Lionel Messi's Kepa Trophy votes revealed, he didn't vote Jude Bellingham as No.1 pick

Lionel Messi's votes for the prestigious Kepa Trophy at the Ballon d'Or awards have been revealed.

Messi took home his eighth Ballon d'Or title after he beat Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe.

The 36-year-old received 462 votes in the Ballon d'Or voting, with SIX countries inexplicably failing to give him a single vote.

Messi wasn't the only big winner in Paris as Jude Bellingham won the Kepa Trophy for the world's best player aged under 21.

The 20-year-old claimed the award after being selected by a jury of former Ballon d'Or winners.

Messi, however, did not vote the England international as his No.1 pick.

Bellingham, who has starred for Real Madrid this season, beat the likes of Jamal Musiala and Pedri to claim the coveted individual prize.

The Inter Miami superstar voted Musiala as his No.1 pick. He opted for Pedri before voting for Bellingham, who came in at third.

But the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Luka Modric, Kaka, Fabio Cannavaro, Andriy Shevchenko, Pavel Nedved, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Ronaldo Nazario all voted for Bellingham as their No.1 vote.

Jude Bellingham on stage as he wins the Kepa Trophy award. Image: Getty

Messi also failed to mention the former Birmingham City youth graduate when naming the future Ballon d'Or contenders.

He said: "The players to compete for the Ballon d’Or in the coming years? There may be a very beautiful rivalry in the coming years with players like Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius and many young players competing for the Ballon d'Or."

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner added: "I also think that Lamine Yamal, who is still very young and now plays for Barcelona, ​​will play a prominent role and fight for it in the future too, and certainly there will be others competing for it, new players that we do not know will appear, because there are always new players, and I think it will be a very beautiful era to enjoy.”

Will Bellingham win a Ballon d'Or in the future? Let us what you think.

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.

Topics: Ballon d'Or, Football, Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@NasJabbar