FIFA World 11 analysis: Who made it? Who missed out?

FIFA have revealed the 11 players who made their FIFPro men’s World XI for 2022 and there is plenty of debate regarding the selections.

A reminder: the 11 players selected are voted for by FIFPro members, who are professional players across the globe. Players from over 68 leagues voted and 18,640 votes were collected.

The 3-3-4 formation is unique in itself and some of the players included in this list have definitely had a rougher start to 2023.

A very important reminder: these selections are based on form for club and country from August 8 2021 to 18 December 2022. So, the entire 2021-22 campaign and then the first half of the 2022-23 season up until the end of the World Cup.

Below is the FIFA FIFPro World 11 for 2022, with some analysis on the players who made it and some who should have been very close to making it.

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium)

Defenders Joao Cancelo (Manchester City/Bayern Munich, Portugal) Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands) Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco)

Midfielders Casemiro (Real Madrid/Manchester United, Brazil) Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium) Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)

Forwards Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France) Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City, Norway) Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France) Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain, Argentina)

Given his heroics in the UEFA Champions League final it is tough to argue that Thibaut Courtois didn’t deserve to be named as the goalkeeper but Emiliano Martinez and Alisson also had a fine last 16-month period. Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Ederson are always going to be in this conversation too.

Defensively, both Joao Cancelo and Virgil van Dijk have struggled in