Rafinha's wife attacks FIFA after he was left out of the 2025 Team of the Year! | OneFootball

Rafinha's wife attacks FIFA after he was left out of the 2025 Team of the Year! | OneFootball

In partnership with

Yahoo sports
Icon: Foot Africa

Foot Africa

·16 December 2025

Rafinha's wife attacks FIFA after he was left out of the 2025 Team of the Year!

Article image:Rafinha's wife attacks FIFA after he was left out of the 2025 Team of the Year!

What did the Brazilian woman say?

Article image:Rafinha's wife attacks FIFA after he was left out of the 2025 Team of the Year!

Getty Images


OneFootball Videos


The announcement of the 2025 FIFA awards left more than just football fans debating. In a passionate and personal outcry, Natalia Rodriguez, wife of Barcelona's Brazilian winger Rafinha, took to social media to voice what she sees as a glaring injustice.

Her frustration stemmed from a double snub: not only was her husband overlooked for any individual honor, but he was also excluded from the prestigious FIFA Team of the Year. The sting was amplified by the success of a familiar figure—PSG's Ousmane Dembélé, who clinched the Footballer of the Year title and a spot in the world XI.

From her Instagram account, Rodriguez did not hold back, sharing a series of pointed Stories that directly challenged the legitimacy of the results. Her raw commentary cut through the usual formalities:

“They don’t even try to hide it anymore!” she declared, suggesting a lack of fairness in the process.

Pointing to cold, hard statistics, she wrote, "62 points in the goal + assist system… but he didn't deserve a spot in the team of the year," highlighting a perceived contradiction between his on-pitch contributions and the final decision.

Her final verdict was delivered in a single, powerful word: “INJUSTICE!”

Through her posts, Rodriguez framed the outcome as fundamentally unfair, arguing that Rafinha’s significant statistical impact for the season had been profoundly undervalued by the football governing body.

View publisher imprint