In Brazil in summer of 2014, Jogi Löw prepared the German national team to enter the World Cup. He took care of all the details as famously documented in the movie "Die Mannschaft". One detail he addressed earlier was picking the best players to join the team. Germany had that year excellent players to choose from and Löw didn't want to take any risk. He mainly selected by output. And he did a very good job. Actually, for the opening game he fielded a starting XI with a Goalimpact of 179.0, the highest Goalimpact ever, in all competitions, on club and national team level.
From all his players available, he chose the ones with the highest Goalimpact, apart from Bastian Schweinsteiger who missed some weeks of team training due to an injury. That team beat Portugal 4:0 ensuring a good start in the tournament. Also the exactly same team drew a few days later against Ghana 2:2 in the heat of Fortaleza.
| Player | Goalimpact | Peak GI | Age | Club | No. Games | No. Minutes |
| Per Mertesacker | 160.0 | 165.6 | 29.7 | Arsenal FC | 475 | 43835 |
| Mats Hummels | 187.5 | 188.4 | 25.4 | Borussia Dortmund | 325 | 28466 |
| Thomas Müller | 216.0 | 218.0 | 24.8 | Bayern München | 377 | 29855 |
| Toni Kroos | 178.9 | 181.4 | 24.4 | Bayern München | 319 | 23051 |
| Philipp Lahm | 164.4 | 173.0 | 30.6 | Bayern München | 581 | 51993 |
| Manuel Neuer | 194.6 | 199.1 | 28.2 | Bayern München | 438 | 40917 |
| Benedikt Höwedes | 165.8 | 166.3 | 26.3 | FC Schalke 04 | 329 | 28208 |
| Jérôme Boateng | 169.0 | 169.4 | 25.8 | Bayern München | 354 | 28593 |
| Mario Götze | 171.4 | 180.6 | 22.0 | Bayern München | 204 | 14298 |
| Mesut Özil | 206.9 | 207.5 | 25.7 | Arsenal FC | 438 | 33170 |
| Sami Khedira | 154.7 | 157.2 | 27.2 | Real Madrid | 349 | 27770 |
| Average | 179.0 | 182.4 | 26.4 | | | |
| Bench |
| André Schürrle | 151.7 | 156.1 | 23.6 | Chelsea FC | 257 | 18827 |
| Miroslav Klose | 126.1 | 164.2 | 36.0 | Lazio Roma | 605 | 45175 |
| Roman Weidenfeller | 139.7 | 145.2 | 33.8 | Borussia Dortmund | 414 | 38278 |
| Julian Draxler | 126.2 | 147.3 | 20.7 | FC Schalke 04 | 170 | 11338 |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | 181.8 | 187.5 | 29.8 | Bayern München | 567 | 43606 |
| Matthias Ginter | 115.7 | 139.9 | 20.3 | SC Freiburg | 137 | 12556 |
| Lukas Podolski | 138.9 | 144.0 | 29.0 | Arsenal FC | 429 | 32205 |
| Kevin Großkreutz | 145.6 | 145.8 | 25.8 | Borussia Dortmund | 345 | 27128 |
| Christoph Kramer | 100.7 | 105.9 | 23.3 | Bor. Mönchengladbach | 180 | 14941 |
| Shkodran Mustafi | 106.3 | 115.1 | 22.1 | Sampdoria | 75 | 6182 |
| Erik Durm | 98.7 | 107.7 | 22.1 | Borussia Dortmund | 123 | 9537 |
| Ron-Robert Zieler | 116.6 | 129.5 | 25.3 | Hannover 96 | 173 | 16172 |
| Average | 129.0 | 140.7 | 26.0 | | | |
When Germany played Brazil in the semi finals, the team's Goalimpact was slightly lower. Featuring aging Miroslaw Klose instead of Mario Götze reduced the Goalimpact more than replacing Per Mertesacker by Bastian Schweinsteiger could improve it.
Notice also that Germany lacked depth in the team. Many bench players had a considerably lower Goalimpact than the first XI. Hence, they were lucky not to suffer multiple injuries. So it is no surprise that the weakest starting XI of Germany in the tournament played the final against Argentina. It had only a Goalimpact of 171.2.
FC Barcelona 2013/2014
The starting XI with the highest Goalimpact, 177.5, ever to play at club level, was Martino's Barcelona in a league game on 15. February 2014 against Rayo Vallecano that they trashed 6:0. It was also the second best starting XI ever after Germany 2014. Again there weren't many options to improve the team's Goalimpact further. Just GI would have chosen Mascherano over the aging Puyol.
