FIFPro

The Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels, generally referred to as FIFPro, is the worldwide representative organisation for 65,000 professional footballers. FIFPro, with its global headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, is made up of 63 national players' associations. In addition, there are five candidate members and eight observers.

History

On 15 December 1965, representatives of the French, Scottish, English, Italian and Dutch players' associations met in Paris, with the objective of setting up an international federation for footballers. In the second half of June 1966, the first FIFPro congress took place in London, just before the start of the World Championship. The articles of association of FIFPro were thereby adopted and the objectives accurately laid down. FIFPro was responsible for increasing the solidarity between professional footballers and players' associations. FIFPro tried to offer the players' associations or other interest associations the means for mutual consultation and co-operation to achieve their objectives. In addition, it wished to co-ordinate the activities of the different affiliated groups in order to promote the interests of all professional footballers. Indeed, FIFPro likewise had in mind propagating and defending the rights of professional footballers. The emphasis was thereby laid on the freedom of the football player to be able to choose the club of his choice at the end of his contract. It was likewise laid down that FIFPro would be helpful in every required area for setting up interest associations. These are objectives which still apply to this day.
It was originally laid down that a congress would be held once every four years at a minimum – prior to the World Championship. The congress had to uphold the course set out and with a two-third majority vote. The congress is still the most important organ of FIFPro to this very day. It soon appeared that it was necessary to organize a congress annually, and not to limit this to once every four years. Many congresses have been held in the meantime, such as for example in 1978 in Madrid and in 1979 in Athens and Venice. In the eighties and nineties many memorable congresses have been organized in almost all the large European cities, such as Paris, Athens, Milan, Manchester, Zürich, Ghent, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv, Rome, Johannesburg, Barcelona, Santiago and Budapest. The latest congress was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2010.
The objectives of FIFPro also mean that not only FIFA applied as a talking partner. UEFA in particular, but also the European parliament and the European Commission appeared to be important points of approach. The national federations also started to become increasingly aware that, in addition to the national players' association, the international trade union FIFPro also played its role.
In recent years, FIFPro has grown from a European organization into a global network. The FIFPro has done much to support countries on other continents – Asia/Oceania, Africa and South America – in their efforts to set up players' associations. In October 2012, FIFPro welcomed the footballers' associations of Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro and Ukraine as its newest members.
In 2013, FIFPro launched a legal challenge against the transfer system. FIFPro president Phillipe Piat said "the transfer system fails 99% of players around the world, it fails football as an industry and it fails the world's most beloved game". According to FIFPro's European president Bobby Barnes, 28% of the money from a transfer fee is paid to agents, and that many players are not paid on time or at all. He claims this leads to these players being "vulnerable targets of crime syndicates, who instigate match-fixing and threaten the very existence of credible football competitions". Writing for the BBC, Matt Slater said "professional footballers do not enjoy the same freedoms that almost every other EU worker does", and that "players look at US sport, and wonder why their career prospects are still constrained by transfer fees and compensation costs". Barnes argues that "the system encourages speculative, unsustainable, immoral and illegal investment models like third-party ownership of players".

Current board

The FIFPro board consists of eleven members, including president Philippe Piat, for the term 2013–2017. He has been president since the FIFPro congress in Ljubljana in October 2013. The board members are:

President: Philippe Piat
Vice-President : Francis Awaritefe
Board members Bobby Barnes, Louis Everard, Leonardo Grosso, Mads Øland,, Fernando Revilla, Luis Rubiales, Dejan Stefanovic,
General-Secretary: Theo van Seggelen

In 1998, for the first time in FIFPro history, a board member was elected by the General Assembly.

Members

Founded on 15 December 1965, FIFPro has 63 full members, 1 special member, 3 candidate members and 6 observers. Upon graduation to the next level, new members sign an affiliation agreement that promotes loyalty, integrity and fairness as well as principles of good governance, including open and transparent communications, democratic processes, checks and balances, solidarity and corporate social responsibility.

Full members

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bolivia
Botswana
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
DR Congo
Ecuador
Egypt
England
Finland
France
Gabon
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hungary
Indonesia
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
North Macedonia
Norway
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Serbia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
Candidate members
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slovakia
Zambia
Observers
China PR
Iceland
Kazakhstan
South Korea
Tunisia
Turkey
Awards

Each year since 2005, FIFPro invited all professional men's footballers in the world to compose the best men's team of the year, named the FIFPro World 11. Every player was requested to pick one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. In 2009, the world players' union joined hands with FIFA. While the format remained the same, the award name changed to the FIFA FIFPro World11. This became the only team award picked by all professional footballers worldwide.
Each year in September, approximately 45,000 voting ballots are sent out to professional footballers' associations that are FIFPro members or candidate members, who are then asked to distribute the forms among all professional footballers in their countries. In October these are returned to FIFPro's head office. At the end of November, FIFPro and FIFA together announce the 55-player shortlist, consisting of 5 goalkeepers, 20 defenders, 15 midfielders and 15 forwards. In January the votes are counted, and the 11-man FIFA FIFPro World XI is revealed at the FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony in Zürich, Switzerland.
From 2005 until 2008, FIFPro also asked the footballers to choose the FIFPro Player of the Year. From 2009 on, the election for FIFPro Player of the Year merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2010 combined with France Football's Ballon d'Or into one award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
In 2014, FIFPro launched a women’s football committee.
In February 2016, the FIFPro Women's World11 was launched. Players of 33 different nationalities in over 20 countries participated in voting for one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. In 2019, FIFPro announced that, like with the men's award, the Women's award was merging with FIFA to become the FIFA FIFPro Women's World11, and would be announced and presented to the players at FIFA's annual The Best award ceremony.

