2014 Team of the Year: Another farce from FIFA

The gala in Zurich has ended, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or, Joachim Loew has been rewarded for a hugely successful year for German football… Everything went well.

However, no FIFA awards gala ends without negative reactions from the public, both from the press and the audience. While this year's Ballon d'Or award was not controversial, the FIFA and FIFPro Team of the Year, consisting of 11 players, did not receive much approval.

1.Who are the members of this FIFPro Team of the Year? Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, left-back Thiago Silva, center-back David Luiz and Sergio Ramos, right-back Philipp Lahm, a three-man midfield of Angel Di Maria, Toni Kroos, and Andres Iniesta. The forward line consists of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Arjen Robben.

Before discussing the absurdities of this team lineup, we need to clarify the voting process. The ideal team is voted on by 23,383 professional players from 60 countries, with each vote selecting 11 players. It's important to emphasize that the voters' 11 choices are completely arbitrary and not based on position: they can choose four center-backs to form the defensive line instead of having to specify left or right back. After compiling the votes, FIFA obtained a shortlist of 55 names last November, and based on the number of votes, they created the 4-3-3 formation.

This led to Thiago Silva being selected as the left-back in the FIFPro squad, even though Silva hadn't played a single game at left-back throughout 2014. He had only played center-back, both for PSG and the Brazilian national team.

2.Aside from the issue of positioning, there have been numerous reactions on Twitter, both sarcastic and harsh, regarding the inclusion of David Luiz, Thiago Silva, and Andres Iniesta in the squad. Thiago Silva's inclusion isn't entirely unreasonable, as he helped Paris Saint-Germain win Ligue 1 with only 23 goals conceded, and Silva also performed reasonably well at the World Cup (except for the loss to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff).

Silva was fortunate not to have been involved in the 1-7 semi-final defeat against Germany, a match in which David Luiz started and made numerous mistakes leading to goals conceded. Luiz hasn't achieved anything significant at either Brazil or Chelsea, and has only had a lackluster six months in Paris, yet he was still voted for. Diego Godin and Mats Hummels had a much better year than Luiz, and even Vincent Kompany or Pepe deserve to replace the curly-haired center-back. Could that be the reason for Luiz's absence in Zurich?

3Andres Iniesta is a different case. His 12 months were marked by zero trophies for Barcelona and Spain's elimination in the World Cup group stage. He still played well, but there's a long way to go between good and excellent. One person sarcastically tweeted, "The only thing Iniesta has done well in the last 12 months is have less hair." Meanwhile, Yaya Toure, with his double title win for Man City and 20 Premier League goals, is nowhere to be seen. Luka Modric, David Silva, or Koke and Gabi of Atletico also deserve to be in Iniesta's place.

Because this award is voted on by professional players, there's nothing we can do but criticize. But if readers disagree with the FIFA FIFPro World XI 2014, don't criticize FIFA, but blame the people who voted. It's hard to argue when they're "insiders," but even insiders can sometimes fall prey to the media's exaggerated claims.

According to the Cultural Center