Collecting five awards, players from Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain managed to win back a few places in the 2013 FIFA FIFPRO World 11 that were previously held by their peers at Spanish clubs.
Three players from Bayern Munich and two from Paris Saint-Germain were welcomed on stage during the special ceremony. Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer and Franck Ribery had won the Champions League, beating German rivals Borussia Dortmund in the final after convincingly eliminating Barcelona in the semi finals.
PSG was knocked out by that same Spanish team, albeit after a hard fought battle. Nevertheless, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva impressed their peers enough to earn a spot in the World 11.
Barcelona (with four players) and Real Madrid (two) completed the World 11 line-up.
A record amount of players in 68 countries participated in the 2013 World 11 vote.
Thiago Silva, Philipp Lahm, Franck Ribery and Manuel Neuer receive their first World 11 award (ANP Photos)
Goalkeeper:
Manuel Neuer
Defenders:
Philipp Lahm
Sergio Ramos
Thiago Silva
Dani Alves
Midfielders:
Franck Ribery
Andres Iniesta
Xavi
Forwards:
Cristiano Ronaldo
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Lionel Messi
List of 55
Real Madrid had most players on the list of 55 players who received the most votes: ten. Bayern Munich and Barcelona both had 9. Among the newcomers was Real's French defender Raphael Varane.
For the first time, FIFPRO decided to publish a ranking per line of all 55 players.
Goalkeepers:
1. Manuel Neuer 2. Iker Casillas 3. Gianluigi Buffon 4. Victor Valdes 5. Petr Cech
Defenders:
1. Thiago Silva 2. Sergio Ramos 3. Dani Alves 4. Philipp Lahm 5. David Luiz 6. Gerard Pique 7. Marcelo 8. David Alaba 9. Jordi Alba 10. Vincent Kompany 11. Dante 12. Mats Hummels 13. Nemanja Vidic 14. Raphaël Varane 15. Ashley Cole 16. Pepe 17. Branislav Ivanovic 18. Leighton Baines 19. Jerome Boateng 20. Pablo Zabaleta
Midfielders:
1. Andres Iniesta 2. Xavi 3. Franck Ribery 4. Mesut Özil 5. Yaya Toure 6. Gareth Bale 7. Andrea Pirlo 8. Bastian Schweinsteiger 9. Xabi Alonso 10. Arjen Robben 11. Sergio Busquets 12. Arturo Vidal 13. Steven Gerrard 14. Marco Reus 15. Isco
Forwards:
1. Lionel Messi 2. Cristiano Ronaldo 3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic 4. Neymar 5. Radamel Falcao 6. Robin van Persie 7. Robert Lewandowski 8. Edinson Cavani 9. Sergio Aguero 10. Luis Suarez 11. Wayne Rooney 12. Mario Balotelli 13. Diego Costa 14. Didier Drogba 15. Mario Mandzukic
Jan Oblak and Nemaja Matic (both Benfica), Kingsley Coman and Thiago Silva (both PSG), Diego Godin and Thibaut Courtois (both Atletico), and Francesco Totti and Gervinho (both AS Roma)
