What's the story?
The FIFA Best awards ceremeony was held last night, with Lionel Messi managing to beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk to the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp won the FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award, while Megan Rapinoe won the FIFA Best Women’s Player of the Year award for her stunning performances with the US Women's team at the World Cup earlier this year.
In case you didn't know...
The FIFA Best awards are decided partly (50%) by votes given by the captain and coach of all the member nations of FIFA. Each coach and captain gets to choose their top 3 nominees for every category and there were certainly some interesting choices made by the national team skippers and coaches.
Another 50% weightage is given to select media outlets and fans from various countries.
The heart of the matter
Here is how some of the top stars and captains voted in the FIFA Best Awards:
Lionel Messi: 1) Sadio Mane, 2) Cristiano Ronaldo, 3) Frenkie de Jong
Virgil van Dijk: 1) Lionel Messi, 2) Mohamed Salah, 3) Sadio Mane
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1) Matthijs de Ligt, 2) Frenkie de Jong, 3) Kylian Mbappe
Eden Hazard: 1) Sadio Mane, 2) Van Dijk, 3) Lionel Messi
Luka Modric: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo, 2) Eden Hazard, 3) Lionel Messi
Son Heung-Min: 1) Harry Kane, 2) Van Dijk, 3) Cristiano Ronaldo
Harry Kane: 1) Lionel Messi, 2) Van Dijk, 3) Cristiano Ronaldo
Sergio Ramos: 1) Eden Hazard, 2) Cristiano Ronaldo, 3) Mohamed Salah
Steven Davies: 1) Lionel Messi, 2) Van Dijk, 3) Sadio Mane
Seamus Coleman: 1) Lionel Messi, 2) Van Dijk, 3) Cristiano Ronaldo
Manuel Neuer: 1) Van Dijk, 2) Sadio Mane, 3) Eden Hazard
Andrew Robertson: 1) Van Dijk, 2) Frenkie de Jong, 3) Sadio Mane
Hugo Lloris: 1) Lionel Messi, 2) Cristiano Ronaldo, 3) Kylian Mbappe
The votes are pretty interesting as it shows who the players value as being among the best in the world. Interestingly, Ronaldo didn't have Messi's name on his list. Because of his injury problems last season, Neymar did not receive even a single vote this time.
What's next?
With Van Dijk having won the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award and Messi bagging the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award, it will be interesting to see who will claim the Ballon d'Or this term.
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