Who The Players Voted For In The FIFA Best Men's Player Of The Year

Lionel Messi was the somewhat surprising winner of Monday night's FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year award but less surprising was the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't vote for him.

The two men both get a vote in the award as captains of their respective national teams and it's long been a tradition that Ronaldo is in his rivals top three but Messi doesn't make it for the Portugal captain.

That trend continued this year with FIFA confirming that Messi put Ronaldo second on his list with Sadio Mane top and Frenkie de Jong in third.

Messi with his award. Image: PA Images

Ronaldo on the other hand put new Juventus teammate Matthijs de Ligt top, De Jong second and Kylian Mbappe, with none of his likely rivals for the top three in his voting.

Virgil van Dijk split Messi and Ronaldo in the voting to finish second for the award and the Liverpool defender had Messi top with Reds teammates Mo Salah and Mane second and third respectively.

Before the awards many had expected Van Dijk to add to his UEFA Player of the Year award, won last month, after leading his side to Champions League glory.

So close were the results this time around that only five national team captains voted the top three in order with England captain Harry Kane and Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman amongst them.

Real Madrid pair Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric both included former teammate Ronaldo and new teammate Eden Hazard in their top three.

Ramos put Hazard top with Ronaldo second and Mo Salah third, which is sure to give Liverpool fans a wry smile, whilst last year's winner Modric picked Ronaldo above Hazard and Messi.

The Belgian didn't follow suit and pick any of his new Los Blancos pals and went for Mane, Van Dijk and Messi instead.

Van Dijk beat Messi and Ronaldo into second and third respectively to the UEFA award. Image: PA Images

On five previous occasions Messi has won the Ballon d'Or but this year's decision was more controversial because of the fantastic year Van Dijk had plus his own failure in the Champions League and Copa America.

It is a reverse of the previous year's awards when the Barcelona forward failed to get in the top three for either FIFA's award or the Ballon d'Or, finishing fifth in the latter, and everyone was annoyed then too.

Here's the full list of voting:

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year voting. Image: FIFA

Whose votes are the most surprising?

Topics: Football News, Sergio Ramos, FIFA, Lionel Messi, Ballon d'Or, Virgil Van Dijk, Champions League, Sadio Mane, The Best, Cristiano Ronaldo, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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