Despite his free-scoring form for Liverpool in 2021, Mohamed Salah has been sensationally excluded from the FIFA FIFPRO World XI squad – and his legions of fans across the globe aren’t happy about it.
The Liverpool ace has enjoyed yet another bumper year, scoring 21 goals in 22 appearances across all competitions this season along with 31 in 51 in the entirety of last season.
But it would seem his goalscoring heroics weren’t enough to impress FIFA after the annual 23-man shortlist of the world’s best squad of players was released.
Salah’s Liverpool teammates, Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold – who the only Englishman on the list – made the cut after the shortlist was dropped to 23 rather than the usual 55 for the first time in 17 years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">⭐️ Here are the 23 nominees for the 2021 Men's FIFA FIFPRO <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/World11?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#World11</a>! <br><br>The winners will be announced on 17.01.2022.<br><br>By the players, for the players.<a href="https://twitter.com/FIFAcom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIFAcom</a> <a href="https://t.co/6lBPAoXlNO">pic.twitter.com/6lBPAoXlNO</a></p>— FIFPRO (@FIFPRO) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIFPRO/status/1470755202626207748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
Next month’s ‘The Best FIFA Football Awards’ will nominate a World XI from the shortlisted players.
The Egyptian King’s omission comes just weeks after he finished a disappointing seventh in the 2021 Ballon d’Or – another omission which sent ripples of anger through African football and beyond.
Chelsea have the most nominees from the Premier League with four: Edouard Mendy, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Romelu Lukaku, while Manchester United’s Portugal duo of Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo are also included.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Still wondering how Mo Salah was not selected in the FIFPro World Men's XI squad 🥴 <a href="https://t.co/8zLTxkYJiA">pic.twitter.com/8zLTxkYJiA</a></p>— GOAL (@goal) <a href="https://twitter.com/goal/status/1470825669768749060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
Premier League champions Manchester City are represented by Ruben Dias and Kevin De Bruyne and, despite having a tumultuous period by their high standards, Barcelona have four players on the list: Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Jordi Alba and Dani Alves.
Other absentees of note include Thiago Alcantara, Alphonso Davies, Virgil van Dijk, Joshua Kimmich and Sergio Ramos, all of whom were included in 2020 but dropped out of contention in 2021.