When the team of the year ignores obvious candidates
The FIFA The Best ceremony in Doha on Tuesday night crowned Ousmane Dembélé as the world's best player, but the real controversy erupted over who didn't make the Men's Team of the Year. Kylian Mbappé and Raphinha, despite excellent seasons with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, were conspicuously absent from the XI. That omission sparked immediate backlash online, with fans and pundits questioning how two players who delivered at the highest level for elite clubs—while PSG won the Champions League—didn't make the cut.
The selected forward line featured Lamine Yamal alongside Dembélé, with Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Vitinha, and Pedri occupying midfield spots. The back four consisted of Achraf Hakimi, Willian Pacho, Virgil van Dijk, and Nuno Mendes, with Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal. It's a lineup heavily weighted toward PSG's Champions League triumph, which explains some selections, but leaving out Mbappé and Raphinha feels like narrative-driven voting rather than objective performance evaluation.
Mbappé's exclusion makes zero sense
Kylian Mbappé had another elite season by any reasonable metric. He scored prolifically for Real Madrid, delivered in crucial moments, and maintained his status as one of the most dangerous attackers in world football. His pace, finishing, and big-game mentality make him an automatic selection for any best XI if you're prioritizing actual impact. Yet somehow, despite Real Madrid competing at the highest level, he didn't make this team. That's not just surprising—it's indefensible.
The argument for leaving him out would have to be that Yamal and Dembélé were simply better, which is objectively questionable. Yamal had a phenomenal breakthrough year and deserves recognition, but his overall production didn't surpass Mbappé's consistent elite output. Dembélé won the award and played a crucial role in PSG's Champions League victory, so his inclusion is justified. But that still leaves room for Mbappé alongside them. The only explanation is that voters prioritized the PSG Champions League narrative and Barcelona's young star emergence over Mbappé's individual excellence at Real Madrid.
Raphinha's snub is equally baffling
Raphinha was arguably Barcelona's most important attacking player last season. He contributed goals, assists, creativity, and relentless work rate while adapting to multiple roles across the front line. His versatility and consistency made him indispensable for Barcelona as they competed across all competitions. Yet he didn't even get consideration for this team, despite performing at a level that directly impacted his club's success throughout the campaign.
The midfield selections—Palmer, Bellingham, Vitinha, Pedri—are all talented players who had strong seasons, but were they definitively better than Raphinha? Palmer had a breakout year at Chelsea, Bellingham excelled at Real Madrid, and Vitinha anchored PSG's midfield during their Champions League run. But Raphinha's overall contribution to Barcelona's attack arguably warranted inclusion over some of these names, especially when you consider his consistency across an entire season rather than just standout moments.
The PSG bias that dominates the selections
Five PSG players made the team: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, and Dembélé. That's half the XI coming from one club. Yes, PSG won the Champions League, which is the sport's biggest prize and should carry enormous weight. But does winning one tournament justify occupying half the spots in a team supposedly representing the entire year's best performers? That's where this selection process breaks down—it overweights one achievement while ignoring sustained excellence across full seasons.
Real Madrid and Barcelona both had strong campaigns domestically and in Europe, yet their representation is limited to Bellingham (Real Madrid), Pedri and Yamal (Barcelona). Meanwhile, PSG gets five players despite the fact that their domestic league isn't as competitive as La Liga or the Premier League. The implication is that winning the Champions League matters more than anything else, which is partially fair, but it also creates a distorted picture of who actually performed at the highest level throughout the calendar year.
Why these awards always spark controversy
Individual awards and team selections will always generate debate because they require subjective judgment calls. Different voters prioritize different criteria—some emphasize trophies won, others focus on individual statistics, and some factor in narrative appeal. That's why Dembélé winning best player makes sense from a "PSG won the Champions League and he was central to that" perspective, even if Mbappé's overall body of work at Real Madrid was equally impressive.
But the Team of the Year is supposed to represent the absolute best performers regardless of team success. It's not "the XI from the Champions League winners plus a few others." It's meant to be the eleven players who performed at the highest level throughout the year. By that standard, leaving out Mbappé and Raphinha is difficult to justify. They weren't omitted because they had poor seasons—they were omitted because the voting process prioritized PSG's Champions League triumph over individual excellence at other elite clubs.
What the backlash reveals
The immediate online reaction to these omissions shows that fans recognize the disconnect between the selections and actual performance. People aren't questioning Dembélé's award—he had a great year and led PSG to European glory. They're questioning why players who also had great years at elite clubs didn't make the team. That's a legitimate critique of a voting process that seems inconsistent in its criteria.
Mbappé and Raphinha don't need FIFA validation to prove their quality. Their performances speak for themselves. But when an official "best XI" excludes players of their caliber who clearly belonged in the conversation, it undermines the credibility of the entire exercise. These awards are supposed to celebrate excellence, not just reflect which team won the biggest trophy. And when they fail to do that, the backlash is entirely justified.
🔴 Jude Bellingham seul madrilène présent dans le XI de l'année FIFA THE BEST.
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