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Article continues belowArticle continues belowArticle continues below<ul><li>Argentine icon landed another prestigious prize</li><li>Portuguese legend in "losing credibility" claim</li><li>Suggested players cannot be trusted in vote</li></ul><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

Ballon d’Or voter: Cristiano Ronaldo was right & Inter Miami star Lionel Messi wining FIFA Best Award is a joke

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Argentine icon Messi, who landed his eighth Golden Ball in 2023, added another prestigious honour to his collection when becoming the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/another-trophy-more-history-lionel-messi-date-set-fifa-best-awards-2023-inter-miami-superstar-erling-haaland-kylian-mbappe/bltb69a2c070a29fb5c" target="_blank">first player to be named FIFA Best Men’s Player for a third time</a>. Questions have been asked of <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/lionel-messi-not-won-major-titles-inter-miami-lothar-matthaus-rages-erling-haaland-defeat-fifa-best-vote/blt5e2d448a81865f57" target="_blank">how he pipped Manchester City striker Erling Haaland to that gong</a>, given that his World Cup win in 2022 was supposed to be taken out of the equation, and <a href="https://www.tipsbladet.dk/blog/troels-bagerthoegersen/jeg-er-10-gange-mere-kvalificeret-end-messi-og-cr7 " target="_blank">Tipsbladet</a> editor-in-chief Troels Bager Thorgersen believes that vote proves players should not be involved in the polling process.

WHAT HAPPENED?

After seeing <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/cristiano-ronaldo-claims-ballon-dor-best-losing-credibility-al-nassr-star-misses-lionel-messi-both-awards/bltb1016cbf6b5a151b" target="_blank">CR7 suggest that major individual awards are “losing credibility”,</a> Thorgersen has said: “Now, I don't attach much weight to Cristiano Ronaldo's words when he speaks at an award show in Dubai. It doesn't help that the organisers invented an award so Cristiano Ronaldo could receive a prize, as is the tradition in the Dubai show where Ronaldo's former agent, Jorge Mendes, was also awarded the world's best for most of a decade. But, in his own backward way, Cristiano Ronaldo was right, and has been for many years. "For a decade, I've been voting for the Ballon d'Or, and one of the best things to happen in those awards was when the French organisers from France Football and FIFA went their separate ways. FIFA took the players and coaches with 'The Best,' and it was a huge victory for the Ballon d'Or and those of us who vote for the most prestigious award in the football world, that we no longer had to contend with the players. Because if there's anyone not aware of their responsibility and should be banned from voting in awards, it's the absolute biggest football players like Cristiano Ronaldo himself. "What am I babbling about? Am I so arrogant and disconnected from reality to claim that as an old and somewhat incompetent lower-league player (for a short period), I know more about football than Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and all the others? Certainly not. But unlike FAR too many players, especially, and to a much lesser extent, some national team coaches, I and my ilk find it much easier to separate club and national team loyalties from voting in an award. Cristiano Ronaldo himself is one of the best examples of this phenomenon.”

WHAT THORGERSEN SAID

Thorgersen went on to say of a process that has often seen the likes of Ronaldo and Messi come out on top: “For years at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo only voted for team-mates at Real Madrid, before in 2020 and 2021, he found room to vote for Robert Lewandowski as the world's best and in 2020, awarded points to Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi has also voted for rival Cristiano Ronaldo along the way and gave top points to arch-rival Real Madrid's superstar in 2018, Luka Modric. But Messi, too, has had a massive bias towards teammates at FC Barcelona and the Argentine national team. And that's the picture again and again and again with the superstars giving points: team-mates and national team-mates are weighed far, far too high, apparently because one wants to be loyal to colleagues. "By the way, Danish national team captains and coaches are honourable exceptions – they have never voted based on club loyalties. I'm not saying this is nearly as important as everything going on in the football world. I've annoyed many with my weighting of players like Kevin De Bruyne and various defenders and defensive midfielders. But now that we have these awards and votes must be cast, one must also take the responsibility seriously, and players too often don't. That Lionel Messi can be voted as The Best winner last week is utterly absurd when the 2022 World Cup doesn't count, and the voters thus have a half-season at PSG and a half-season at Inter Miami to award Messi the trophy. It's simply a joke and unserious, and for me, this is yet another example that especially the world stars have no business in these types of votes if the votes are to be taken seriously.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Messi did win his second Ligue 1 title with PSG in 2023, before <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/why-44-trophies-not-enough-record-breaking-lionel-messi-inter-miami-tata-martino-hunger-question/blt708de9394749179e" target="_blank">helping Inter Miami to a historic Leagues Cup crown</a> following his <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/secret-meetings-10-year-project-how-david-beckham-signed-lionel-messi-inter-miami-co-owner/bltcc28a521e2bdff22 " target="_blank">stunning move to the United States.</a> Haaland, though, inspired City to a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup Treble when netting 52 goals across all competitions.

WHAT NEXT?

Ballon d’Or voter: Cristiano Ronaldo was right & Inter Miami star Lionel Messi wining FIFA Best Award is a joke | Goal.com India

Cristiano Ronaldo was “right” to slam the FIFA Best Award and Lionel Messi claiming the top prize is “a joke”, says a seasoned Ballon d’Or voter.