Lasun Alagbe
FIFA has released the long list of its 2020 edition of the 10 best stars.
On the list of the 55 nominated are two soccer stars of Nigerian roots, both of whom, incidentally, have decided not to play for the country.
They are Bayern and German player David Alaba and Tottenham/England’s Dele Alli.
If they had opted to play for Nigeria, it would have been said that the country has two players among the world’s best 55.
There are some other international players of repute who abandoned Nigeria at the point of making decisions to either play for it or other European nation they were born, with Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham being one of them.
Here is the full list of the 55 nominated:
Goalkeepers
Alisson Becker (Liverpool FC, Brazil)
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium)
David de Gea (Manchester United, Spain)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, Italy)
Moraes Ederson (Manchester City, Brazil)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur, France)
Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain, Costa Rica)
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid, Slovenia)
Marc-Andre ter Stegen (FC Barcelona, Germany)
Defenders
David Alaba (FC Bayern Munich, Austria)
Jordi Alba (FC Barcelona, Spain)
Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur, Belgium)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool FC, England)
Dani Alves (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Jerome Boateng (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Alphonso Davies (FC Bayern Munich, Canada)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool FC, The Netherlands)
Kalidou Koulibaly (SSC Napoli, Senegal)
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus FC, The Netherlands)
Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)
Andrew Robertson (Liverpool FC, Scotland)
Thiago Silva (Chelsea, Brazil)
Raphael Varane (Real Madrid, France)
Midfielders
Thiago Alcantara (FC Bayern Munich, now Liverpool), Spain)
Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur, England)
Sergio Busquets (FC Barcelona, Spain)
Casemiro (Real Madrid, Brazil)
Philippe Coutinho (FC Bayern Munich, now FC Barcelona, Brazil)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium)
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Portugal)
Leon Goretzka (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool FC, England)
Frenkie de Jong (FC Barcelona, The Netherlands)
N’Golo Kante (Chelsea FC, France)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid, Germany)
Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)
Thomas Muller (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Forwards
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, Argentina)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal, Gabon)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)
Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern Munich, Germany)
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund, Norway)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan, Sweden)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England)
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern Munich, Poland)
Sadio Mane (Liverpool FC, Senegal)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France)
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, Argentina)
Neymar Junior (Paris Saint-Germain, Brazil)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC, Egypt)
Son Heungmin (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)
