Amsterdam Sep 20 (IANS) Star forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi led the 55-man list of FIFA World XI nominations announced by FIFPro here on Thursday.
A total of 25 000 professional footballers took part in a poll to nominate the best players. The footballers who received most votes in their line are on the list of 55.
Ronaldo (4) and Messi (5) share nine Ballon d or amongst them and are favourites to add one more to the tally during the next award ceremony.
"FIFPro and its affiliated player associations invited professional footballers worldwide to pick a team of 1 goalkeeper 4 defenders 3 midfielders and 3 attackers who were the best at their position during the 2016-2017 season " FIFPro said in a statement.
Real Madrid dominated the list after winning both La Liga and the Champions League in 2016-17 with Keylor Navas Dani Carvajal Marcelo Pepe Sergio Ramos Raphael Varane Casemiro Isco Toni Kroos Luka Modric Gareth Bale Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all in line to make the XI.
Pepe is listed as both a Real Madrid player and a Besiktas player after moving to the Turkish team in the summer.
Champions League runners-up and Serie A champions Juventus had four players on the list comprising Gianluigi Buffon Leonardo Bonucci Giorgio Chiellini and Paulo Dybala.
English Premier League (EPL) champions Chelsea have three nominees in Eden Hazard David Luiz and N Golo Kante.
David De Gea Antonio Valencia Zlatan Ibrahimovic Romelu Lukaku (previously with Everton) Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic (formerly of Chelsea) represent Manchester United.
Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are nominated from Arsenal while Philippe Coutinho is the only Liverpool player on the list.
Paris Saint-Germain s Kylian Mbappe is the youngest player on the list at the age of 18 fresh from sealing a loan move to PSG from Monaco. The teenager scored 27 goals in 60 games for the French champions last season.
However Claudio Bravo Hector Bellerin Kevin de Bruyne Dimitri Payet David Silva Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy are among the 12 players who were included last time but missed out this year.
The 2016 World 11 included Manuel Neuer Dani Alves Gerard Pique Sergio Ramos Marcelo Andrés Iniesta Toni Kroos Luka Modric Lionel Messi Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The following is the list of 55 players:
Goalkeepers
Gianluigi Buffon-Italy Juventus
David De Gea-Spain Manchester United
Keylor Navas-Costa Rica Real Madrid
Manuel Neuer-Germany Bayern Munich
Jan Oblak-Slovenia Atletico Madrid
Defenders
David Alaba-Austria Bayern Munich
Jordi Alba-Spain Barcelona
Dani Alves-Brazil Paris Saint-Germain
Jerome Boateng-Germany Bayern Munich
Leonardo Bonucci-Italy Juventus/AC Milan
Dani Carvajal-Spain Real Madrid
Giorgio Chiellini-Italy Juventus
Diego Godin-Uruguay Atletico Madrid
Mats Hummels-Germany Bayern Munich
Philipp Lahm-Germany Bayern Munich (Retired)
David Luiz-Brazil Chelsea
Marcelo-Brazil Real Madrid
Javier Mascherano-Argentina Barcelona
Pepe-Portugal Real Madrid/Besiktas
Gerard Pique-Spain Barcelona
Sergio Ramos-Spain Real Madrid
Thiago Silva-Brazil Paris Saint-Germain
Samuel Umtiti-France Barcelona
Antonio Valencia-Ecuador Manchester United
Raphael Varane-France Real Madrid
Midfielders
Thiago Alcantara-Spain Bayern Munich
Sergio Busquets-Spain Barcelona
Casemiro-Brazil Real Madrid
Philippe Coutinho-Brazil Liverpool
Eden Hazard-Belgium Chelsea
Andres Iniesta-Spain Barcelona
Isco-Spain Real Madrid
N Golo Kante-France Chelsea
Toni Kroos-Germany Real Madrid
Nemanja Matic-Serbia Chelsea/Manchester United
Luka Modric-Croatia Real Madrid
Mesut Ozil-Germany Arsenal
Paul Pogba-France Manchester United
Marco Verratti-Italy Paris Saint-Germain
Arturo Vidal-Chile Bayern Munich
Forwards
Gareth Bale-Wales Real Madrid
Karim Benzema-France Real Madrid
Edinson Cavani-Uruguay Paris Saint-Germain
Paulo Dybala-Argentina Juventus
Antoine Griezmann-France Atletico Madrid
Zlatan Ibrahimovic-Sweden Manchester United
Harry Kane-England Tottenham Hotspur
Robert Lewandowski-Poland Bayern Munich
Romelu Lukaku-Belgium Manchester United
Kylian Mbappe-France Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi-Argentina FC Barcelona
Neymar-Brazil Paris Saint-Germain
Cristiano Ronaldo-Portugal Real Madrid
Alexis Sanchez-Chile Arsenal
Luis Suarez-Uruguay Barcelona
--IANS
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