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Who made the 2023 FIFPRO Men’s World 11?

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  • FIFA and FIFPRO reveal Men's World 11 at The Best FIFA Football Awards in London, England

  • The World 11 is the only global player award decided exclusively by professional footballers

  • Lionel Messi makes record 17th successive appearance; six Manchester City treble-winners make global team of the year

The FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11 has been revealed at The Best FIFA Football Awards in London, England after nearly 22,000 professional men's footballers voted for their global team of the year.

Lionel Messi made it a record 17th successive FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11 appearance; the Argentinian ace has been voted into every team of the year by his peers since 2007.

Six of Manchester City’s treble-winning side were voted into the men’s team of the year: Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

Since 2005, FIFPRO has invited the world’s professional footballers to choose their World 11. It is the only global player award decided exclusively by footballers.

FIFPRO and FIFA congratulate the following winners:

2023 FIFA FIFPRO MEN’S WORLD 11

Goalkeeper

Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium)

Defenders

Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal)
John Stones (Manchester City, England)
Kyle Walker (Manchester City, England)

Midfielders

Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid, England)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal)

Forwards

Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Inter Miami, Argentina)
Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid, Brazil)

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How did the voting work?

The 2023 FIFA FIFPRO World 11 was voted for by professional footballers from 69 countries. FIFPRO and affiliated player unions distributed unique links that gave players access to a digital voting platform.

Men’s football players were asked to vote for their peers based on their performances from 19 December 2022 to 20 August 2023 inclusive. Players in the World 11 must have appeared in at least 23 official matches during that period.

Footballers picked the three players who, in their opinion, were the most outstanding in each of the following positions: goalkeeper, defence, midfield and forward.

The goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards with the most votes in their position made it into the World 11. The 11th spot was assigned to the outfield player with the next highest number of votes.

Players were free to choose any of their peers. The voting tool contained a suggestion list, but players were allowed to add other names if they were not mentioned on that list.