Barça edge out Real Madrid in FIFPro nominations
The Catalan side boast nine nominated players, Real Madrid have 8 with Manchester City and Liverpool on 7 nominees a piece.
FIFPro, the worldwide representative organisation for 65,000 professional footballers have announced their nominations for the best players of the past season. Of the 55 short-listed names, FC Barcelona feature nine players with Real Madrid in second position on eight. Premier League outfits Man City and Liverpool boast seven nominates players a piece.
The players are chosen by their peers via a voting with big name talents such as Cavani, Courtois, Coutinho, Dybala, Hummels, Isco, Lovren, Lukaku, Mandzukic, Matic, Mina, Keylor Navas, Pavard, Silva, Trippier, Umtiti and Vrsaljko having all failed to make the new listing.
Spain's La Liga features 20 nominated players just one behind the Premier League on 21 with this being the first time in a decade the English competition has dominated the FIFPro listing. More than 23,000 professional players cast their vote this year to select the Ideal XI for the 2018-19 season selecting: 1 goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards. The 11 players who received most votes on their position earn a spot on the World 11 with FIFPRO and FIFA revealing the World 11 on Monday September 23rd during the Best Football Awards in Milan.
Final FIFPRo 55 man shortlist:
Goalkeepers
Alisson Becker (Brazil, Liverpool), David De Gea (Spain, Manchester United), Ederson Moraes (Brazil, Manchester City), Jan Oblak (Slovenia, Atlético Madrid) & Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany, Barcelona)
Ddfenders
Jordi Alba (Spain, Barcelona), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England, Liverpool), Daniel Alves (Brazil, PSG/Sao Paulo), Joao Cancelo (Portugal, Juventus/Manchester City), Daniel Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Italy, Juventus), Virgil van Dijk (Holland, Liverpool), Diego Godin (Uruguay, Atletico/Inter), Joshua Kimmich (Germany, Bayern Munich), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal, Napoli), Aymeric Laporte (France, Manchester City), Matthijs de Ligt (Holland, Ajax/Juventus), Gerard Piqué (Spain, Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Andrew Robertson (Scotland, Liverpool), Alex Sandro (Brazil, Juventus), Thiago Silva (Brazil, PSG), Raphael Varane (France, Real Madrid), Marcelo Vieira (Brazil, Real Madrid) & Kyle Walker (England, Manchester City).
Midfielders
Sergio Busquets (Spain, Barcelona), Casemiro (Brazil, Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City), Christian Eriksen (Denmark, Tottenham Hotspur), Frenkie de Jong (Holland, Ajax/Barcelona), Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea/Real Madrid), N'Golo Kante (France, Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid), Arthur Melo (Brazil, Barcelona), Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (France, Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia, Barcelona), Bernardo Silva (Portugal, Manchester City), Dusan Tadic (Serbia, Ajax) & Arturo Vidal (Chile, Barcelona).
Forwards
Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City), Karim Benzema (Francie, Real Madrid), Roberto Firmino (Brazil, Liverpool), Antoine Griezmann (France, Atletico/Barcelona), Harry Kane (England, Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich), Sadio Mané (Senegal, Liverpool), Kylian Mbappe (France, PSG), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Neymar Junior (Brazil, PSG), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus), Mohammed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool), Heung-Min Son (S.Korea, Tottenham Hotspur), Raheem Sterling (England, Manchester City) & Luis Suarez (Uruguay, Barcelona).