The recent FIFA awards saw a lot of discussion over Lionel Messi’s polka dot suit that he wore when collecting his fourth Balon D’or. Nobody had any arguments against Messi collecting the record breaking award, but there have been rumblings of FIFA bias towards Spanish football and La Liga in particular in the selection of the FIFA FIFPro World XI.

All eleven players selected for the squad play in La Liga. Five of the players play for Real Madrid, five for Barcelona and the final player plays for Atletico Madrid. The team is selected by other professional footballers and FIFA don’t have a say in who is in the team. Each professional footballer is given a ballot paper and they select one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three strikers.

The FIFA FIFPro team of 2012 was;

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain)

Daniel Alves (Barcelona, Brazil)

Gerard Pique (Barcelona, Spain)

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)

Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil)

Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona, Spain)

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, Spain)

Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)

Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid, Columbia)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)

There’s not much I would change about that team. It’s a strong central defence partnership with two attacking full backs, an impressive midfield trio and the three best strikers on the planet. There is a case for Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie to be included in that strike force, but who would you leave out to include him?

My team of the year would be as follows;

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain)

The Real Madrid goalkeeper has been dropped in Madrid’s last two La Liga games by Jose Mourinho, but came on after ten minutes in Madrid’s last outing after Antonio Adan was sent off. The Spaniard had a highly successful 2012 winning La Liga for the first time since 2008. He was also an important player in Spain’s successful European Championship campaign in which they retained the title to make it three major tournaments in a row. There have been a lot of shouts for Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to have taken the number one shirt in this team, but Casillas just edges it for me.

Right Back: Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany)

The German international is my choice at right back ahead of Barcelona full back Dani Alves. The Bayern Munich defender has been consistently at his best for years and is an important player for both club and country. Captaining both sides, he was an important part of the Germany squad that made the Semi-final of Euro 2012, and also the Bayern Munich sided that were defeated in the 2012 Champions League final by Chelsea.

Centre Back: Vincent Kompany (Manchester City, Belgium)

The giant defender has been one of the most solid defenders in recent years, improving every year. The Belgium and Man City captain was a vital part of Man City’s title winning squad to steal the title from City rivals Man Utd. He’s also been part of a growingly impressive Belgian international side that includes players such as Thomas Vermaelen Merouane Fellaini and Eden Hazard but Kompany is still the star of that team.

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