Three French World champions were selected by their peers for the 2018 FIFA FIFPRO World 11. And finally, the first Belgium player received a World 11 award.
N’Golo Kante, Raphael Varane and Kylian Mbappe all made their debut in the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 after winning the World Cup with France. The 19-year old Mbappe is the youngest player in World 11 history to receive this unique award.
Eden Hazard also enjoyed a very well played World Cup, coming in third with Belgium. As an extra reward, the 24,208 professional footballers that voted, decided to include him in the World 11. The attacking midfielder is the first Belgian player to be elected, although the country has a generation with many excellent players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, Romelo Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois.
Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea was the fifth newcomer. His countryman Andres Iniesta on the other hand, no longer formed part of the World's most exclusive team after nine consecutive appearances.
List of 55
Seven French World Cup winners received enough votes to be included on the List of 55 players: Kante, Mbappe, Varane, Antoine Griezmann, Benjamin Pavard, Paul Pogba and Samuel Umtiti.
Karim Benzema was the eighth Frenchman on the list, but he was not selected for the French World Cup squad. The striker did however win a third consecutive Champions League title with Real Madrid.
Eleven players made their debut on the list, including Virgil van Dijk, Joshua Kimmich, Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
One year after being part of the World 11, Leonardo Bonucci was not on the list of 55 anymore.
Out of all players, Luka Modric received most votes: 20,473
David De Gea and Thibaut Courtois had the tightest battle for a spot in the World 11: only 210 votes separated the goalkeepers.
Samuel Umtiti needed 432 votes to beat Dani Alves, while Kevin De Bruyne came 511 votes short to surpass Hazard. Mohamed Salah, who had an incredible season at Liverpool, came up well short of the top three strikers: he finished 3,240 voted behind Mbappe.
Newcomers Eden Hazard, Kylian Mbappe and N'Golo Kante
Newcomers Raphael Varane and David De Gea. Dani Alves singing with his eight World 11 award
