Players from Barcelona and Real Madrid made up almost half of the 55-man shortlist revealed by FIFA yesterday for the FIFA FIFPro World XI 2011, which will be announced on January 9.

Barcelona have 11 players in the list and Real 10.

World champions Spain are the most well represented country with 12 players, ahead of Brazil, which has eight.

Brazil star Neymar, of Santos, is the only player on the list who plays his club football outside Europe.

England is represented by five players. Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney made the cut, along with another 12 players from the Premier League.

The 50,000 professional players registered with FIFPro-affiliated unions who will vote for the team must select an XI in a 4-3-3 formation.

Five players in the shortlist were named in the FIFPro World XI in 2009 and 2010: Iker Casillas and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, and Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi of Barcelona.

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