Five goalkeepers shortlisted for FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2012

The worldwide players’ union FIFPro and FIFA today announced the five goalkeepers shortlisted for the FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2012 (see list below), part of the 55-player final shortlist to be revealed at a press conference in São Paulo on 29 November 2012.

This year, all of the individual position shortlists, including today’s goalkeeper shortlist, will be announced in the two weeks leading up to the announcement of the final, complete shortlist. The shortlists for the defenders, midfielders and forwards will be announced and published on FIFA.com on 22, 26 and 29 November respectively.

The goalkeeper shortlist is: (home country, club)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus); Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid); Petr Cech (Czech Republic, Chelsea); Joe Hart (England, Manchester City); Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich).

You can read individual profiles on the five goalkeepers by following the link to the right.

The 50,000 professional footballers belonging to the players’ unions across the world that form FIFPro received voting forms to nominate their peers in a secret ballot for inclusion in their World XI – choosing the best goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards of 2012.

The final FIFA/FIFPro World XI will be announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 7 January 2013. During the televised gala, the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the best player of 2012 and the winner of the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2012 award will also be revealed. Meanwhile, the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award will be presented for the third time. The FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal of the year, the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented during the gala.