FIFA announced its 2025 World XI at a grand ceremony in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday evening.
Ousmane Dembélé won the Best Player award, while Luis Enrique was named Best Coach and Gianluigi Donnarumma Best Goalkeeper.
While there wasn’t much controversy surrounding the selection, the omission of several key players from last season caused a stir.
FIFA excluded Mohamed Salah, despite him being the Premier League’s top scorer and leading Liverpool to the title. Another surprise was the exclusion of Rafinha, despite his impressive performances with Barcelona last year, including winning the domestic double.
In contrast, Jude Bellingham was the only Real Madrid player selected for the lineup, despite the Englishman facing heavy criticism last season for his declining form. The situation was so dire that Real Madrid forced him to undergo shoulder surgery in the hope that he would return to his previous level by 2023!
Kylian Mbappé was also absent from the lineup, despite scoring 38 goals for Real Madrid in all competitions last season. While there is some logic to this omission, given that Real Madrid’s overall season wasn’t particularly strong, and they had a wealth of other attacking options that contributed to their success, it’s worth noting that the team’s overall performance wasn’t particularly impressive.
The FIFPro 2025 Team of the Year is as follows:
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma
Defenders: Nuno Mendes, Virgil van Dijk, Willian Pacho, Achraf Hakimi
Midfielders: Pedri, Vitinha, Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer
Attackers: Ousmane Dembélé, Lamine Yamal
