Messi, Ronaldo among FIFPRO World Best XI candidates — but no Asian players make the cut

Superstars Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr), along with rising talent Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), are set to battle for spots on the FIFPRO World Best XI.

The International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) published its final shortlists of 26 candidates each for the men's and women's 2026 World Best XI on Tuesday (Korean Standard Time), Yonhap said.

The lists were compiled from votes cast by 26,317 professional players across 75 countries — 19,806 men from 73 countries and 6,511 women from 64 countries.

Messi, Ronaldo and Yamal were among those who cast ballots themselves.

Men's candidates were evaluated on performances from Aug. 4, 2025 to July 19, 2026, with a minimum of 30 games played, while women's candidates were assessed from Aug. 4, 2025 to Aug. 16, 2026, with a minimum of 20 games played.

Both Messi and Ronaldo made the eight-man forward shortlist, joining this year's Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid), Erling Haaland (Manchester City) and the highly touted Yamal in what promises to be fierce competition.

By club, Arsenal led the way with four nominees: defenders Gabriel and William Saliba, goalkeeper David Raya and midfielder Declan Rice.

No Asian players made the shortlist, including South Korean stars Son Heung-min (LAFC), Lee Kang-in (Atletico Madrid) and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich).

The World Best XI is determined by selecting the goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards who receive the most votes. The field player with the next highest vote total then fills the remaining 11th spot.

The final 11 winners will be announced Monday (local time).

Meanwhile, FIFPRO announced in February that it would introduce a player-voted Best XI at the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup — the first such award at a continental competition in Asia.

The Korea Professional Football Players Association said in April that Ko Yu-jin, captain of the South Korean women's national team, was named to the defender category of the FIFPRO Asia-Oceania Best XI.

Ko contributed to South Korea's run to the semifinals at the 2026 AFC Asian Cup.

Ko was joined in the defender category by Ellie Carpenter (Australia), Hana Takahashi and Saki Kumagai (both Japan). In the forward category, Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord (both Australia) and Riko Ueki (Japan) were selected.