Two superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are both named in FIFA FIFPro’s list of 23 outstanding players in 2023, announced on January 3.

The two veterans are on the list of seven attacking players, alongside Karim Benzema, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Junior. In addition, FIFA and FIFPro also selected three goalkeepers, six defenders and seven midfielders.

FIFPro is the world professional football association, founded in 1965, with 65,000 member players from 66 football federations. FIFPro began collaborating with FIFA, selecting the typical team every year, since 2005. The nomination list had 23 players, before being reduced to 11 people. The nominations were selected by more than 25,000 professional players from FIFA and FIFPro, based on the player’s achievements from December 19, 2022 (after the World Cup) to August 20, 2023.

In the list of 23 players, only Ronaldo will not play for any European club in 2023, when he plays for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. However, the Portuguese captain scored the most goals in 2023, with 54 goals, counted among players playing for a club in the national championship.

In addition, the list also has two players who are not currently on the payroll of European clubs, Messi and Benzema. Messi left PSG to play for Inter Miami in the US from July 2023, and Benzema also went to the Saudi League to play for Al Ittihad.

Man City dominates the list, with eight representatives, not including midfielder Ilkay Gundogan who moved to Barca. Inter reached the Champions League final last term and won the Italian Cup, but did not have any representatives. Napoli won Serie A, also has no nominations on the list. The list also lacks players who can play left back. There are five players nominated for the first time, namely Gundogan, Eder Militao, Rodri, John Stones and Vinicius.

From the above list, FIFA and FIFPro will select 11 players for the typical team, including one goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three strikers. The remaining spot in the lineup is reserved for the player with the most votes who is not yet in the lineup. The squad of 11 typical players will be announced on January 15.

Messi holds the record of being in the FIFPro representative team 16 times, consecutively since 2007. Ronaldo has been honored 15 times, when he missed 2022. In addition, there is only one player who appears in the team more than 10 times. , is Sergio Ramos with 11 names.