Almost 500 captains, coaches and journalists had their say in voting for Fifa’s Ballon d’Or, with Lionel Messi unsurprisingly walking away with his fifth title with an incredible share of 41.3%.
That was despite once again not featuring in his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s top three, although the Barcelona forward also repaid the compliment to his Real Madrid counterpart. Messi picked his Barça team-mates Luis Suárez, Neymar and Andrés Iniesta, while Ronaldo sided with his club colleagues Karim Benzema, James Rodríguez and Gareth Bale.
The Argentina defender was Roy Hodgson’s choice last year but this time the England manager placed Ronaldo first, followed by Messi and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. The Wales manager, Chris Coleman, and his captain Ashley Williams kept things close to home by voting for Gareth Bale ahead of both Messi and Ronaldo, perhaps with his contribution to their successful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in mind. They were joined by Drew Sherman of the Cook Islands and Brunei’s Mike Wong Mun Heng.
That meant the Real Madrid forward was placed 16th, making him the only British player to finish in the top 20. Five Premier League players also made the 23-man shortlist but only two made it into the top 10 – Hazard in eighth with 1.3% of votes and Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez in 10th. The Manchester City trio Yaya Touré, Sergio Agüero and Kevin De Bruyne finished 12th, 13th and 18th respectively.
But perhaps the biggest surprise was the choice of Paul Pogba’s brother. Having been voted into the World XI, the Juventus midfielder may have felt he could rely on the support of his older sibling Florentin, who plays for Saint-Étienne. But the Guinea captain opted for Messi, Ronaldo and the Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer instead.
