11th January, 2016
English Premier League boasts of football stars in the stature of Eden Hazard, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Wayne Rooney amongst others but none of them is good enough to be listed among the best 11 players in the world.
The list of 11 players announced after the Ballon d’Or award features one player from the French Ligue 1, one player from the Italian Serie A, one player from the German Bundesliga and eight players from the Spanish La Liga.
Over the last few months, over 20,000 professional footballers from around the globe casted their votes for the 2015 FIFA FIFPro World XI.
For the last seven years FIFA and the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) have been selecting the team of the year on a joint basis, inviting footballers from around the world to choose a goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. Once the votes are counted, the winners are announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala, held this year at the Kongresshaus in Zurich.
Below is the team of the year:
FIFA FIFPro World XI: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Thiago Silva (PSG), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos, (Real Madrid), Dani Alves (Barcelona); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (Juventus); Neymar (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid).