Lionel Messi wins FIFA Best Player: whom did Messi and other star players voted for

The iconic attacker beat his club teammate Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema to bag the prestigious award for the second time. Prior to Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski won the accolade twice each and Messi has now levelled with the two superstars.

Messi won the award with 52 points with second-placed Mbappe finishing with 44 points and Benzema winning 34 points. Being Argentina captain, Messi was allowed to vote and he elected Neymar as his first choice ahead of another of his PSG team-mates Mbappe, who finished second behind Messi in the final standings. Messi’s third vote was for Karim Benzema. Mbappe, of course, didn’t get to vote as he is not France’s captain.

Votes were cast by supporters, national team captains, national team coaches and 300 journalists from various nations, with each of the four pillars given 25 per cent of the vote. England captain Harry Kane voted for Messi, Sadio Mane and Benzema as his top three. Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t vote in the awards, with Pepe listed as Portugal’s captain despite Ronaldo being their official captain at the World Cup and him not having retired from international football yet. Pepe did not vote for Messi and chose to go with the trio of Mbappe, Modric and Benzema.

Egypt skipper Mohamed Salah picked the trio of Vinicius Junior, Kevin De Bruyne and Achraf Hakimi. England manager Gareth Southgate went for Messi, Luka Modric and Mbappe. Argentine manager Lionel Scaloni, who won the Best manager award, voted for Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Luka Modric. France manager Didier Deschamps went for Mbappe ahead of both Benzema and Messi. France skipper Hugo Lloris also opted for the same trio in the same order.

Brazil captain Thiago Silva voted for his compatriot Neymar followed by Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema. Germany coach Hansi Flick chose Messi as his winner but didn’t include Mbappe or Benzema in his top three, instead going for Modric and Robert Lewandowski. The Poland skipper himself had Messi in first place followed by Mbappe and Modric. Norway skipper Martin Odegaard had Messi as first choice, with his Norway colleague Erling Haaland in second and Mbappe third.