Sports News of Thursday, 18 December 2025
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
Natalia Rodrigues, the wife of Barcelona star Raphinha has reacted angrily to her husband's omission from the recently released Best FIFA XI and the FifPro World XI.
Raphinha despite having an excellent campaign in the 2024/2025 season, scoring 34 goals and providing 25 assists was not named in both the Best FIFA XI and the FifPro World XI published on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
As captain of FC Barcelona, he also led Hansi Flick's side to win La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup titles.
In a now-deleted Instagram post which has gone viral on various social media platforms, Natalia Rodrigues lashed out at FIFA for snubbing her husband from the from team of the year despite finishing fifth in the Ballon d'Or rankings.
She wrote in a now-deleted Instagram story: "Is Raphinha a basketball player?" shortly after the list of Best FIFA XI and the FifPro World XI was published by FIFA.
The Barcelona star's wife also wrote "they don’t even try to hide it anymore" and "but he didn’t deserve to be among the XI?” in a series of messages that have since been deleted.
Natalia Rodrigues now joins a tall of personalities who were shocked to see Raphinha's exclusion from Best FIFA XI and the FifPro World XI.
JE