Cristiano Ronaldo conceded his title to his former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric, but who did Ronaldo vote for in FIFA’s The Best awards?
Luka Modric won FIFA The Best award, ending a decade-long dominance for the title between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While the Argentine star finished fifth in the awards, Ronaldo was voted the second-best player of the year.
Modric also won the UEFA Player of the Year, where Ronaldo and Messi finished at similar positions.
The player votes were made public after the awards ceremony.
Each player could vote for three players – the first-placed player to receive five points, the second-placed player to receive three points, and third-placed player to receive one point.
There were many interesting selections by the players in the voting, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s choices.
Ronaldo opted not to vote for Lionel Messi at all, placing his first vote for his former Real Madrid teammate and defender Raphael Varane.
His second vote was for Luka Modric, who won the award in the ceremony. His third choice was Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann, who played a key role in the club’s Europa League triumph, and France’s World Cup victory.
“This trophy is not just mine,” Modric said. “It’s for all my Real Madrid teammates. For all my teammates in the Croatia national team. For all the coaches that I have played for.”
Also read: Twitter erupts as Luka Modric wins FIFA World Player of the Year
While Ronaldo finished second behind the Croatian star, Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah finished third. The Egyptian scored a record 32 goals in the Premier League season last year, and was central to Liverpool’s extraordinary run to the Champions League final.
Didier Deschamps, France’s World Cup winning coach, was named the manager of the year at FIFA The Best gala.