FIFA FIFPro Men's World11

Winners

Players marked bold won the FIFA World Player of the Year, the FIFA Ballon d'Or or The Best FIFA Men's Player in that respective year.

Season	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
2005	Dida '	Paolo Maldini ' John Terry ' Alessandro Nesta ' Cafu '	Zinedine Zidane ' Claude Makélélé ' Frank Lampard '	Ronaldinho *Samuel Eto'o* ' Andriy Shevchenko '
2006	Gianluigi Buffon '	Gianluca Zambrotta ' John Terry ' Fabio Cannavaro Lilian Thuram '	Zinedine Zidane ' Kaká ' Andrea Pirlo '	Ronaldinho ' Samuel Eto'o ' Thierry Henry '
2007	Gianluigi Buffon '	Alessandro Nesta ' John Terry ' Fabio Cannavaro ' Carles Puyol '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Kaká *Steven Gerrard* '	Ronaldinho ' Didier Drogba ' Lionel Messi '
2008	Iker Casillas '	Rio Ferdinand ' John Terry ' Carles Puyol ' Sergio Ramos '	Kaká ' Xavi ' Steven Gerrard '	Cristiano Ronaldo Fernando Torres Lionel Messi '
2009	Iker Casillas '	Patrice Evra ' John Terry ' Nemanja Vidić ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Xavi ' Steven Gerrard '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Fernando Torres ' Lionel Messi '
2010	Iker Casillas '	Carles Puyol ' Gerard Piqué ' Lúcio ' Maicon '	Andrés Iniesta ' Xavi ' Wesley Sneijder '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' David Villa ' Lionel Messi '
2011	Iker Casillas '	Sergio Ramos ' Gerard Piqué ' Nemanja Vidić ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Xavi ' Xabi Alonso '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Wayne Rooney ' Lionel Messi
2012	Iker Casillas '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Gerard Piqué ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Xavi ' Xabi Alonso '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Radamel Falcao ' Lionel Messi
2013	Manuel Neuer '	Philipp Lahm ' Sergio Ramos ' Thiago Silva ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Xavi ' Franck Ribéry '	Cristiano Ronaldo Zlatan Ibrahimović ' Lionel Messi '
2014	Manuel Neuer '	Philipp Lahm ' Sergio Ramos ' Thiago Silva ' David Luiz '	Andrés Iniesta ' Toni Kroos ' Ángel Di María '	Cristiano Ronaldo Arjen Robben ' Lionel Messi '
2015	Manuel Neuer '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Thiago Silva ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Paul Pogba ' Luka Modrić '	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Neymar ' Lionel Messi
2016	Manuel Neuer '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Gerard Piqué ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Toni Kroos ' Luka Modrić '	Cristiano Ronaldo Luis Suárez ' Lionel Messi '
2017	Gianluigi Buffon '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Leonardo Bonucci ' Dani Alves '	Andrés Iniesta ' Toni Kroos ' Luka Modrić '	Cristiano Ronaldo Neymar Lionel Messi '
2018	David de Gea '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Raphaël Varane ' Dani Alves '	Eden Hazard N'Golo Kanté ' Luka Modrić	Cristiano Ronaldo ' Kylian Mbappé Lionel Messi '
2019	Alisson '	Marcelo ' Sergio Ramos ' Virgil van Dijk ' Matthijs de Ligt '	Eden Hazard Frenkie de Jong ' Luka Modrić '	Cristiano Ronaldo Kylian Mbappé ' Lionel Messi ''

Appearances by player

Appearances by club

Players in italics have made appearances with multiple clubs, and appearances are separated accordingly.

	Club	Apps	Player
1	Barcelona	53	Lionel Messi , Iniesta, Xavi, Dani Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Neymar, Thuram, Villa, Zambrotta, Suárez, De Jong
2	Real Madrid	51	Cristiano Ronaldo, Ramos, Marcelo, Casillas, Modrić, Kroos, Zidane, Cannavaro, Alonso, Di María, Varane, Hazard
3	Juventus	13	Buffon, Alves, Cristiano Ronaldo, Cannavaro, Pogba, Thuram, Zambrotta, Bonucci, De Ligt
4	Chelsea	12	Terry, Hazard, Drogba, Lampard, Makélélé, David Luiz, Kanté
5	Milan	11	Kaká, Nesta, Cafu, Dida, Maldini, Pirlo, Shevchenko, Bonucci
6	Manchester United	10	Cristiano Ronaldo, Vidić, Evra, Ferdinand, Rooney, Di María, De Gea
6	Paris Saint-Germain	10	Thiago Silva, Dani Alves, Mbappé, Ibrahimović , David Luiz, Neymar
8	Bayern Munich	9	Neuer, Lahm, Ribéry, Robben, Kroos
9	Liverpool	7	Gerrard, Torres, Alisson, Van Dijk
10	Internazionale	3	Lúcio, Maicon, Sneijder
11	Ajax	2	De Ligt, De Jong
12	Arsenal	1	Henry
12	Atlético Madrid	1	Falcao
12	Valencia	1	Villa

Appearances by nationality

Continental appearances