4 players who deserved a place in the FIFA FIFPro World XI

The much-awaited FIFA awards were presented in grand fashion in London on 24 September 2018. The FIFA awards are presented to the top performing players from the previous season, recognizing their performances for club and country.

Each year the FIFA awards tend to spark huge debate as various controversial selections are made while presenting the awards and also while naming the 'FIFA FIFPro World XI'. People always tend to have their opinions over who should be included in the eleven, making it impossible to satisfy everyone's desires. Yet, some deserving names are unfortunately left out while some players are included in the eleven purely based on the player's pedigree and past achievements.

FIFA FIFPro XI 2018: David de Gea, Dani Alves, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo

This year's FIFPro XI had numerous dubious selections with few players who had come up with spectacular performances not getting the recognition they deserved. The likes of Eden Hazard, Kylian Mbappe and Dani Alves had not done enough to merit a place in this prestigious team. Dani Alves was selected purely based on reputation and the likes of Hazard and Mbappe were selected purely based on their showing over the past few months while ignoring the players who were consistent throughout the season.

In this article, we take a look at the top 4 players who deserved a place in the FIFPro XI:

#4 Thibaut Courtois

It would have been an extremely tough call to select the best goalkeeper of the season. David de Gea had a spectacular season once again as he was the most decisive player for Manchester United. Keylor Navas played a crucial role towards Real Madrid securing a third successive Champions League title.

Alisson had a breakthrough campaign for Roma and ultimately secured a big-money move to Liverpool in the summer transfer window. Marc Andre ter Stegen was spectacular throughout the season for Barcelona.

Yet, none of these above-mentioned names found a place among the shortlisted three candidates for the 'Best Goalkeeper' award as three Premier League goalkeepers were the ones nominated. French World Cup winning captain Hugo Lloris, Denmark's Kasper Schmeichel and Belgian Thibaut Courtois made the final shortlist.

Though all three Premier League keepers had respectable club seasons, it was their World Cup showings that fetched them a spot in the shortlist. That is being unfair to the likes of Navas, Alisson and de Gea who were consistent throughout the club season but didn't have the best of times in Russia.

Courtois was ultimately declared as the 'Best Goalkeeper', probably for his World Cup displays. Though not the most desirable candidate, a case could be made for his selection. Once chosen as the best goalkeeper, it is quite obvious that he would be named in the FIFPro XI.

However, FIFA shocked the world by selecting David de Gea in the eleven despite deeming unworthy to be selected amongst the three nominations.

An extremely puzzling decision by FIFA.

#3 Joshua Kimmich

Dani Alves is one of the most decorated players on the planet, having picked up a massive haul of trophies with Sevilla, Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, with only a World Cup missing in his kitty. Dani Alves has deservedly been nominated in the FIFPro XI for many years but this year an unfortunate injury brought his season to an early end and also ruled him out of the World Cup in Russia. So in Alves’ case, his inclusion wasn’t even swayed by his performances in Russia.

That's the reason it was a major shock to see Alves named in the eleven despite missing a huge chunk of the action. Joshua Kimmich had a fabulous season with Bayern Munich as he contributed massively to Bayern Munich's attack by linking up with the Bayern midfielders. He is a pass master and has shown maturity beyond his years.

A dismal World Cup campaign personally and for his country Germany probably played a role in pushing him down the order. Yet he was extremely unlucky to miss a spot in this team and deserved to be there in Alves' expense.

#2 Kevin de Bruyne

Kevin de Bruyne had an absolutely sensational season last time as he played a pivotal role in Manchester City's record-breaking campaign. de Bruyne ran the show from the centre of the park as he orchestrated the play with a brand of football never seen before in the Premier League.

de Bruyne led his team to a record 100-points tally and also recorded 8 goals and 16 assists as he was the creator-in-chief for most of City's attacks. He was desperately unlucky to end up without any personal honours due to Mohamed Salah's incredible individual performances. Despite Salah walking away with all the awards, de Bruyne was equally recognized for his efforts in controlling games.

Kevin de Bruyne played a starring role in Belgium's run to the semifinal in the World Cup in Russia. Despite this, de Bruyne was left out of the FIFPro XI with countryman Eden Hazard favoured due to his scintillating performances in Russia.

Considering Hazard's inconsistency and de Bruyne's mesmerizing performances in the Premier League last season, it would be fair to say that de Bruyne merited a place in the eleven ahead of Hazard.

#1 Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah was one of the three players nominated for The Best FIFA Men’s Player but was shockingly omitted from the FIFA FIFPro XI of the season. Salah, who surprisingly collected the Puskas Award for his solo goal against Everton last year ended up third behind Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo but yet didn't figure in the best eleven.

The Egyptian who had an unforgettable season last year contributed to 44 goals and 16 assists in just 52 games in his debut season in Liverpool. He walked away with numerous individual honours like Premier League Player of the Season, Golden Boot, PFA Player of the Year, FWA Player of the Year amongst many others. Being nominated as one of the top three players meant that it was obvious that he would be named in the FIFA FIFPro XI.

FIFA shocked the world as they left out Salah in favour of Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappe.

These omissions are further proof that some of the decisions by FIFA during these awards show are quite silly.