of matches in their international careers but still, we can see that Van Dijk is slightly better than Dias because he has more goals and has played more matches internationally however both players have not assisted even once throughout their career.
5: Personal Life
Dijk met his wife Rike Nooitgedagt when he was just 20 years old and is now married and also a dad of four children. We do not know much about his personal life, but whenever he uses his surname due to a family feud with his father he considers his father no longer part of his family. He is currently living a very good and pleasant life with his family, a very supportive spouse, and a net worth of 20 million US dollars.
Talking about Ruben Dias, he has dated singer April Ivy from 2018 to 2021 but they’re no longer together. He belongs to a family where his younger brother also plays football and his mom and dad always wanted him to be a footballer and become a successful person in this field and now they are super proud of what he has done in his life. His net worth is around 40 million dollars.
Who is the better player? Virgil Van Dijk or Ruben Dias?
We have compared both players in various categories and we can clearly see that out of all the categories we have compared, Van Dijk turned out to be the ultimate winner of the comparison as he has won in every category and has turned out to be a clear winner of this debate. However, we must not forget what Ruben Dias has achieved till now and has a bright future ahead because he is just 26 and he has a good career left for himself and establishing himself as a great player.
