FIFA Publish Their World 11 Shortlist With Six Brits Named, But Who Have They Missed?
By Alan Duffy
Turning their attention away from silly little issues like racism, the international footballing authorities have announced their 55-man shortlist for the FIFPRO World XI 2011. (FIFPRO is the Federation Internationale des Associations de Footballers Professionnels, by the way)
Six players from good old Blighty have made the list, with Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale worthy of their places in the elite list. Ashley Cole probably deserves his place too, however the inclusion of John Terry, Frankie Lamps and Rio Ferdinand is surely a bit generous? Although maybe Sepp Blatter and his ilk feel they have a kindred spirit in JT?
La Liga dominates the list unsurprisingly, with 22 players from Spain named, including a whopping 11 from Barcelona. The Premier League has a creditable 13 players included in what is, overall, a fantastic collection of talent.
The final XI will be announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or in Zurich on January 9, 2012.
However, are there any players you think should have been included who aren’t? Or any who are lucky to be there? (I know I’m surprised to see Kaka on the list)
Here’s the list in full:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich), Víctor Valdes (Spain, Barcelona), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands, retired, formerly Manchester United).
Defenders: Eric Abidal (France, Barcelona), Dani Alves (Brazil, Barcelona), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal, Real Madrid), Ashley Cole (England, Chelsea), Patrice Evra (France, Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (England, Manchester United), Vincent Kompany (Belgium, Manchester City), Philipp Lahm (Germany, Bayern Munich), Lucio (Brazil, Internazionale), David Luiz (Brazil, Chelsea), Maicon (Brazil, Internazionale), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid), Alessandro Nesta (Italy, AC Milan), Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid), Gerard Piqué (Spain, Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Spain, Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Brazil, AC Milan), John Terry (England, Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United).
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid), Gareth Bale (Wales, Tottenham Hotspur), Sergio Busquets (Spain, Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona), Kaka (Brazil, Real Madrid), Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea), Nani (Portugal, Manchester United), Mesut Ozil (Germany, Real Madrid), Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, Bayern Munich), David Silva (Spain, Manchester City), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands, Internazionale), Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire, Manchester City), Xavi (Spain, Barcelona).
Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City), Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay, Napoli), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire, Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Anzhi), Radamel Falcao (Colombia, Atletico Madrid), Mario Gomez (Germany, Bayern Munich), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, AC Milan), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Neymar (Brazil, Santos), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester Utd), Luis Suarez (Uruguay, Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Netherlands, Arsenal), David Villa (Spain, Barcelona).
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Welcome To Posh – Danny Last for IBWM
For the daft readers: For each winner in every position, there will be 4 “losers”.
4-3-3 lineup of course, which makes betting a bit less complicated.
Oh look, its a list of famous footballers!
it really is poor and lacking in imagination. just a list of the most famous players isn’t it? Kaka? FFS.
kaka was out injured all year last year, this award is just a popularity vote.explains it because why isn’t Uruguay’s goalie Muslera not on the list when he was a huge reason for winning the Copa America especially in that Argentina game. Buffon? What a crock!Actually the only 2 Urguayans here are Suarez and Cavanni, where is Lugano and Pereiera?
What is that “negrito” Evra doing on the list?
Was this a FIFA or UEFA list?
no falcao???
seriouslyy…
Howay…David Luiz you must be f***ing joking
Luka Modric?
I make that 11 Barca players?
Evra, Lampard, Ferdinand, Buffon, Luiz, Eto’o and Schneider all voted in on performances in 2010 by the looks of things.
Kaka on performances from 2007.
ABE – Its a FIFA list.
It says on the picture above plus there are players from outside of Europe e.g Neymar.
So from that lot you could pick
Buffon
Maicon Luiz Nesta & Marcelo
Pirlo Lampard & Kaka
Eto Benzema & Drogba
Crocked, past it or useless ?
ERRRRRRRRR Lucas? Duh. Like totes best player of the last millennium or something.
Where’s Igor Biscan?
David Luiz and Busquets are my most obvious ones so far. How the hell they made this list is beyond me.
Just to emphasise, Kaka has managed to get through 90 mins on just four separate occasions this calendar year.
Pepe Reina over any of the clowns on that goalkeeper list (save Casillas). What a joke…
No Reina? Seriously? How much Roman Abramovich payed Blatter to have included Terry, And Luiz? Okay JT is fine, but Luiz? 2 good goals , nice hair, play station defending and suddenly he is in that list? Where’s Carragher?! Fuck you FIFA , this is shite. Football is going nowhere.
Luiz is shite and Chicharito should have easily made this list. I can’t believe after his performace for Man Utd and the Mexican national team they overlooked him.
some of the above comments are hilarious. i’d like to hope that only one or two have been made with genuine seriousness.
at the end of the day it’s a decent list and the players that everyone is debating aren’t even gonna be close to the final 11 in any case, which will probably be a barca/real combo, save for the possibility of some man city players.
Humm…Barca players make it because they win everything, and yes, that includes Busquets. And yes, that includes making Manchester united and Arsenal look like a bunch of little kids running after a ball, beating Madrid 5 – 0 and beating them at home for the CL (Barca has 4 trophies so far this year).
David Luiz now is showing his true (lack of) form, and Terry is just a thug that thrives in the aerial premiership game.
The list is of course flawed and though it is a FIFA list, it is picked by players and not coaches, unlike the new Ballon D’Or.
