Manchester United news: Paul Pogba misses out on Fifa's team of the year by narrowest margin in award's history

His omission means there are no Premier League players in the World XI for a second successive year

Evan Bartlett
Tuesday 10 January 2017 14:07 GMT
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The French midfielder missed out on the team by just two votes
The French midfielder missed out on the team by just two votes (Getty)

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Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba missed out on a place in Fifa's world team of the year by the narrowest margin in the award's history.

The Fifa FifPro World XI is chosen through the votes of 26,516 players in 69 countries across the world.

Each player is asked to choose one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards.

Pogba, who became the world's most expensive player when United paid Juventus £89m for him in the summer, missed out on the team by just two votes.

While the Frenchman made the team in 2015, he was omitted this year in favour of Real Madrid's Toni Kroos who lines up alongside Andres Iniesta and Luka Modric in midfield.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both feature in the team for the 10th year in a row, appearing up front with the latter's Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez.

Click on the gallery below to view the Fifa FifPro World XI for 2016:

Pogba's exclusion means that not a single player from the Premier League is represented. Ten of the team played in Spain's La Liga - with Daniel Alves leaving Barcelona for Serie A side Juventus in the summer - while Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer is the sole Bundesliga representative.

The award was inaugurated in 2005 when the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele made the team following Chelsea's first Premier League win.

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