Interestingly, no African player was able to make the list.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has named its 11 best players for 2019.
Even top forwards who play for Liverpool Football Club, Mohammed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal) were sidelined in the list.
Although the duo helped their team to win the UEFA Champions League, they still couldn’t make the list.
Mohammed Salah was named the African player of the year while Sadio Mane was part of the team that led his national team to the grand finale of the ended 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Virgil van Dijk (The Netherlands, Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (The Netherlands, Ajax/currently Juventus), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid) and Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid) were FIFA’s defenders of the year.
The midfielders included Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea/currently Real Madrid), Frenkie de Jong (The Netherlands, Ajax/currently Barcelona) and Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid).
FIFA’s forwards for the year were Kylian Mbappe (France, Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus).
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi was on Monday, September 23, 2019, named the winner of FIFA’s best men’s player of the year.
The Best Goalkeeper honour was given to Alisson Becker while Jurgen Klopp was named the Best Manager of the year.