IFFHS Men’s Team of the Decade announced


IFFHS Men’s Team of the Decade announced
IFFHS Team of the Decade

The International Institute of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has announced the team of the decade 2011-2020. The team is what most people expected having a plethora of stars; players who have out-performed the rest of the players in the last decade.

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The team was selected on the basis of a points ranking system IFFHS has used over the last decade for their positional awards. Germany and Spain players dominate the 11 internationally. Real Madrid are the club most represented in the lineup having 4 players.

IFFHS World Team Of The Decade 2011 – 2020

GK: Manuel Neuer

Manuel Neuer


In the goalkeeping position Manuel Neuer was the obvious choice. Neuer has won the World Cup with Germany in 2014 and the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2013 and 2020. He has won many other titles for Bayern Munich in this period and was IFFHS’ goalkeeper of the year in 5 of these years.

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Defenders –

RB: Philipp Lahm

Philipp Lahm

Philipp Lahm is the right back and many will claim he was the best right back to have ever played the game. He captained Germany to their World Cup win in Brazil. At the club level he won the Champions League in 2013 with Bayern Munich.

CB: Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos


The defence consists of Ramos and Van Dijk at centre backs. Ramos has been a rock at the back for the last 10 years for both Real Madrid and Spain. He was an integral part of the 3 Champions league wins back-to-back for Real Madrid. Playing for Spain he also won the Euros in 2012.

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CB: Virgil van Dijk

Virgil Van Dijk

Van Dijk has been phenomenal for Liverpool since he joined them in 2018. He propelled Liverpool back to their glory days. He won the Champions League and Premier league in 2019 and 2020. Van Dijk was also named UEFA’s player of the year in 2019. He played in the Nations league finals for Netherlands against Portugal in 2019.

LB: Marcelo

Marcelo

The left-back named in the lineup is Marcelo. Marcelo is another one of Real Madrid’s star performers over the last decade and rightfully awarded the left-back position. He was the first choice left-back for Zidane in Madrid’s 3 consecutive Champions League wins in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He has won 4 Champions League and 3 La Liga titles over the last decade.

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Midfielders

CM: Toni Kroos

Toni Kroos

Toni Kroos is among one of Real Madrid and Germany’s most consistent performers. His choice into the team of the decade was quite easy considering he won the World Cup with Germany in 2014. He also has 4 Champions League titles to his name; 1 with Bayern in 2013 and the rest with Real Madrid in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

CM: Andres Iniesta  

Andres Iniesta

Andres Iniesta formed the core of Barcelona’s treble winning midfield in 2015. He was part of the Spanish side in 2012 which won the Euros. Iniesta won 2 Champions League titles in 2011 and 2015 for Barcelona before leaving them for Vissel Kobe in 2018. He also won 5 La Liga titles in the mentioned period.

CM: Luka Modric

Luka Modric

At 35 years of age Modric continues to play at the highest level and often looks the best player on the pitch. He was part of the Real Madrid Champions league winning side in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. He won the Ballon d’Or in 2018 ending Messi and Ronaldo’s reign. In the 2018 World Cup, he was awarded the Golden Ball and led Croatia to the final. Modric also won FIFA ‘The Best’ and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year in the same year in 2018.

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Forwards

LW: Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is regarded as ‘one of the best’, if not ‘the best’ players in the world. The hard work he puts into his game has kept him at the top of the charts for a long time. He has won the Ballon d’Or 4 times in the last decade. Cristiano was also part of Real Madrid, winning 4 Champions League titles in the last10 years. He has a Euro Cup triumph for Portugal in 2016 and also won the Nations League in 2019. He is Portugal’s leading goal scorer having scored 102 goals for them.

ST: Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski is the most lethal striker in Europe over the last few years. He has earned the name Lewan’goal’ski for his goal scoring prowess for Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. He has scored 259 goals at the club level in the last decade playing for both Dortmund and Bayern. Lewandowski has had a stellar season with Bayern Munich winning the treble in 2020.For his efforts; he won the FIFA and UEFA Best player award in 2020.

RW: Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi completes the quota of a lethal front 3. He is arguably one of the greatest players of our generation. Messi has won numerous laurels for Barcelona over the last 10 years. He has broken almost every record as a Barcelona player and led them to collective success as well. Messi has 6 Balon d’Or awards to his name. He won the treble with Barcelona in 2015. He is Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer with 649 goals for the club.  

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