Suarez named in FIFPro World Reserve XI

The former Liverpool man made the side despite sitting out a large chunk of the year through suspension. He is joined in attack by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar

Luis Suarez has been named in the Fifa FifPro reserve World XI for 2014, despite being banned for four months of the year.

The controversial Uruguayan was handed the sanction by Fifa after biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, but he still wins the respect of his peers in the annual vote.

The Fifa FIFPro World XI is the best team of the year as voted for by professional footballers all over the world. The reserve XI comprises the goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards who received the next highest amount of votes.

Thibaut Courtois gets the nod in goal after a stellar year on loan at Atletico Madrid before a similarly impressive spell on his return to Chelsea.

He protects a back four consisting of Barcelona’s Dani Alves, Bayern Munich left-back David Alaba, Germany’s World Cup-winning centre-half Mats Hummels and Real Madrid’s Marcelo.

Luka Modric, Yaya Toure and Xabi Alonso of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich respectively make up the midfield three. Suarez, Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Barcelona’s Neymar lead the attack.

Each voter picks 11 players and after collating the votes from FIFPro members, a shortlist of 55 names is released in late November - consisting of five goalkeepers, 20 defenders, 15 midfielders and 15 forwards.

The returned ballots are counted, and the players with the highest number of votes are chosen for the final XIs which are arranged in a 4-3-3 formation. Despite the formation, there is no distinction between specific positions within the lines of play. For example, a player may choose four centre-backs in their vote, rather than two central defenders, a right-back and a left-back.

This year, 23,383 votes were cast from 60 countries.