Following the announcement of world players’ union FIFPro of the FIFA FIFPro World XI as voted for by over 55,000 professional footballers worldwide, Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) can reveal how this team would look if based upon the votes cast only by A-League players.
PFA began gathering votes from across all 10 A-League clubs as early as September 2012 in preparation for them to be sent to the headquarters of FIFPro in Zurich, Switzerland, ready to be counted along with the vast number of votes from fellow professionals from all over the world.
Official FIFA FIFPro World XI:
Goal:
IkerCasillas (Spain, Real Madrid)
Defence:
Daniel Alves (Brazil, Barcelona)
Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid)
Gerard Piqué (Spain, Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid)
Midfield:
Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid)
Andrés Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona)
Xavi (Spain, Barcelona)
Attack:
RadamelFalcao (Colombia, Atlético)
Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid)
For the first time in its history, the official 2012 FIFPro World XI contained players all from the same league, with La Liga in Spain dominating the result. Five players from Barcelona along with 5 from Real Madrid and one from Atletico Madrid made the cut.
The World XI as voted for by players in the A-League (denotes variation from official team):
Goal:
Joe Hart (England, Manchester City)
Defence:
Daniel Alves (Brazil, Barcelona)
Vincent Kompany (Belgium, Manchester City)
Gerard Piqué (Spain, Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid)
Midfield:
Andrés Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona)
YayaToure (Cote d’Ivoire, Manchester City)
Xavi (Spain, Barcelona)
Attack:
Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona)
Neymar (Brazil, Santos)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid)
While the team chosen by A-League players closely resembles that of the worldwide vote, there are 4 players that were preferred instead of IkerCasillas, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso and RadamelFalcao, one for each of the 4 positional categories.
Chosen instead were 3 Manchester City players in Joe Hart (who FIFPro reported just missed out on making the first XI), Vincent Kompany and YayaToure, all who won the English Premier League (EPL) title in dramatic fashion last season.
