Since 2005, FIFPRO has asked professional footballers worldwide to select the best players in the game, to create the team with the 11 most outstanding male players and the 11 greatest women players.
The response has been overwhelming: each year around 25,000 players participate in this unique vote, including the game’s biggest stars.
Your choice, your team
The principle is clear: each player gets a chance to participate and every vote is equally important.
The voting process for the 2021 World 11s started in August, just after the Tokyo Summer Olympics finished and lasted for five weeks. .
The process is completely digitalized. FIFPRO and approximately 70 affiliated players unions distributed unique links that will give players from all professional football clubs on the planet access to our digital voting platform.
We ask the players to select the three footballers who they think have been the best in their position during the 2020/2021 season. There are four positions: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards.
The players are free to choose any of their peers. The voting tool contains a guidance list with approximately 250 player names, however, players are also allowed to add other names if they are not mentioned on that list.
The players decide
Any suggestion that either FIFPRO or FIFA decides which player will be in the World 11 is incorrect. The players decide!
The goalkeeper, as well as the three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards who received the most votes will be selected for the World 11. The remaining spot in the World 11 will be assigned to the outfield player with the next highest number of votes who is not selected already.
The World 11 squads
A couple of weeks before FIFA and FIFPRO unveil the World 11s, they release a list with the men and women who received the most votes. For the 2021 World 11s, we present a 23-player “squad” for the men and a squad for the women. Each squad consists of the three goalkeepers, six defenders, six midfielders and six forwards with the most votes. To complete this elite selection, the two remaining outfield players with the most votes are added.
World 11 on stage
Each year, the World 11s are officially presented during the Best FIFA Football Awards, where all players are welcomed on stage to receive their well-deserved trophy.
