On Monday, the most prominent faces of football were recognized at the prestigious FIFA 2019 awards ceremony.
The main award - the title of the best player of the year - was received by Lionel Messi, who surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk.
In the voting, which involved national team coaches and captains, as well as journalists and independent FIFA experts, the Liverpool defender remained in second place, collecting 38 points. Cristiano Ronaldo settled for third place with 36 points.
Lionel Messi, who as the captain of the Argentine national team included Sadio Mane (1st place), Cristiano Ronaldo (2nd place) and Frenkie de Jong (3rd place) in his top 3 of best soccer players, received 46 points in this voting.
In the top 10 best footballers list also appeared Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Frenkie de Jong, Eden Hazard, Matthijs de Ligt, and Harry Kane.
The other two nominees for FIFA Men's Best Player of the year award - Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo - as national team captains also cast their votes.
The top three choices of the captain of the Dutch national team were L. Messi in first place, M. Salah in second, and S. Mane in third. C. Ronaldo did not include any of his competitors in his top 3 picks: first place for M. de Ligt, second for F. de Jong, and third for K. Mbappe.
The captain of the Lithuanian national team, Fedor Černych, awarded first place to C. Ronaldo, second place to L. Messi, and third place to V. van Dijk. These three players were also chosen by the national team coach Valdas Urbonas. You can find all the votes from the captains, coaches, and journalists in the best player rankings in this link.
Full breakdown of voting results can be found here: [link to full results]
