In the cutthroat world of elite football, where accolades are currency and omissions cut deeper than tackles, few moments capture raw emotion like a snubbed star’s clapback. Enter Raphinha, Barcelona’s electric Brazilian winger, whose blistering 2024-25 season—capped by a fifth-place Ballon d’Or finish—earned him global acclaim but curiously eluded the FIFPro World 11. Announced on November 3, 2025, the prestigious lineup, voted by over 26,000 professional players across 68 countries, honored just two Blaugrana: teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and midfield maestro Pedri. Raphinha? Nowhere to be found. His response? A furious 17-post Instagram Story barrage within an hour, unleashing a torrent of trophies, stats, and smirking emojis that screamed, “What more do you want?” The outburst, clocking in at over 15 slides of unfiltered achievement porn, has polarized fans, amused rivals, and even drawn cheeky support from teammates—transforming a personal slight into a viral referendum on meritocracy in modern soccer.

The FIFPro World 11 has long been the gold standard for peer recognition, a democratic nod to the game’s elite beyond the glitz of Ballon d’Or galas. This year’s XI skewed heavily toward PSG’s attacking flair—Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, and Bradley Barcola among the standouts—flanked by Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior. Absences like Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Inter’s Lautaro Martínez stung, but Raphinha’s exclusion hit like a thunderbolt. After all, the 28-year-old had engineered Barcelona’s first domestic treble since 2015: La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup triumphs, all fueled by his 34 goals and 22 assists in 57 appearances—a staggering 56 goal involvements that ranked him among Europe’s elite creators. He topped the Champions League scoring charts with 12 strikes, earned La Liga MVP honors, and notched hat-tricks in pivotal clashes, including a 5-1 demolition of Real Madrid. “Raphinha was the heartbeat of our attack,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick lamented recently, praising the winger’s “unplayable” form before a hamstring injury sidelined him for seven matches this season. Yet, in a vote ostensibly by players for players, his ledger apparently fell short—sparking whispers of bias toward flashier names or positional prejudices against right-wingers.

Raphinha’s retort unfolded like a tactical masterclass in passive-aggression. At around 2 p.m. CET on November 4—mere hours after the list dropped—he commandeered his Instagram Stories, firing off a relentless sequence that blended humblebrags with outright shade. Slide one: a graphic of his 38 goals and 24 assists across all competitions, captioned with laughing emojis (😂😂😂) that landed like mic drops. Next, photos of him hoisting the La Liga trophy at the Bernabéu, followed by Copa del Rey glory shots and Super Cup medals. He didn’t stop at silverware; montages of his Champions League heroics rolled in—dribble-reel clips, free-kick screamers, and that audacious Panenka penalty against Bayern Munich. One particularly pointed post highlighted his Ballon d’Or podium: “5th place, but who’s counting? 😏” Another juxtaposed his hat-trick compilations against blank stares at the snub, while a stat sheet proclaimed him La Liga’s top scorer and assist king. By slide 17, he’d circled back to the treble parade, ending with a selfie from the podium, fist-pumped skyward, overlaid with “Grateful, but…” and more emojis. The spree, lasting under an hour, clocked millions of views before vanishing into the 24-hour ether—screenshots, however, immortalized it across X and TikTok, where #RaphinhaResume trended globally.

Fans erupted in a symphony of schadenfreude and solidarity. “FIFPro robbed him blind—those stats are Ballon d’Or level, let alone World 11,” tweeted Barcelona diehard @Cule4Life, whose post garnered 45,000 likes. Rival supporters, ever the trolls, piled on with memes: one Photoshopped Raphinha’s face onto the FIFPro graphic, captioned “Forgot the CV?” Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, a World 11 lock, chimed in with a cryptic “Numbers don’t lie 👀” on his Stories, while Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah—another notable absentee—reposted Raphinha’s stat graphic with fire emojis. Closer to home, teammate Ronald Araujo amplified the fire with an Instagram post of Raphinha’s hat-trick celebration, tagged “#Injusticia” (injustice) and a winking emoji. Even FIFPro’s official account stayed mum, though insiders whisper the Brazilian’s flair for drama might inspire a review of voting transparency—past controversies, like the 2023 Mbappé-over-Haaland debate, have prompted similar soul-searching.

For Raphinha, born Raphael Dias Belloli in Porto Alegre in 1996, this isn’t his first brush with underdog fire. Discovered slinging passes in Brazil’s youth leagues, he hustled through Vitória and Rennes before Leeds United’s £17 million punt in 2020. At Elland Road, he dazzled with 17 Premier League goals, earning a £49 million Barcelona switch in 2022 amid Xavi’s rebuild. Injuries and adaptation woes tempered early promise, but under Flick’s 2024 arrival, Raphinha exploded—evolving from erratic finisher to symphony conductor, his 7.2 km-per-game pressing and pinpoint crosses redefining Barca’s right flank. Off-pitch, he’s a family man, married to model Daniella Campos since 2023, with two young daughters; his faith, etched in pre-match crosses, grounds the glamour. Yet, the snub stings personal: “I’ve given everything—body, soul, stats—and this is the thanks?” he hinted in a pre-outburst interview snippet leaked to Globo Esporte. Teammate Pedri, fresh from World 11 glory, texted support: “Your season was legendary, hermano. They’ll see it next year.”

The episode underscores football’s subjective underbelly. FIFPro’s vote, while peer-driven, often favors narrative over numbers—Mbappé’s World Cup halo persists, Yamal’s prodigy buzz eclipses Raphinha’s grit. Critics like ESPN’s Gab Marcotti called it “a travesty,” arguing Raphinha’s 59 goal involvements outshone selected wingers like Bukayo Saka. Barcelona’s board, eyeing a contract extension amid Saudi whispers (Raphinha rebuffed Al-Hilal’s £100 million lure last summer), views the rant as motivational gold. “It’s fuel,” Flick quipped post-training. “Raphinha returns hungrier—watch out, Europe.”

As Raphinha rehabs his hamstring, targeting a mid-November comeback against Valencia, his Stories serve as manifesto: In an era of algorithms and influencers, raw talent demands a megaphone. The snub? It didn’t break him—it broadcasted him. Will it propel Barca to another treble? Or etch Raphinha into snubbed-legend lore, à la Di María’s 2014 World Cup shade? One thing’s certain: That Instagram hour was his most viral assist yet. In football’s grand theater, sometimes the best response isn’t a goal—it’s a gallery of them.