The five-team shortlist for the Men's club of the year was announced today, as FC Barcelona failed to secure a nomination for one of the spots.
Joining the shortlist was Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Bodo/Glimt, Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain.
While big names like PSG and Bayern's place can be justified due to recent silverware, Flamengo continuing to dominate in South America and a very good English domestic season for the Londoners, but seeing a Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt get in ahead of the Catalan giants will be disappointing for many.
Reasons behind the omission
To play Devils Advocate for the panel, this is purely an award based on performances on the pitch in the 2025/26 season. Barcelona made a monumental breakthrough by winning the league title in back to back seasons. However, they didn't advanced beyond the UCL quarter-final, and also missed out of the Copa Del Rey. So though this looks very harsh, the voters elected to look elsewhere, in all honesty.
It just goes to show that while the league title and off field progress can be momentous, it amounts to very little in the eyes of an award ballot without a major European trophy added to the cabinet at the end of it.
Flick's troops won't be losing sleep over it though
Awards are of course always nice but this team has greater priorities now. Barcelona have started this campaign looking every bit as unstoppable as anyone could have predicted: they are scoring for fun and have bagged seventeen league goals from their first four games.
Rodri has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the center of the field, as has been testament from some of his key displays so far. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are demonstrating that they are among the very best players on the earth.
The panel will want to play it dumb to the club from Catalonia but if this side keep shredding teams to bits both domestically and in Europe, they won't have a choice.
Add us as a preferred source on Google