It has now been revealed how Liverpool stars voted in the FIFA Best awards, as Mohamed Salah missed out in the Best Men’s XI while Arne Slot failed to win the Best Manager award
Conor Bradley overlooked Mohamed Salah when casting his vote for the FIFA Best Men’s XI award at this year’s ceremony, while the ‘Egyptian King’ himself snubbed Arne Slot for Best Manager. The FIFA Best Awards, one of the most coveted individual accolades in football, is second only to the Ballon d’Or in terms of prestige.
For nearly a decade, FIFA has hosted a grand ceremony to honour the top-performing players and managers, as chosen by a captain, a coach and a press member from each nation worldwide. This year, Ousmane Dembele took home the Men’s Best Player award for his stellar performances with Paris Saint-Germain and France, while Spanish prodigy Lamine Yamal claimed second place.
Kylian Mbappe, now with Real Madrid, secured third place after an impressive debut season with Los Blancos. However, Salah, who was fourth in line for this year’s Ballon d’Or, didn’t even make the cut for the FIFA Best Men’s XI, despite a remarkable 2024/25 season.
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Last season, the Egyptian star played a crucial role in Liverpool’s Premier League triumph, contributing 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 appearances for the Reds. But it seems recency bias may have influenced the voting, which took place just last month, especially given Salah’s less-than-stellar performance so far in 2025/26.
This season, the 33-year-old has managed just four goals and three assists in the Premier League, leading to him being benched by Slot in the club’s last four league matches. Oddly enough, Cole Palmer slotted into the right-hand side of the pitch in Salah’s place in the awards, despite only scoring 15 goals and providing nine assists for Chelsea last season – a total of 23 contributions less than the Liverpool star, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The transparency of the award allows football fans to see who voted for whom in November’s poll, with six Liverpool players participating. This is due to Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Andy Robertson and Bradley all being captains of their respective national teams.
Apart from Salah, who modestly didn’t vote for himself, Bradley was the only Liverpool player not to choose the seasoned veteran – the Northern Irishman instead selected Yamal as his player of the year, placing Salah second in his preferences.
Here’s how all of the Liverpool players voted:
In addition, Liverpool stars had the opportunity to vote for their coach of the year, with several of the aforementioned players supporting Slot for the honour, while others chose Luis Enrique, who ultimately won the award, thanks to his outstanding achievements with PSG.
Van Dijk, Szoboszlai and Robertson all backed the Dutchman with their votes, while Endo, Salah and Bradley opted for Enrique following his Champions League title win with PSG earlier this year. Salah’s future at Anfield has been thrown into doubt following his critical remarks about Slot after Liverpool’s 3-3 draw with Leeds earlier this month.
Speaking to the press after the match, during which he was benched, Salah claimed he had no relationship with his head coach and suggested that the weekend’s game against Brighton could be his last for the club.
However, following a frank discussion, Salah was included in the squad for the win over Brighton, having previously been left out of the victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League. He was brought on early in the Brighton match due to an injury to Joe Gomez and assisted Hugo Ekitike’s second goal.
The forward has now left for the Africa Cup of Nations, potentially missing up to eight matches if Egypt make it to the final. His absence means he will miss Liverpool’s forthcoming matches against Tottenham, Wolves and Leeds United.
Depending on Egypt’s progress in the tournament, which concludes on 18 January, he could also be absent for games against Fulham, Arsenal, Barnsley and Burnley.
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