6 footballing personalities who did not vote for either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi in the FIFA Best Player Award
Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the inaugural FIFA Best Player of the Year award in a glitzy ceremony on January 9th. Ronaldo with 34.54% of the votes took the top prize, while his rival, Lionel Messi claimed the second position with 26.42% of the votes. France’s Antoine Griezmann rounded off the top 3 with 7.53%.
Ronaldo and Messi were quite clearly the two best footballers according to the national team managers and captains, but these 7 important footballing personalities failed to include both of them in their top 3!
Without much ado, let us take a look at the 7 famous captains and coaches who failed to include either of Ronaldo or Messi in their top 3 list for the FIFA Best Player award:
Note: Ronaldo’s and Messi’s votes have not been included. Their votes were:
Lionel Messi (Argentina): Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): Bale, Modric, Ramos
Manuel Neuer (Germany) – Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Robert Lewandowski
Germany captain Manuel Neuer was in the 3 man Ballon d’or shortlist in 2014 where many people thought he deserved the top prize ahead of eventual winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Neuer had a wonderful year in 2014, winning the FIFA World Cup and playing a starring role in Bayern Munich’s spectacular domestic double.
The supremely talented shot-stopper even spoke about his disappointment at finishing behind the legendary duo of Messi and Ronaldo in the Ballon d’Or award rankings list. The defeat still seems to rankle as Neuer failed to pick either Messi or Ronaldo in his 3 man shortlist.
His top pick went for Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos, while he chose Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil in second place and Bayern team-mate Robert Lewandowski in third. While there is no arguing the fact that his 3 picks had stellar years, the fact that he failed to pick either Ronaldo or Messi in his top 3 is a bit of a surprise.