Notice how may players have left the team in the meanwhile, mainly to join a Premier League club.
| Player | Goalimpact | Peak GI | Age | Last National Team | No. Games | No. Minutes |
| Busquets | 206.6 | 207.3 | 25.6 | Spanien | 301 | 24065 |
| Lionel Messi | 202.4 | 203.7 | 26.6 | Argentinien | 460 | 37187 |
| Dani Alves | 172.1 | 181.7 | 30.8 | Brasilien | 534 | 45708 |
| Piqué | 187.2 | 189.3 | 27.0 | Spanien | 361 | 30563 |
| Alexis Sánchez | 168.5 | 169.9 | 25.1 | Chile | 322 | 21786 |
| Iniesta | 172.6 | 178.2 | 29.8 | Spanien | 539 | 38371 |
| Pedro | 165.1 | 166.2 | 26.5 | Spanien | 270 | 17408 |
| Adriano | 156.6 | 161.9 | 29.3 | Brasilien | 357 | 25429 |
| Puyol | 138.1 | 174.9 | 35.8 | Spanien | 636 | 55202 |
| Cesc Fàbregas | 209.3 | 210.9 | 26.8 | Spanien | 489 | 36983 |
| Victor Valdés | 173.9 | 178.4 | 32.1 | Spanien | 523 | 48678 |
| Average | 177.5 | 183.9 | 28.7 | | | |
| Bench |
| Javier Mascherano | 175.9 | 181.5 | 29.7 | Argentinien | 450 | 38045 |
| Alex Song | 178.2 | 179.1 | 26.4 | Kamerun | 341 | 27004 |
| Ibrahim Afellay | 133.7 | 137.6 | 27.8 | Niederlande | 285 | 20221 |
| Neymar | 135.4 | 144.6 | 22.0 | Brasilien | 182 | 14671 |
| Pinto | 121.2 | 136.1 | 38.3 | | 226 | 20660 |
| Jordi Alba | 117.8 | 119.5 | 24.8 | Spanien | 228 | 17260 |
| Cristian Tello | 115.1 | 122.8 | 22.5 | Spanien [U21] | 130 | 6210 |
| Average | 139.6 | 145.9 | 27.4 | | | |
Bayern Munich 2014/2015
The second highest ranked club ever with 177.0 isn't rated much lower. On 11. March 2015, Pep Guardiola's Bayern defeated Shakhtar Donetsk with a humiliating 7:0. Apart from the excellent starting XI this was facilitated by a very early red card against Shakthar.
| Player | Goalimpact | Peak GI | Age | Last National Team | No. Games | No. Minutes |
| Rafinha | 166.7 | 172.1 | 29.5 | Brasilien Olymp. | 363 | 30547 |
| David Alaba | 162.2 | 169.2 | 22.7 | Österreich | 271 | 22450 |
| Thomas Müller | 212.5 | 213.4 | 25.5 | Deutschland | 418 | 33197 |
| Arjen Robben | 179.2 | 190.6 | 31.1 | Niederlande | 527 | 39194 |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | 180.3 | 189.1 | 30.6 | Deutschland | 587 | 45018 |
| Manuel Neuer | 194.9 | 199.2 | 28.9 | Deutschland | 482 | 45071 |
| Holger Badstuber | 148.1 | 148.1 | 26.0 | Deutschland | 270 | 23655 |
| Jérôme Boateng | 169.6 | 170.7 | 26.5 | Deutschland | 392 | 31889 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 196.8 | 197.9 | 26.5 | Polen | 317 | 25342 |
| Mario Götze | 186.6 | 193.5 | 22.8 | Deutschland | 243 | 17029 |
| Franck Ribéry | 150.6 | 166.0 | 31.9 | Frankreich | 467 | 37594 |
| Average | 177.0 | 182.7 | 27.5 | | | |
| Bench |
| Claudio Pizarro | 119.9 | 161.8 | 36.4 | Peru | 623 | 44801 |
| Pepe Reina | 167.8 | 172.4 | 32.5 | Spanien | 634 | 58921 |
| Philipp Lahm | 162.7 | 175.1 | 31.3 | Deutschland | 606 | 54247 |
| Medhi Benatia | 144.6 | 148.6 | 27.8 | Marokko | 227 | 19902 |
| Juan Bernat | 119.4 | 128.5 | 22.0 | Spanien | 122 | 8762 |
| Dante | 164.4 | 177.1 | 31.3 | Brasilien | 339 | 30018 |
| Sebastian Rode | 109.9 | 112.4 | 24.4 | Deutschland [U21] | 169 | 12927 |
| Average | 141.2 | 153.7 | 29.4 | | | |
Overview
And here are the top 25 starting XIs ever according to Goalimpact. Per season the table is showing each team only once, with the highest Goalimpact. Observations:
- The only non-Spanish, non-German entry is Manchester City from the last two seasons.
