Just now, the foreign data agency IFFHS announced the list of the best men's football team in 2023. After a quantitative analysis of the superstars of football and the title of champions, the goalkeeper position was given to Manchester City's Ederson. Ederson has had a great year in 2023, winning five trophies with Manchester City. Among them, after being crowned in the Champions League, his personal historical status has been improved, and he has no problem appearing in this position.
At the back, the agency is fielded in a back three. Ruben Dias from Portugal gets a spot. Dias, who is now the backbone of Manchester City's defence, is on the same laurels as Ederson. Coupled with his usual solid performance, he was also selected for it. The other central defender was given to South Korea's Kim Min-jae, and Kim Min-jae's selection really made many fans unexpected. But on second thought, his performance in 2023 is indeed worthy of this honor. Especially after joining Bayern Munich, he even pressed De Ligt, who is worth close to 100 million euros, on the bench, which in itself is a testament to his ability.
The other position in the back line has been given to Bayern full-back Alphonso Davies, who is one of the best full-backs in football today. Able to attack and defend, he has performed very well in 2023, winning trophies such as the Bundesliga championship with the team. He deserves this position, both in terms of championship honours and individual ability. With the backline out of the way, let's talk about the midfield. In midfield, Manchester City star Rodri was selected, and Rodri's ability as the current first midfielder in football is unquestionable. Not to mention the fact that he has won five crowns, so it is not surprising to be here.
Rodri's team-mate Kevin De Bruyne has also been included in the squad, and De Bruyne, who is the heart of City's midfield, has always been able to ensure the team's bottom line. It's a bit of a shame that De Bruyne missed part of the game in 2023 due to injury. Otherwise, he would have played even better. In addition, the other two positions in midfield were given to Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham and Argentine star Lionel Messi. Bellingham's selection was expected as one of the strongest attacking midfielders in football today. After Bellingham joined Real Madrid, he played a performance that surpassed Ronaldo at the same time. Looking at Real Madrid's current goal list, Bellingham has even scored more goals than the strikers in the team, which is an exaggeration. The selection is well deserved.
As for Messi, Messi will stay away from the top five leagues in the second half of 2023. But looking at his performance throughout the year, it makes sense to have scored 29 goals at the statistical level. At the same time, he also won the Ligue 1 title with Grand Paris, and after joining Inter Miami, who are at the bottom of the MLS, he also led the team to win the North American League Cup, which is really admirable.
Finally, let's look at the forward line, where striker Harry Kane, who is from Bayern Munich, has won a spot. Kane has no trophy in the whole of 2023, but his 50+ goal statistics are enough to ensure that he is selected for this squad. Next at Bayern, I believe Kane can win a few titles. The other two positions were won by Haaland and Mbappe respectively without suspense. Haaland also scored 50+ goals in 2023. He also won the Champions League at club level, and he could even compete for the title of the best player in 2023. As for Mbappe, he played well as well. Although they did not win the Champions League, they have all the trophies and statistics of other titles. As one of the strongest strikers of the new generation, Mbappe has no problem here.
It is worth mentioning that Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was not selected for this best team. Although he scored 54 goals in 2023. Unfortunately, most of these goals came from the low-level Saudi league, so the judges did not really recognize the gold content of his data, and it was expected that he was not selected.