10 of the most incomprehensible votes from FIFA's The Best
Barcelona's Lionel Messi voted for rival Cristiano Ronaldo this year
During the voting process for FIFA's The Best, there were some surprising choices made by some of the national team coaches, captains and journalists. Here are 10 of them...
Leo Messi
The Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, included, for the first time, Cristiano Ronaldo among his nominees. The Barça forward voted in the following order: Modric, Mbappe, Ronaldo.
Curiously, Messi didn't include any coaches that made the big finals. He went for: Ernesto Valverde, Pep Guardiola and Massimiliano Allegri.
Hugo Lloris/Didier Deschamps
France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and his coach Didier Deschamps only included French players. Lloris went for Varane, Griezmann and Mbappe, while Deschamps order differered but not the names: Griezmann, Varane and Mbappe.
Tite/Joao Miranda
In contrast to the French voters, the Brazilian representatives didn't include compatrior Neymar. Coach Tite voted for Modric, Salah and Cristiano. Inter defender Joao Miranda, Brazil's captain for the voting process, gave points to Cristiano, Mbappe and Messi.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo didn't give maximum points to former teammate Luka Modric, the big favourite to win the prize, but to Varane. The Croatian midfielder was second, though, with Griezmann third.
Robert MartInez/Eden Hazard
Despite two Belgian players being in the top 10 (De Bruyne y Hazard), none of them got votes from Belgium. Coach Robert Martinez chose Modric, Varane and Messi, while captain Hazard went for Modric, Varane and Mbappe.
Gareth Southgate
England coach Gareth Southgate didn't vote for the only English candidate in the running for The Best, Tottenham's Harry Kane. He voted for Modric, Varane and Hazard.
Luka Modric
The winner of The Best, Real Madrid's Modric, voted for France's Deschamps before Zidane, his coach at club level last season. However his five points went to Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic.
Giorgio Chiellini
Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini also surprised by ignoring his Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, preferring to vote for Deschamps, Zidane and Southgate.
Sergio Ramos
Real Madrid and Spain captain Sergio Ramos has always voted for Cristiano Ronaldo but this time he voted for Modric ahead of the Portuguese, who dropped to second. Ramos' third pick was Messi.
Enrique Macaya
Veteran Argentine journalust Enrique Macaya, who boasts of covering the most World Cups (16), didn't give a single point to his compatriot Messi. He vote for Modric, Griezmann and Cristiano. As for the coach award, he did vote for a fellow Argentine: Diego Simeone.
