By Victor Kanayo
FIFA has shortlisted Portuguse and Al Nassr forward Cristiano Ronaldo, and his Perpetual rival Lionel Messi, playing for Inter Miami among a 23-player squad for the FIFPro team of the year.
The World football body also nominated Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe.
Others In Men’s Shortlist
Others are Goalkeepers – Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium), Ederson (Manchester City, Brazil), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa, Argentina).
The Defenders are Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands), Eder Militao (Real Madrid, Brazil), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany), John Stones (Manchester City, England), Kyle Walker (Manchester City, England)
The Midfielders in the list are Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid, England), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City/Barcelona, Germany), Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia), Rodri (Manchester City, Spain), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid, Uruguay).
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Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/Al-Ittihad, France), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/Bayern Munich, England), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France) and Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid, Brazil) are other Forwards in the men shortlist.
Women’s Category
In the women’s category, World Cup winners Aitana Bonmati and Jenni Hermoso were nominated.
Also on the list is Chelsea women’s duo of Lauren James and Sam Kerr.
Others are Goalkeepers – Mackenzie Arnold (West Ham United, Australia), Mary Earps (Manchester United, England) and Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars, USA)
The Defenders are Lucy Bronze (Barcelona, England), Olga Carmona (Real Madrid, Spain), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City, England), Amanda Ilestedt (Paris Saint-Germain/Arsenal, Sweden), Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain/Chelsea, Canada), Maria Leon (Barcelona, Spain) and Irene Paredes (Barcelona, Spain)
The Midfielders included are Claudia Pina (Barcelona, Spain), Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona, Sweden), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich, England), Ella Toone (Manchester United, England) and Keira Walsh (Barcelona, England)
The other Forwards are Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave, USA), Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona, Spain), Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg, Germany) and Alessia Russo (Manchester United/Arsenal, England).
Selection Criteria
The FIFPro award is selected by over 28,000 professional footballers and is the only global football award decided exclusively by professional footballers.
The players were nominated for their performances from December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023, inclusive, and the players selected must have played at least 23 games within the period.
