Barcelona, Bayern and Real Madrid dominate FIFPro World 11 nominees
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FIFPro has released its list of nominees for the 2016 World 11, with 31 of the 55 players named having played for Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid over the past year.
The World 11, now in its 12th year, is voted for exclusively by professional players across 75 countries, with more than 25,000 votes cast.
Real Madrid and Barcelona both have all of their first choice XIs from last season on the shortlist — including Claudio Bravo, who is now at Manchester City, and Dani Alves following his summer switch to Juventus.
It means Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar will all be hoping to make the final team when it is announced at the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Jan. 9.
But Atletico Madrid, despite reaching the Champions League final and finishing third in La Liga, have just two players — Euro 2016 Golden Boot winner Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godin.
Bayern Munich can boast nine players, including Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer.
Serie A champions Juventus have seven representatives, though two of those — Alves and Gonzalo Higuain — joined the club in the summer.
Manchester City are the most represented from the Premier League, with four players. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United each have three, with Premier League champions Leicester just the two with Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kante nominated.
Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez, the PFA Player of the Year, is not on the list, while Vardy is the only Englishman.
United striker Wayne Rooney fails to make the shortlist for the first-ever time, with Andrea Pirlo the only other previous ever-present not to drop out. That means Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Ronaldo are the only two players left to be nominated in all 12 years.
Debutants are Griezmann, Kante and Vardy plus Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin, Juve’s Leonardo Bonucci and Paulo Dybala, PSG’s Serge Aurier, Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne and West Ham’s Dimitri Payet.
Spain, with 10, have the most players, followed by Germany with seven, France with six and both Argentina and Brazil on five. Euro 2016 winners Portugal have just two: Ronaldo and Pepe.
NOMINEES
Goalkeepers (5): Claudio Bravo (Chile/Barcelona/Man City), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Juventus), David De Gea (Spain/Man United), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica/Real Madrid), Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich).
Defenders (20): David Alaba (Austria/Bayern Munich), Jordi Alba (Spain/Barcelona), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast/Paris Saint-Germain), Hector Bellerin (Spain/Arsenal), Jerome Boateng (Germany/Bayern Munich), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy/Juventus), Daniel Carvajal (Spain/Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Italy/Juventus), Dani Alves (Brazil/Barcelona/Juventus), David Luiz (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain/Chelsea), Diego Godín (Uruguay/Atletico Madrid), Mats Hummels (Germany/Borussia Dortmund/Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich), Marcelo (Brazil/Real Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/Barcelona), Pepe (Portugal/Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Spain/Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain) and Raphael Varane (France/Real Madrid).
Midfielders (15): Xabi Alonso (Spain/Bayern Munich), Sergio Busquets (Spain/Barcelona), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Man City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), N’Golo Kante (France/Leicester City/Chelsea) Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid), Mesut Ozil (Germany/Arsenal), Dimitri Payet (France/West Ham United), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus/Man United), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/Barcelona), David Silva (Spain/Man City), Marco Verratti (Italy/Paris Saint-Germain), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Bayern Munich).
Strikers (15): Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Man City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Argentina/Juventus), Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina/Napoli/Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain/Man United), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/Barcelona) and Jamie Vardy (England/Leicester City).
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