Liverpool star nominated for world honours alongside Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk is one of 23 players to be officially nominated for the annual FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11.

Van Dijk, 32, has been in brilliant form in 2023 and his performances have helped to guide Liverpool back into title contention after a difficult 2022/23 season. It also takes into account form at international level as well with the Dutchman captaining his country and leading them to Euro 2024.

In terms of the nominees, he's up against six defenders in contention to feature in the World 11; the final 11 will consist of the goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards who received the most votes, plus the outfield player with the next highest number of selections. The final side will be announced during the Best FIFA Football Awards in London on January 15.

As it stands, Van Dijk has featured in the XI three times across his career. Those came in 2019, 2020 and 2022 and he's up against John Stones, Ruben Dias, Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao and Kyle Walker - with the strong Man City contingent coming after their treble winning campaign.

There was no place, however, for either Alisson Becker or Mohamed Salah, despite posting strong years once again. Ederson, Thibaut Courtois and Emi Martinez make up the final three keepers, while Karim Benzema, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Vinicius Junior make up the forwards.

And Salah's omission is certainly a glaring one, given Ronaldo has spent the whole duration of the qualifying period playing for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. Rounding off the nominees is the midfielders, which include: Jude Bellingham, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Luka Modric, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Federico Valverde.

In terms of Liverpool, Van Dijk is level with Steven Gerrard with three appearances but John Terry's time at Chelsea sees him out in front as the most successful player from the league with five appearances. Chelsea are also the club with the most player appearances combined with 14 while Man United and Liverpool are tied with 12 each. At the top of the true from an individual standpoint is Messi and Ronaldo, with the Argentinian boasting 16 appearances compared with 15 for the Portuguese legend.