No Premier League-based players have been selected for the 2016 World XI announced at Monday’s inaugural The Best Fifa Awards ceremony in Zurich.

Organised by Fifpro, the body that represents players’ associations from 69 countries, the team is decided by professional footballers, with 26,516 voting this year. The chosen XI contains nine current Barcelona and Real Madrid players, plus Dani Alves, who played for the former until he moved to Juventus last summer:

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich); Defenders Daniel Alves (Brazil, Barcelona and Juventus), Gerard Piqué (Spain, Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid); Midfielders Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid), Andrés Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona); Forwards Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Luis Suárez (Uruguay, Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid).

“I am glad to be again in the World 11”, Ronaldo said. “It means a lot to me. It shows that the work I have done is unbelievable. It is not a coincidence that I have been included for the 10th time. I want to thank all the players for voting on me.”

Neuer added: ““It is a special award for me, but I think also for the teams that I play for, the German national team and FC Bayern. I owe a lot to our guys and I am happy to be elected again.”

The absence of any Premier League talent in the team comes despite English and Welsh clubs providing the most votes, a record 1,884.



Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, missed out on one of the three midfield berths by two votes, the smallest margin in the award’s 12-year history - a count Fifpro verified with a Dutch-based public notary. The Frenchman, the world’s most expensive player, made the team in 2015 for his displays for Juventus.

Premier League-based players have made the team 24 times, a distant second to the 80 selections for the Spanish top flight, with La Liga expected to dominate the 2016 selection, which will be announced at Zurich’s TPC Studios and broadcast on Fifa’s website and social media channels on Monday evening.

The Argentinian winger Ángel Di Maria was chosen for the 2014 team and Brazilian defender David Luiz made the 2013 side but both played in two countries in those years.

The last two English-based players to make the team having spent the entire year at a Premier League club were the Manchester United duo Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic in 2011.

Rooney, who equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United goal-scoring record at the weekend, is the last Englishman to be honoured in this way by his global peers but failed to make the 55-strong shortlist this year for the first time.

The only Englishman on the list was Jamie Vardy, who finished 13th out of 15 forwards in the voting. The Wales and Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale was the only other British player in the reckoning, coming seventh in the same category.

In total, 15 Premier League players were on the shortlist and, if only English votes counted, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne would have made the final team but the wider electorate had him as the ninth-best midfielder last season.

These results underline the remarkable contrast between the Premier League’s global popularity, as evidenced by its huge broadcasting revenues, and the apparent quality gap with Spain, whose clubs have dominated European club competition in recent years.