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2021 Men's FIFA FIFPro World 11 nominees announced, Salah misses out

By primenewsghana
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The 2021 Men's FIFA FIFPro World 11 nominees have been announced, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo headlining the star-studded shortlist, but there was no room for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah. 

FIFPro, the worldwide representative organisation for 65 000 professional footballers, in conjunction with FIFA have announced the list of players who will be eligible for this year's World 11 team.

Thousands of professional footballers from all over the world are part of the nomination process, and the players with the most votes are then listed among the 23 nominees.

"We ask the players to select the three footballers who they think have been the best in their position during the 2020/2021 season. There are four positions: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards," a statement on FIFPro's website read.

"The players are free to choose any of their peers. The voting tool contains a guidance list with approximately 250 player names, however, players are also allowed to add other names if they are not mentioned on that list.

"... The goalkeeper, as well as the three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards who received the most votes will be selected for the World 11. The remaining spot in the World 11 will be assigned to the outfield player with the next highest number of votes who is not selected already."

While some of the world's biggest stars made the selection, including the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski, Egypt sensation Salah was, perhaps surprisingly, a name that is not on the final shortlist, while the only African player among the nominees is Chelsea and Senegal shot-stopper Edouard Mendy.

The final squad is scheduled to be announced at The Best FIFA awards gala on January 17, 2022.

You can see all the 2021 FIFA FIFPro World 11 nominees below:

Goalkeepers

Alisson Becker (Liverpool & Brazil), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan/Paris Saint-Germain & Italy), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea & Senegal)

Defenders

David Alaba (Bayern Munich/Real Madrid & Austria), Jordi Alba (Barcelona & Spain), Dani Alves (Sao Paulo/Barcelona & Brazil), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool & England), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus & Italy), Ruben Dias (Manchester City & Portugal)

Midfielders

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona & Spain), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium), Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona & Netherlands), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United & Portugal), Jorginho (Chelsea & Italy), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea & France)

Forwards

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid & France), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund & Norway), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich & Poland), Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan/Chelsea & Belgium), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain & France), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain & Argentina), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain & Brazil), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Manchester United & Portugal)