Official: Only one Real Madrid player in FIFA The Best Men’s XI for 2025 | OneFootball

FIFA has announced its star-studded The Best Men’s XI for 2025, featuring all the top performers of the year.

Much to the disappointment of Real Madrid fans, though, only one Real Madrid player has made the lineup, compared to Barcelona’s two.

There are six PSG players from last season who have made the lineup, although Gianluigi Donnarumma has since joined Man City.

Jude Bellingham: Only player in FIFA Best Men’s Lineup

The player in question is Jude Bellingham, the only representative of Real Madrid in FIFPro’s Best Men’s lineup for 2025.

As per the official lineup image, the Englishman has been deployed alongside Vitinha in central midfield, with Pedri and Cole Palmer completing the midfield.

It is a rather odd lineup that has ignored perhaps two of the year’s best performers in Kylian Mbappe and Raphinha.

While Raphinha, who was a favourite to win the Ballon d’Or, doesn’t even get selected over Cole Palmer, Mbappe has been completely ignored.

Instead of the French international, FIFA has chosen Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele, two players who finished first and second in the Ballon d’Or rankings.

While the selection of Yamal and Dembele does seem fair, the omission of Mbappe is absolutely shocking given that the fact that he has scored 56 goals in this calendar year for Real Madrid.

The Frenchman, in fact, is only three goals away from equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record of scoring the most goals for Real Madrid in a calendar year.

Unfortunately, FIFA’s award window does not necessarily align with the full year but rather follows a timeframe set by the organisation itself.

But even so, Mbappe enjoyed a terrific debut season at Real Madrid and even won the Pichichi in his first season in La Liga. Having Palmer ahead of him is certainly a curious decision.

Even Bellingham, for that matter, did not have the best of seasons last term. But he has made it into the starting eleven ahead of Mbappe.