By Canadian Press

Canadian Alphonso Davies makes history by earning a spot on FIFPRO World 11

Dec 17, 2020 | 1:41 PM

Canadian Alphonso Davies made soccer history Thursday, becoming the first North American player to be voted onto the FIFPRO World 11.

The 20-year-old Bayern Munich fullback was the first North American to make the initial list of 55 players with the most votes. He went one better at the Best FIFA Football Awards, joining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos on the World 11.

FIFPRO which represents some 65,000 pro soccer players worldwide, said 15,878 male professional footballers took part in the vote. It marks the 16th men’s World 11.

Davies edged Bayern teammate David Alaba by 275 votes, the closest race in positional voting.

Davies is the third-youngest player to be voted into the World 11. French forward Kylian Mbappe was 19 years old when he was honoured in 2018. Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt was four days younger than Davies when he voted to the team in 2019

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Bayern teammates Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich also made this year’s top 11. So did Thiago Alcantara, who left Bayern for Liverpool after winning the Champions League.

Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan, who plays for French powerhouse Lyon. made the list of 55 top women vote-getters.

The FIFA Awards also paid tribute to Canada captain Christine Sinclair for topping the all-time world goal-scoring list in 2020. The 37-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., now has 186 goals to her credit.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec, 17, 2020

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press