Why did Cristiano Ronaldo not vote at this year's FIFA Best Awards?

Published at :February 28, 2023 at 5:47 PM

Modified at :February 28, 2023 at 5:48 PM

Argentina dominated the ceremony

The seventh edition of the FIFA Best awards ceremony took place on Monday, February 27 in Paris. Lionel Messi received his second FIFA The Best award of his career. Also, Alexia Putellas won the women's trophy for the second time in a row.

Messi was one of four Argentines to receive the honour on a night honouring the 2022 World Cup winners. The Best Men's Goalkeeper award went to Emiliano 'Dibu' Martinez and the Best Men's Manager award went to Lionel Scaloni. Moreover, the Best Fan award went to Argentina's supporters for their spirited support in Qatar.

After winning the World Cup, Argentina was highly represented on the shortlists for the FIFA Best awards. Forwards Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez, goalkeeper Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez, and coach Lionel Scaloni all getting nominations in their categories.

Messi was one of the 14 players who have been nominated for The Best FIFA Men's Player title, along with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar of Paris Saint-Germain. The trio was also joined by the champion from the previous year, Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona.

Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner, finished third in the ranking. However, there was one thing that grabbed attention of many. Cristiano Ronaldo https://khelnow.com/football/player/cristiano-ronaldo was left off the list of nominees for the first time.

Ronaldo was dismissed by Manchester United and sidelined by Portugal during the World Cup before joining Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr. He earned the FIFA honor the first two times it was given out — in 2016 and 2017 — and was among the three finalists the following three years. But for the first time, a FIFA-appointed expert group did not even consider him as a candidate.

Cristiano Ronaldo decided not to vote in the Fifa Best Awards for the first time in six years, despite the fact that international leaders are allowed to. There has been no indication that the 38-year-old captain of Portugal has lost the captaincy since he led his country at the World Cup in Qatar.

However, FIFA have confirmed that former Real Madrid back Pepe voted on behalf of the Portuguese national team this time. Also, the former Real Madrid hardman selected Mbappe of PSG as the male player of the year. He chose Luka Modric and Karim Benzema, erstwhile teammates at Real Madrid, as his second and third choices. Ronaldo, who took home the first two FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year honors, was not nominated this time around, so he was ineligible to receive any votes of his own this time around.