- All entries are from recent years. For the clubs this can be explained by a stronger concentration of top players on few top clubs. I'm not sure what to make for the national team from it. The third best national team is the Netherlands 1998 followed by Germany 1982. So maybe for national teams this is incidental.
- The highest ranked starting XI ever to lose a match was FC Barcelona (174.8) losing against Real Valladolid 1:0 on the 27th match day of the 2013/2014 season of Primera Division. This is the 21st ranked starting XI. (not in the list below as this was not their best starting XI that season.)
| Competition | Season | Round | Team | Goalimpact | Match |
| World Cup | 2014 in Brazil | Group G | Germany | 179.0 | Deutschland - Portugal 4:0 |
| Primera Division | 2013/2014 | 24. Match Day | FC Barcelona | 177.5 | FC Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano 6:0 |
| Champions League | 2014/2015 | Achtelfinale | Bayern München | 177.0 | Bayern München - Shakhtar Donetsk 7:0 |
| Primera Division | 2012/2013 | 22. Match Day | FC Barcelona | 176.3 | Valencia CF - FC Barcelona 1:1 |
| Bundesliga | 2013/2014 | 27. Match Day | Bayern München | 175.2 | Hertha BSC - Bayern München 1:3 |
| Champions League | 2011/2012 | Achtelfinale | FC Barcelona | 174.2 | FC Barcelona - Bayer Leverkusen 7:1 |
| Champions League | 2014/2015 | Final | FC Barcelona | 172.4 | Juventus - FC Barcelona 1:3 |
| EC-Quali. | 2014/2015 | Group D | Germany | 172.3 | Schottland - Deutschland 2:3 |
| WC-Quali. Europe | 2012/2013 | Group C | Germany | 171.9 | Schweden - Deutschland 3:5 |
| Bundesliga | 2015/2016 | 1. Match Day | Bayern München | 171.1 | Bayern München - Hamburger SV 5:0 |
| Primera Division | 2012/2013 | 7. Match Day | Real Madrid | 170.6 | FC Barcelona - Real Madrid 2:2 |
| EC | 2012 in Poland/Ukraine | Final | Spain | 169.3 | Spanien - Italien 4:0 |
| WM-Quali. Europa | 2012/2013 | Group I | Spain | 169.1 | Spanien - Finnland 1:1 |
| EC | 2012 in Poland/Ukraine | Group B | Germany | 168.8 | Niederlande - Deutschland 1:2 |
| EC-Quali. | 2014/2015 | Group C | Spain | 168.4 | Spanien - Slowakei 2:0 |
| Primera Division | 2014/2015 | 17. Match Day | Real Madrid | 168.3 | Valencia CF - Real Madrid 2:1 |
| Champions League | 2011/2012 | Halbfinale | Real Madrid | 167.9 | Real Madrid - Bayern München 1:3 |
| Confederations Cup | 2013 in Brazil | Group B | Spain | 167.2 | Nigeria - Spanien 0:3 |
| Primera Division | 2015/2016 | 5. Match Day | FC Barcelona | 166.5 | Celta Vigo - FC Barcelona 4:1 |
| Champions League | 2012/2013 | Halbfinale | Bayern München | 165.8 | Bayern München - FC Barcelona 4:0 |
| Champions League | 2010/2011 | Halbfinale | FC Barcelona | 165.8 | FC Barcelona - Real Madrid 1:1 |
| Primera Division | 2015/2016 | 2. Match Day | Real Madrid | 163.6 | Real Madrid - Real Betis 5:0 |
| Champions League | 2013/2014 | Achtelfinale | Real Madrid | 163.0 | FC Schalke 04 - Real Madrid 1:6 |
| Champions League | 2014/2015 | Group E | Manchester City | 160.7 | Manchester City - AS Roma 1:1 |
| Premier League | 2013/2014 | 35. Match Day | Manchester City | 159.8 | Manchester City - West Bromwich Albion 3:1 |