No Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo in World 11, Coote sacked, West Ham win ‘El Sackico’
With midweek continental action across Europe, the big guns sat Monday out, while the Fifpro Team of the Year nominees were announced
There was a time when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would break records you didn’t even know existed on an almost daily basis.
But now, their fading starlight is highlighted as they are omitted from awards they had previously dominated you didn’t know existed.
On this occasion, it’s the Fifpro World 11, so let’s take a deeper dive on that and more from while you were sleeping.
New era
For the first time since 2006, Messi has missed out on making the World Team of the Year. Given the award only debuted in 2005, that’s some going.
The omission of Ronaldo, meanwhile, is more understandable, given his last inclusion came in 2021 – but so dominant have they been, it’s striking to see neither of them there.
Only one men’s player – Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk – is not from Manchester City and Real Madrid, with Los Blancos providing six, though one of those is Kylian Mbappe, who they only signed in the summer.
Teammates Antonio Rudiger, Dani Carvajal, Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos and Vinicius Junior, along with City counterparts Ederson, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland make up the rest of the 11.
On the women’s side, Lucy Bronze made the selection for a fifth successive year.
