On Monday, the votes of nearly 20 thousand professional footballers from 73 countries returned Lionel Messi to the ideal FIFPRO World 11 — already for the 18th time. At the same time, Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane did not make the team, even though just a week earlier he had been celebrating the main individual award.
The players' vote, rather than that of journalists or sponsors, has always been closer to the reality on the pitch. Here they value not only goals and titles, but also how a teammate behaves in the dressing room, how he carries the team through difficult matches and how long he maintains his level. Messi, at 39 years old and having already retired from international football, still ended up among the four forwards alongside Haaland, Mbappé and Yamal.
Kane had an outstanding season: Bayern won the Bundesliga, and England reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. Yet he was not even included in the shortlist by position. This is the first case of a Ballon d'Or winner failing to make the World 11 immediately after receiving the award. The players apparently preferred other qualities — Yamal's speed, Haaland's versatility, Mbappé's leadership and the special magic that Messi still brings.
The lineup turned out to be very "European": four Spaniards, three from PSG. The only representative of a club outside Europe was Messi himself, from Inter Miami. This highlights how much the voters value performances in the top leagues specifically, while at the same time not forgetting those who set the standards for decades.
At 19 years old, Yamal became the first to make the World 11 twice before turning twenty. His presence alongside Messi looks symbolic: a generational change is happening before our eyes, but the legend still holds his place. Kane, meanwhile, despite his statistics and title, remained outside the line — perhaps because his peers see him primarily as a finisher rather than someone who changes the game single-handedly.
The FIFPRO vote shows that recognition from colleagues is not just an award but a mirror reflecting who is truly considered the best on the pitch. Messi continues to prove that age is not a sentence, while Kane received a lesson: even the Ballon d'Or does not guarantee a place among the chosen if those who step onto the pitch with you did not vote for you.
