As the 2025/26 season enters its final week, the Premier League has invited supporters to choose their best XI from the campaign by voting on a 60-player shortlist and submitting a team in a 4-3-3 formation by 18:00 BST on 29 May.
The shortlist covers four playing positions — goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward — and asks fans to pick 11 players. The Premier League says it will select a best XI based on the votes and will reveal the chosen team on 30 May.
Numbers underline the scale: 60 players narrowed to 11, four positions to be filled across a single 4-3-3 lineup. That arithmetic is the story’s weight. Among the names the league highlights as examples are Rice, Thiago, Haaland, Saliba and Gabriel — players fans may consider when assembling their side.
This vote is part of the Premier League’s end-of-season fan process and the shortlist is drawn from the 2025/26 season. The organisers have framed the exercise as a snapshot of supporter opinion, with the final, fan-selected XI set to be published the day after voting closes.
The friction is immediate. Sixty players across four positions give voters plenty to choose from, but asking fans to stick to a 4-3-3 guarantees omissions and tough calls. Midfielders and defenders who might merit recognition across other formations risk being squeezed out; forwards such as Haaland could dominate votes simply because the chosen shape favours attackers.
Fans also face a tight calendar: the 2025/26 season is in its final week and the submission deadline at 18:00 BST on 29 May leaves little time for late-season form to influence choices. The Premier League will consolidate the ballots and name the selected best XI on 30 May, producing a list that will be debated widely by supporters and pundits alike.
For the players involved, the fan XI is a public measure of standing among supporters even if it is not an official award. The reveal on 30 May will show whether voters rewarded attacking returns or defensive consistency — whether they built around forwards like Haaland or leaned toward defenders such as Saliba and Gabriel, and how they balanced midfield picks including Rice and Thiago.
