Wayne Rooney and David De Gea have been named on the 50-man shortlist for the 2015 FIFPro World XI shortlist.

The Manchester United pair are two of only 10 Premier League players on the shortlist, with the contenders selected by around 25,000 professional footballers from all across the world.

The World XI will be named after further voting at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, held in Zurich, as usual, in January 2016.

Rooney and De Gea on shortlist for FIFPro World XI

While former-Red Cristiano Ronaldo will be hoping to win the main award of the evening, De Gea and Rooney will be United's names hoping to get a reward for a year of hard work.

Some have questioned the inclusion of Rooney, who has had one of the worst years of his career despite achieving some huge landmarks. He has overtaken Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record for England, with the captain the only Englishman to ever score 50 international goals.

Rooney has also led both club and country under Louis van Gaal and Roy Hodgson and is closing in on Charlton's all-time top goalscorer record for Man United. Rooney is 12 behind Charlton on 237, and equal with Denis Law in second.

Yet this season has been terrible for Rooney. Against Aston Villa in a lucky 1-0 win, Rooney arguably had the worst performance of his career. With more focus than ever as captain of United, his performances are often being over-slated by pundits and fans but they have been nowhere near past seasons.

In contrast, De Gea has been stunning once more. After a stunning 2014/15 season, including a best performance against Everton , he continued to have supporters gasping at incredible reflex stops this season. A move to Real Madrid was almost completed by paperwork let him down and he signed a new contract at Old Trafford, after being named Player of the Year in consecutive years.

Four former-United players with Rooney and De Gea on list

There are four more players linked with United on the shortlist. Gerard PiquePaul PogbaCristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez will all be contending with Rooney and De Gea.

Other Premier League players on the shortlist are Branislav IvanovicJohn TerryEden Hazard from ChelseaAlexis Sanchez from ArsenalVincent KompanyYaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero from Manchester City.

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About the author
Harry Robinson
Deputy Editor-in-Chief at VAVEL UK, and Manchester United Editor.