Fifa Best Awards: Full voting revealed as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ignore each other
The superstars who can't put club rivalries aside, Germany's absurd loyalty and the national manager with a shameless tactical vote
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Your support makes all the difference.Cristiano Ronaldo was voted the Men's Player of the Year at the inaugural Best Fifa Awards in Zurich on Monday night.
The result was a formality, with the forward having won the Champions League with his club Real Madrid before leading Portugal to the European Championship title. Elsewhere, Claudio Ranieri was chosen as coach of the year following his Premier League triumph with Leicester City.
More entertaining than the awards themselves, however, was some absurd tactical voting that went on among the national coaches, captains and selected media who decided on the recipients.
England captain Wayne Rooney decided to stick with what he knew, choosing three players with Premier League experience - Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Jamie Vardy - as his three picks.
Perhaps surprisingly for a Manchester United man, Rooney also picked Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp as his third choice for coach of the year.
Gareth Southgate, England's manager, plucked for Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and N'Golo Kante. No room for Messi for the Englishmen.
The captain of the Turks and Caicos Islands - Billy Forbes - thinks Jamie Vardy is a better player than Ronaldo or Messi who he chose in second and third place respectively.
Messi, who finished second in the best player category, voted for three Barcelona players - Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta - while his national coach chose Messi himself, fellow Argentine Sergio Aguero and Griezmann in third. No room for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo voted for three Real Madrid players - Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos - although presumably he would have chosen Cristiano Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Cristiano Ronaldo if the rules had allowed it... No room for Messi either way.
Other highlights include Atletico Madrid captain Diego Godin choosing, um, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone as coach of the year.
Manuel Neuer, the German captain, picked compatriots Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil as well as Bayern teammate Robert Lewandowski, while Germany's national coach Joachim Low voted for Kroos, Ozil and Manuel Neuer.
Another who favoured an all German trio was Romania's coach Christoph Daum. Confused? Don't be. He's German too.
But the award for best vote of the night has to go to Chile's coach Juan Antonio Pizzi who picked his star player Alexis Sanchez in first place and declined to choose a second or third.
See the full voting list here.
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