The Portuguese João Cancelo, defender of Bayern Munich, and Cristiano Ronaldo, forward of Al Nassr, are part of the list of 26 candidates for the best eleven of 2022 of the International Union of Professional Footballers (FIFPro), released this Monday.
Players from more than 60 FIFPro countries, including Portugal, have chosen three goalkeepers, three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards for the World’s Best 11 for 2021/22, taking into account sporting performance between August 8, 2021 and December. 18, 2022, resulting in 26 nominees.
Cancelo, who left the Bavarian on loan from Manchester City until the end of the season, and Ronaldo, who now represents the Saudis at Al Nassr, join names such as the Brazilian Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), the French Kylian Mbappé ( PSG) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), the Norwegian Erling Haaland (Manchester City), the Polish Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), the Belgian Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) or the Croatian Luka Modric, from Real Madrid, a club with more representatives.
The batch of FIFPro nominees, which has 26 players for the first time, consists of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and the seven forwards with the most votes, including Lionel Messi (PSG), Enzo Fernández, who left Benfica to go to Chelsea, and Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), three players who were proclaimed World Champions playing with Argentina, in Qatar, last December.
The big news is the Spaniards Pedri and Gavi, from FC Barcelona, the Uruguayan Fede Valverde, from Real Madrid, the Moroccan Achraf Hakimi, from PSG, and the Frenchman Theo Hernández, from AC Milan.
Messi and Ronaldo are the players who appeared in the eleven the most times, both with fifteen, four more than the Spanish Sérgio Ramos (PSG), while Modric aspires to be one of the 11 most voted players for the sixth time.
Compared to last year’s eleven, the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Austrian David Alaba, the Italians Leonardo Bonucci and Jorginho, the Portuguese Rúben Dias and the French N’Golo Kante were not among the candidates.
The best 11 of the 2021/22 season will be announced on February 27 at The Best FIFA gala in Paris.
List of the 26 players nominated for the best 11 of the year:
– Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) and Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa).
– Defenders: João Cancelo (Bayern Munich), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool), Josko Gvardiol (Leipzig), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Theo Hernández (AC Milan), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid) and Thiago Silva (Chelsea).
– Media: Jude Bellingham (Dortmund), Casemiro (Manchester United), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Gavi (FC Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Pedri (FC Barcelona) and Fede Valverde (Real Madrid).
– Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr).
Source: TSF
