Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t take part in the voting process for FIFA’s The Best awards – despite being one of the national team captains eligible to participate.
Ronaldo’s bitter rival Lionel Messi triumphed at the ceremony over frontrunners Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe as he celebrated a superb year that saw him triumph at the World Cup with Argentina.
Messi won the backing of the players – with 677 captains points and 476 coaches points, while he also won 613,293 points among fans.
It is the latest accolade won by the iconic Argentine forward, having also been named as the Ballon d’Or winner last year – an award that Ronaldo often competed with the ex-Barcelona man for.
But even though Ronaldo is the captain of Portugal – and therefore expected to be involved in the voting process for the awards – the Al-Nassr and ex-Man United forward did not take part.
That honour was instead given to his national team-mate Pepe, whose selections were somewhat controversial as he went away from the most popular picks.
According to Goal, Pepe was confirmed to be taking on responsibilities for voting after acting as Portugal captain for much of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, while Ronaldo was often named on the bench after falling out of favour with former boss Fernando Santos.
Pepe started four of Portugal’s five games in Qatar, while Ronaldo was benched for the final two games of the tournament before they were dumped out by Morocco in the quarter-finals.
In Ronaldo’s absence, Pepe – who last played for Portugal last summer in a 1-0 win over Iceland – went for his countryman Bernardo Silva as his winner in the awards, followed by Erling Haaland in second.
The legendary former Real Madrid centre-back then rounded off his selections by picking Napoli striker Victor Osimhen in third.
It’s hardly a surprise that Pepe left Messi out of his selections given their fierce rivalry during their LaLiga days after battling together during El Clasico games between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Ronaldo was not picked by any player at the awards – and was not expected to be a popular name – having spent the last two seasons in the Saudi Arabian top flight with Al-Nassr.
Messi’s World Cup win in 2022 helped Messi to both the Ballon d’Or and The Best awards, with the forward receiving the backing of more national team captains over Man City’s Haaland.
France captain Kylian Mbappe – who finished in third with 35 points – picked Messi, despite being rivals with him for the award, followed by Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.
And England skipper Harry Kane also gave Messi the nod, picking Haaland second and then Man City’s Bernardo Silva in third.
Messi was also the name picked by Belgium captain Romelu Lukaku, Netherlands skipper Virgil van Dijk, Italy captain Gianluigi Donnarumma and Croatia’s Luka Modric.
It’s perhaps not a surprise that Portugal captain Pepe – a staunt former opponent of Messi from their LaLiga days – snubbed the forward from his top three, instead picking countryman Bernardo Silva as his winner, followed by Haaland and Victor Osimhen.
However, Haaland did receive the backing of some of Man City’s Premier League rivals.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, his team-mate at international level with Norway, gave the forward his first choice vote.
