Khaberni - Lamine Yamal, the young Barcelona star, achieved a great accomplishment by being included in the perfect formation for the year 2025 by the International Federation of Professional Footballers "FIFPro".
The International Federation of Professional Footballers "FIFPro" announced earlier today, Monday, the perfect formation for the current year, which included:
Goalkeeper: the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain - Manchester City).
Defense: Portuguese Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain) - Dutch Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) - Moroccan Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain).
Midfield: Portuguese Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain) - Spanish Pedri (Barcelona) - English Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) - English Cole Palmer (Chelsea).
Offense: French Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain) - French Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) - Lamine Yamal (Barcelona).
Yamal was included in the FIFPro formation after his outstanding performance with Barcelona last season, contributing to winning the local treble and advancing to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
According to FIFPro, Yamal (18 years old) is the youngest player ever to be chosen in the federation's perfect formation, and he also received the highest number of votes this year, totaling 10,167 votes.
Barcelona is preparing to face Club Brugge next Wednesday in the fourth round of the group stage of the Champions League.
FIFPro also announced that Paris Saint-Germain contributed five players to the selection of the top 11 players in the world, marking the largest representation of the club in a single edition, and the highest since 2022 when Paris Saint-Germain included three players: Achraf Hakimi, Kylian Mbappé, and Lionel Messi.
Since the award was first launched in 2005, only nine goalkeepers have appeared in the world men's lineup, with Gianluigi Donnarumma's selection for 2025 marking his second appearance, placing him alongside legends such as Iker Casillas (5), Manuel Neuer (4), Gianluigi Buffon (3), Alisson Becker (2), Thibaut Courtois (2), Dida (1), David De Gea (1), and Ederson (1).
No club has contributed more to the world men's formation than Real Madrid (62 times) after the inclusion of Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham in the 2025 team.
The list of nominees included:
Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker (Liverpool, Brazil) - Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium) - Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain / Manchester City, Italy).
Defense Line:
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool / Real Madrid, England) - Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona, Spain) - Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands) - Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco) - Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain, Brazil) - Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain, Portugal) - William Saliba (Arsenal, France).
Midfield Line:
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid, England) - Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City / Napoli, Belgium) - Luka Modric (Real Madrid / Milan, Croatia) - Joao Neves (Paris Saint-Germain, Portugal) - Cole Palmer (Chelsea, England) - Pedri (Barcelona, Spain) - Federico Valverde (Real Madrid, Uruguay) - Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain, Portugal).
Attack Line:
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain, France) - Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway) - Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid, France) - Lionel Messi (Inter Miami, Argentina) - Raphinha (Barcelona, Brazil) - Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr, Portugal) - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt) - Lamine Yamal (Barcelona, Spain).
FIFPro Warning
A recent study on "Health and Performance Impact on Players" conducted by the International Federation of Professional Footballers "FIFPro", revealed that football stars around the world play an excessive number of matches, with exhausting travel and insufficient rest periods between seasons.
According to the fifth annual report on players' physical loads issued by "FIFPro" today, Monday, no club participating in this summer's Club World Cup gave their players the recommended minimum of 28 days of holiday between seasons, and most also started the new season without a preparation period of at least 28 days.
Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, the finalists, gave their players only 20 and 22 days of rest respectively, before undergoing preparation camps that did not exceed 13 days for Chelsea and 7 days for Saint Germain.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, had less than three weeks of vacation and preparation before the season, while Manchester City also did not give their players enough time for rest or preparation.
No other major team sport offers its stars such short rest periods, with elite club international players barely getting three weeks, compared to 14 weeks for the NBA finals and 15 weeks for World Series participants.
On an individual level, Alessandro Bastoni, a defender at Inter Milan, Fabian Ruiz, a midfielder at Paris Saint Germain, and Federico Valverde, a star at Real Madrid, played more than 70 matches last season.
Kim Min-jae, a defender at Bayern Munich, played 20 consecutive matches with less than five days between each, while Moroccan star Achraf Hakimi of Saint Germain participated in 69 matches last season, and is expected to reach 74 this season.
Chris Wood, a striker for Nottingham Forest and the New Zealand team, said: "It is very important for us as players to have a recovery period that allows the body to adapt and launch again.. We want to play matches, and the more we play, the happier we feel, but we must take care of our bodies in the long term."
He added: "You can withstand 50 or 60 games in the first and second year, but by the third, fourth, and fifth years, problems start to appear. A preparation period of at least four weeks is necessary, and better if it reaches six weeks, as this ensures that the body is ready for the next season."
Wood, who recently joined the global players' council in "FIFPro", stressed that the problem lies not only in the number of matches but also in the continuous travel. He said: "Sometimes I play on Saturday with Forest, and just three hours later I am on a plane for a 30-hour trip to New Zealand to join my national team."
He continued: "Most of the time you get a comfortable seat, but it does not give the body enough time to adapt or recover from the effort spent in matches. The long travel to South America, Australia, or New Zealand requires you to be ready to train again in just three or four days, and this severely affects the body."
Wood called for a better balance in the future, confirming that "FIFPro" has for years been pressuring the International Football Association "FIFA" to seriously address this issue, but its attempts have not stopped the ongoing expansion of international tournaments.
FIFA's Stance
The International Federation of Football Associations denies its responsibility for the crowded agenda, pointing out that clubs, local leagues, and continental federations are the real culprits, while also reaffirming its responsibility to expand the game globally.
As for "FIFPro", it points to long injury lists at Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain and several participants in the Club World Cup, and the doubling of the number of matches played by rising stars like Lamine Yamal, as clear evidence of exhaustion risks.
Darren Burgess, Director of Performance at Juventus, said: "What is happening is the perfect storm for how not to deal with a human. There are a large number of games, with shorter rest periods than recommended between seasons, followed by shorter preparation periods, before entering again into a dense sequence of matches."
He explained: "The cycle continues nonstop. If it's not the Club World Cup, it's the World Cup or other tournaments at the same time. According to GPS data with clubs and players I have worked with, playing games consecutively after weak rest periods physically disables players from delivering their usual performance. It's a combination that, at worst, leads to injuries, and at best, to deteriorating performance."
