Team of the Year 2014: Another FIFA Comedy

The Gala in Zurich is over, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or, Joachim Loew has been rewarded for a very successful year for German football… Everything is good.

However, no FIFA awards gala ends without negative reactions from the public, both from the press and the audience. If this year's Ballon d'Or award is not controversial, the 11-man squad of the year voted by FIFA and FIFPro is not very popular.

1.Who are in the FIFPro Team of the Year? Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, left-back Thiago Silva, centre-backs David Luiz and Sergio Ramos, right-back Philipp Lahm, a midfield trio of Angel Di Maria, Toni Kroos and Andres Iniesta. Forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben.

Before we get into the absurdities of this formation, we need to be clear about how the team was chosen. The XI was voted for by 23,383 professional footballers from 60 countries, each of whom voted for 11 players. It should be stressed that the 11 choices were completely position-independent: they could choose four centre-backs to form a back line, rather than having to choose a left-back or a right-back. After the votes were tallied, FIFA had a shortlist of 55 names in November last year, and based on the votes, they created a 4-3-3 formation.

This led to Thiago Silva being selected as a left-back in the FIFPro team, despite the fact that Silva did not play a single game as a left-back in 2014. He has always played as a centre-back, both for PSG and the Brazilian national team.

2.Positions aside, there have been plenty of sarcastic and scathing reactions on Twitter to the inclusion of David Luiz, Thiago Silva and Andres Iniesta. Thiago Silva’s inclusion isn’t entirely unreasonable, given that he helped Paris Saint-Germain win the Ligue 1 title with just 23 goals conceded, and Silva’s World Cup performance was not too shabby (aside from the third-place play-off defeat to the Netherlands).

Silva was fortunate not to have played in the 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany, a match in which David Luiz started and made a number of errors leading to goals. Luiz has had little to show for either Brazil or Chelsea, and has only had a mediocre half-year in Paris, but he was voted in. Diego Godin and Mats Hummels had a much better year than Luiz, and even Vincent Kompany or Pepe would have been worthy of taking the shaggy-haired centre-back’s place. Is that why Luiz was absent in Zurich?

3. Andres Iniesta is another case. His 12 months included zero trophies for Barcelona and a group stage exit at the World Cup with Spain. He still played well, but there was a long way between good and great. One person sarcastically tweeted that “Iniesta’s only success in the last 12 months was less hair.” Meanwhile, Yaya Toure, with a double for Man City and 20 Premier League goals, was nowhere to be seen. Luka Modric, David Silva or Atletico’s Koke and Gabi could also be in Iniesta’s place.

Since this is an award voted for by professional players, there is nothing we can do but criticize. But if readers disagree with the FIFA FIFPro World XI 2014, don’t criticize FIFA, blame the people who voted. It’s hard to argue with them when they are “in the profession”, but even professionals can sometimes fall prey to media hype.

According to TTVH