Mo Salah is being AIRBRUSHED from history | OneFootball

Salah not included in The Best FIFA Men's 11

Salah is nowhere to be found.

It's bad enough that he didn't warrant a place on the podium for The Best FIFA Men's Player award - with Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe finishing in the top three.

But his absence from the 11 is inexcusable.

Paris Saint-Germain had a better overall season than Liverpool so let’s no quibble the inclusions of Dembele and Vitinha in the dream team. And let’s give Pedri a pass as he - along with Vitinha - is a central midfielder by trade.

But there are plenty of other questionable calls - ones that can only be explained by spite or ignorance.

“Nominations were compiled by FIFA in collaboration with football stakeholders,” reads the selection criteria on FIFA’s website.

“The winners were selected by a panel of football experts and fans from across who have registered on FIFA.com.”

There follows a lot of convoluted rules about the inclusion policies - but any best XI for the period covering August 2024 to August 2025 which doesn’t have Salah in it is bogus.

So who’s in there ahead of the 33-year-old that shouldn’t be?

Salah is better than Palmer and Bellingham

Let’s start with the most egregious. We all know that Cole Palmer is only there because Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup over the summer.

And granted Palmer played well for the Blues in the United States tournament - scoring six times including two in the final against PSG.

But Salah EASILY outperformed the England international all season long in the Premier League and his team won the title for good measure.

And then there’s Jude Bellingham - with the 22-year-old’s hype machine still in full effect despite his waning output. It’s widely accepted that Real Madrid’s 2024/25 season was a disappointing one - with Bellingham among those most culpable.

He did in fairness have a hot streak midway through the campaign but overall he wasn’t up to par. What did Bellingham do better than Salah at any stage throughout the voting period?

Answers on a postcard please.

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Don't let Salah be airbrushed from history

Then there’s Yamal - widely heralded as the coming force in world football. The 18-year-old helped Barcelona to the Spanish double and the Supercup - scoring 18 goals in 55 matches in total.

Again those numbers pale in comparison to Salah - but it’s clear that the young Spaniard has got his PR working overtime these days.

Somehow the teenager ended up on the Ballon d’Or podium earlier this year when Salah slumped to fourth.

Yamal had some standout moments - in the Clasico and in the Champions League elimination to Inter - but for consistency he didn’t even match teammate Raphinha let alone Salah.

The Brazilian hit 34 goals in 57 matches for Barca and he too has been robbed of his rightful place in this team.

What gives? Salah couldn’t give any more for Liverpool last season than he did. His contributions were worth the Premier League title - and also earned him a new £400k per week contract.

Granted this season won’t be remembered in quite the same way for Salah or for Liverpool but we are not talking about that.

Salah’s incredible 2024/25 season is being AIRBRUSHED from history and we must remind the world of that at every possible opportunity.