Alexis Sanchez (best player of the Italian league last year) is not on the list, neither is Modric, Rossi (had a great season with Villareal), nor Chicharito and countless others (Mascherano, the most in-form Barca center back does not make it to the list).
Btw, Falcao is on the list…so is Mario Gomez (wtf?).
Carragher is not there because he sucks…and because Liverpool hasn’t won shit in…how many years is it?
no alexis sanchez?
RIBERY? ROBBEN?
This list blows.
Alexis Sanchez sucks peanuts. And as ” youreds ” put it, sure, some of the players being argued about might not make the list, but they deserve some recognition. For example, Drogba and Villa, by their standards, have been shit this year. I also haven’t heard of Eto’o scoring any game-changing goals as of late. Chicharito deserved a place on this list. He’s humble, scores the occasional important goal or two, and has an astounding goal-to-game ratio for his national team. And Buffon or Valdes over Reina? LOL. Reina and Muslera over those two jokers anyday.
Lucio, Luiz and Drogba seem a little generous as well.
Surely lucas deserves to be included, and what did David Luiz and John Terry do to be on here
Jack wilshere anyone?
Not much thought went into this list… Let’s see Kaka??? He didn’t even play much last season. What a joke! A total of 4 leagues are represented in this “All FIFA shortlist”. Not one player from the team that won the UEuropa Cup. They couldn’t even throw in Neymar despite the fact that everyone is trying to buy him???
LUIZ?!
LETS ALL GET FAT AND GROW OUR HAIRS OUT AND PLAY FOR A GOOD CLUB. MAYBE WE’LL ALSO GET NOMINATED ON HERE
Titus, are you blind?
Neymars in there as is Falcao who won the UEFA cup.
Whoops, you’re right Dave… But I still think it’s more a list of names of players with big clubs
Luka Modric
^Luka Modric, Scott Parker, and Lucas
Miguel – Falcao and Gomez both led their leagues in scoring last year, Gomez was also second in scoring the CL and didn’t make it past the round of 16. I’d say that they deserve their places much more than Drogba and Eto’o.
Casillas
Alves-Kompany-Thiago Silva-Lahm
Ozil-Xavi-Silva
Messi-Cavani-RvP
IMO
seriously, no javier hernandez???!!! wtf
No pascal Chimbonda?!
I think I speak for the entire football universe when I ask this important and vital question. Where is Heskey?
Pudolski?
Ima agree with the masses about Luiz, Side-Show-Bob’s cousin.
MODRIC / HULK / ROSSI / SOLDADO / JOE HART / VAN DER VAART / PASTORE / REYES / HAZARD
Alex so you gonna leave the golden boot winner out of your starting 11? the guy who scored 53 goals and broke la ligas goal scoring record and you choose Robin Van Persie over Ronaldo for Left winger?
also alex Falcao did not lead his league in scoring last year, Hulk did.
@ Alex, I was just stating that Falcao was indeed on the list (i think he is very good)…and maybe i have a bias against Mario Gomez. I don’t think he could get much playing elsewhere (big teams). Still, he did bag a shit ton of goals and deserves a place in the list more so than Drogba (not so sure about Eto’o).
I’d throw Hulk in there…just because his name is HULK! Ok, bad joke.
The comments since my first one have been equally laughable, well done.
where is luke chadwick!!!!!
Hmmmm. FIFA compiled this so was always gonna be a massive crock of shit. Literally just a list of the ‘Hollywood’ players.
Christian Poulsen
Terrible short list, looks like a drawing from the world’s richest footballers. If they say they are going on passed merritt(thus the inclusion of Van Dar Sar), IMO Carlos Tevez should also be on the list, with the kind of run that helped drive City to a third place finish(same points with second place Chelsea) and an F.A Cup. I’m also pretty sure there are better defenders by title in other teams than the usual suspects from Madrid and Barca.
Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich) is missing!
Those that should be included imo are; Diego Lugano, Scott Parker and Carlos Tevez. The Berba maybe but he was anonymous in ealy 2011.
There are some glaring omissions that much I think we’ve all concluded. It just goes to show the fans know more about the game than the people who run it (administratively speaking).
RVP has had a wonderful year and Joe Hart been as good as the other keepers nominated. Surprised not see more German internationals nominated the likes of Mueller, Schurrle or Goetze in particular.
Where is baines? His performance were definitely on par with ashley cole’s, he even has more assists and goals !!!
wheres ronaldinho adriano beckham henry tevez HESKEY!?! crouch JS Park Almunia Titus (own)goal bramble.
Guys, seriously, where the F is Vince Bartram?
Papi, in no way is Cheaterito ‘humble’. He’s a diver and a cherrypicker.
scott dann?
i hate Busquets and i dont see the big deal about him, is he really that good?
@Becks Yes, I did leave him off. I believe it says 2011, not 2010-2011. RvP is arguably the best player, in the best league in the world. I apologize, you are correct about Falcao. He didn’t led the league in scoring, he led Porto in scoring for the season (38 to Hulk’s 36).
@Miguel-NYC Sorry, misunderstood what you said.
Sahin ?
Thomas Muller,Wilshere, Eriksen, Hummels, Subotic, Reus, HULK! how can they not be on the list
The list must be intended to include top V bench players. Why else would Fabregas be on there?
That is BS anyway, of course everyone has one or two players they don’t think should on the list and one or two who definetely should but aren’t… the goalkeeper’s list is the worst of the lines: how is Valdes on it? He’s no good but we don’t see it because the team he plays for doesn’t concede too many occasions..
does anybody realize that this list is voted on by the players?