The Best FIFA Awards: Who the Stars Voted for, Points Total & Final Standings for Mens Prize

​Lionel Messi was named as The Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year on Monday evening ahead of the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo, but that was not the order which everyone wanted.

Captains of each international team, managers and members of the media were all invited to cast their votes on who they thought had been the best player over the past year, and it was Messi who walked away with the prize.

Who Voted for Who?

According to ​FIFA's records of the votesMessi, who was not allowed to vote for himself, actually had ​Liverpool's ​Sadio Mane as his first choice, with ​Ronaldo and Frenkie de Jong as his second and third choices respectively.

However, Ronaldo did not even include Messi in his top three, instead voting tactically for ​Juventus teammate Matthijs de Ligt, before De Jong and ​Kylian Mbappe.

As for Van Dijk, he contributed to Messi's success by naming the Argentine as the best in the world, with ​Mohamed Salah and Mane coming in just behind.

FBL-EUR-C1-PORTO-LIVERPOOL

England captain Harry Kane actually predicted the perfect order, with the ​Tottenham Hotspur star putting Messi ahead of beaten finalists Van Dijk and Ronaldo.

Kane himself picked up a fair few of the votes. Spurs teammate and South Korea captain Son Heung-min named Kane as his top pick for the award, but England manager Gareth Southgate decided against doing the same.

Southgate instead went for Messi, and Kane did not even make it into his top three ahead of Ronaldo and Van Dijk.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Another name who featured high in the list was ​Real Madrid's ​Eden Hazard. Los Blancos teammate ​Sergio Ramos led the charge for Hazard, and his determination not to vote for Messi saw him nominate Ronaldo and Salah instead.

We're not sure Ramos' vote for Salah will make up for injuring him in the 2018 ​Champions League final, but hey, every little helps.

As for Hazard himself, he went for Mane as his pick to win the award, with Van Dijk and Messi coming in second and third respectively in his estimations.

Eden Hazard

Germany and ​Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer omitted both Messi and Ronaldo as he went for Van Dijk, followed by Mane and Hazard. Neuer's teammate and Poland captain Robert Lewandowski meanwhile went for an order of Van Dijk, Mane and De Jong.

Croatia's Luka Modric gave a nod to his old friend Ronaldo by voting him as his first choice, with Hazard and Messi close behind in Modric's books.

Brazil's Dani Alves went for old teammate Messi as his first pick, but followed it up with two Liverpool stars in Mane and Van Dijk for his top three. 

Andrew Robertson, Scotland captain, unsurprisingly went for his defensive teammate Van Dijk for his first choice but picked De Jong over Mane as his second choice. 

There was more love for Van Dijk in the home nations with Wales captain Ashley Williams also plumping for the Liverpool centre back.

In the end, Messi took the top honour with 46% of the voting points, with second-placed Van Dijk receiving 38% and in third place Ronaldo with 36%. 

Three Liverpool stars made the top five with Salah and Mane fourth and fifth respectively while Kane placed 10th. 

Check out the final standings below.


Final Standing​ Player​
​1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona)​
​2 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)​
​3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)​
​4 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)​
​5 Sadio Mane (Liverpool)​
​6 Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)​
​7 Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)​
​8 Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)​
​9 Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)​
​10 Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)​

Source : 90min