The FIFPRO World XI 2026 has been revealed, and Lionel Messi has done it again. The Argentina icon was voted into the players’ team of the year for a record-extending 18th time on Monday, joining a four-man attack alongside Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal — while Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane was the shock name left out.
FIFPRO, the global players’ union, announced the men’s and women’s teams after a ballot of 19,806 professional men’s players from 73 countries and more than 6,500 women players from 64 countries. It is the only major world team picked exclusively by the players themselves, which makes the omissions sting all the more.
Messi’s 18th selection: a record that keeps growing
Messi, 39, was last chosen in 2023, and his return to the XI stretches a record that began with his first selection back in 2007. He was also the only men’s pick playing his club football outside Europe, with Inter Miami, while Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi was the only other selection from a national team outside Europe.
The numbers behind the vote underline how the attack was decided. Mbappe led all forwards with 46 percent of the vote, followed by Yamal on 37.4 percent, Messi on 29.5 percent and Haaland on 28.4 percent. Kane, the fifth forward in the voting, polled 27.6 percent — close, but not close enough.
There is a neat symmetry in the team too. The combined age of Barcelona pair Yamal and defender Pau Cubarsi is a couple of days fewer than Messi’s 39 years and four months, and Yamal has now become the first player ever to be picked twice while still a teenager.
Kane and Ronaldo: the big omissions
Kane’s absence is the headline snub. The England captain won this year’s Ballon d’Or after firing Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title and leading England to the World Cup semi-finals, yet his fellow professionals did not vote him into their XI. Cristiano Ronaldo, nominated for the team, was also left out.
It is a reminder that the FIFPRO vote is a peer verdict, not a journalists’ award — and it judged the assessment period from 4 August 2025 to 19 July 2026, with players required to have made at least 30 official appearances. Kane’s case was strong, but the four forwards ahead of him all had seasons their peers could not ignore.
For Kane, the timing adds salt to the wound. He is preparing to win his 126th England cap against Croatia on Thursday, a match that would break Peter Shilton’s 36-year-old appearance record — and he will do it knowing his fellow professionals picked four other forwards ahead of him.
Spain rules the ballot
Spain’s World Cup-winning squads dominated the voting. Four men made the team — Yamal, Cubarsi, Rodri and goalkeeper David Raya — while five women were selected, including three-time Ballon d’Or winners Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati.
Raya’s inclusion rewards his role in Arsenal’s Premier League title win and run to the Champions League final, while Paris Saint-Germain supplied a hat-trick of players in Hakimi, left-back Nuno Mendes and midfielder Vitinha. Real Madrid had two picks in Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, and Rodri completed the midfield after his Golden Ball-winning World Cup.
The women’s team was just as star-studded. Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton kept goal behind a defence featuring Lucy Bronze, who earned a record ninth selection, while England supplied five players in total and European champions Barcelona five. Zambia forward Barbra Banda, of Orlando Pride, was the only member of the women’s XI with an African or North and South American connection.
The full men’s team: David Raya; Pau Cubarsi, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes; Jude Bellingham, Rodri, Vitinha; Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal. The full women’s team: Hannah Hampton; Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood, Mapi Leon, Irene Paredes; Aitana Bonmati, Alexia Putellas, Ella Toone; Barbra Banda, Claudia Pina, Alessia Russo.
For more on the stars shaping the season, check today’s predictions.
Photos: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — collage by SportsBuddy
