(Football news) Four players from the Premier League were included in the 2022 FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World XI as the likes of Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk and Manchester United midfielder Casemiro both making it in the final XI, which was announced on Monday at the ceremony for The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022. The Manchester City duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland got in as did former teammate Joao Cancelo, who is playing for Bayern Munich. Other than Van Dijk and Cancelo in defence, PSG and Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi was the only defender in the team, in an unusual 3-3-4 formation.
That formation allows plenty of attacking talent as Haaland was joined in the forward with the likes of Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe. As always, the FIFPRO 11 was decided based on votes from professional footballers worldwide as this time players were asked to make their selections based on performances between August 8, 2021 and December 18, 2022. Messi was fortunately the only member of Argentina’s victorious World Cup squad to feature in the FIFPRO 11.
Another shock came in goal as Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois was voted in ahead of Emiliano Martinez, despite the Argentina keeper winning the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper award. The FIFPRO 11 features four players from the Real Madrid team that won the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League, with Luka Modric joining the likes of Courtois, Benzema and Casemiro, who left the Bernabeu. The major shock was that last year’s Real’s star player Vinicus Junior wasn’t picked despite having 40 goal contributions and was one of the key players to help Madrid win their 13th Champions League trophy.
2022 FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11
Thibaut Courtois, Joao Cancelo, Virgil van Dijk, Achraf Hakimi, Casemiro, Kevin De Bruyne, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe & Lionel Messi
Also read: Messi beats the likes of Mbappe and Benzema to win the FIFA’s best player award
