Lionel Messi won his 5th Ballon d’Or getting 41.33% of the votes while Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar got 27.76% and 7.86% of the votes respectively. Let us take a look at who did some of the international captains and Coaches vote for –Some really surprising choices.
Barcelona won the treble last season and it was expected that one of their front three –Suarez , Messi and Neymar would be getting the votes but surprisingly another Barcelona player was the first choice for 5. Javier Mascherano got the votes of the captains of Guatemala, Mauritania, Norway, the coach of Guatemala and the Media representative of Fiji. Guatemala are currently ranked 93in the FIFA rankings – I wonder why?
Lionel Messi ‘s choice for the Ballon D’or was Suarez while Neymar and Iniesta got 2nd and 3rd . Cristiano Ronaldo also voted for his club team mates – Benzema, James and Bale. Neymar voted for Messi, Suarez and Ivan Rakitic.
England and Manchester United Captain voted for – Messi, Muller and Ronaldo.
Manchester City and Belgium captain Vincent Kompany voted for Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic voted for Messi for the 7th consecutive time while Suarez and Neymar followed him.
Messi was the first choice for most which included – Petr Cech, Hugo Lloris , Henrikh Mkhitaryan ,Arjen Robben, Branislav Ivanovic and Arda Turan.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the first choice for the likes of Edin Dzeko, teammate James Rodriguez , Robbie Keane, Martin Skrtel and Gokhan Inler.
Robert Lewandowski was in sublime form last year and should consider himself unlucky for not being selected in the FIFPRo XI but he finished 4th behind Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. Lewandowski felt his Bayern teammates were better than the top 3 as he voted for Manuel Neuer, Arturo Vidal and Thomas Muller.
Germany skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger voted for ex-teammates Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Neymar.
Among the coaches, World Cup Winner and last year’s Coach of the Year Joachim Low voted for his Germany stars Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos. Patrick Kluivert ,coach of Curacao, voted for Neymar ahead of Messi and Lewandowski was his third choice. Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli, who was in the running for the Coach of the Year, voted for Lionel Messi ahead of his Copa America stars Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal. England manager, Roy Hodgson voted for Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Eden Hazard. Spain’s Vicente Del Bosque voted for Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta.
Alexis Sanchez, Kevin De Bruyne , Andres Iniesta and Manuel Neuer also got a few votes but were not the first choice for many. Arjen Robben was the first choice on one occasion as Pakistan’s coach voted for him while Paul Pogba was the first choice for Vanuatu Captain Masauvakalo Fenedy.