Mo Salah left out of FIFPRO World 11 – one Liverpool star makes the cut

Mohamed Salah and Alisson were the notable omissions from FIFPRO's World 11 shortlist, with Virgil van Dijk the only Liverpool player included in the 23-man squad.

The Reds' Egyptian superstar has been in scintillating form this season.

The 31-year-old Salah netted his 150th Premier League goal for Liverpool in the 4-2 win over Newcastle and leaves for the Africa Cup of Nations joint-top of the scoring charts for 2023/24 (14).

Salah's form is hardly a recent phenomenon, with Liverpool's No. 11 enjoying a stellar calendar year in 2023.

As noted by Opta, with 24 goals and 15 assists across the calendar year, Salah was the only player to exceed 15 goals and 15 assists in Europe's 'big five' leagues in 2023.

Salah was also the first Premier League player to get 15+ goals and assists in a calendar year since Arsenal legend Thierry Henry managed it back in 2003.

Despite his achievements, Salah apparently did not do enough to earn a place on FIFPRO's 23-man shortlist for its annual World 11 – which is voted for by over 25,000 professional players.

The organisation posted the 23-man 'squad' ahead of the final XI announcement on Wednesday.

Instead, Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Erling Haaland (Manchester City) Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and Cristiano Ronalo (Al-Nassr) are the seven forwards selected from the tallied votes.

While Salah was left out, there was one Liverpool player who did make the cut when it came to votes from his peers: Van Dijk.

The Reds captain was one of six defenders announced, alongside Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, John Stones (Manchester City), Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao (Real Madrid).

There was no place either for Liverpool's Alisson among the three goalkeepers, with Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Ederson (Manchester City) and Emi Martinez (Aston Villa) included.

Despite being rated as among the very best in the world in his position, being overlooked for individual honours has become a regular occurrence for Liverpool's No. 1, who was also surprisingly omitted from the Yashin Trophy (the Ballon d'Or's goalkeeping equivalent) shortlist last year.

In 2022, Van Dijk was also the only Liverpool player to make FIFPRO's World XI, as he was included in the final team's defence alongside Achraf Hakimi and Joao Cancelo.