Every national team captain could vote in FIFA’s “The Best” awards, but Cristiano Ronaldo, who used to play for Real Madrid and Manchester United, could not, even though he was Portugal’s captain.

Even though he could have as leader of Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t vote in FIFA’s “The Best” awards.

Through the voting process, the captains and coaches of each national team, as well as an expert journalist from each country and fans who voted on FIFA’s website, choose who wins each award.

In his role as captain of Portugal, Ronaldo was able to vote for the individual men’s award. Pepe, an experienced defender, voted for Portugal this year, even though he wasn’t captain of his country once in 2023.

Pepe did lead Portugal while Ronaldo was out at the Qatar World Cup because manager Fernando Santos put him on the bench. But Ronaldo, a former star of Real Madrid and Manchester United, has been captain in every game since the event under new manager Roberto Martinez.Lionel Messi got the award for Best Men’s Player of 2023, beating out Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. It has since come to light that Pepe voted for Haaland, Victor Osimhen, and Bernardo Silva in that category.

In the meantime, Martinez chose Marcelo Brozovic, Silva, and Messi as his top three players. It has since been found that Messi and Haaland tied for first place in the voting, with the Inter Miami star winning because he got more votes from national team leaders.

Messi and Haaland both got 48 points, while Mbappe came in third with 35. Fourth and fifth place went to Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City and Victor Osimhen of Napoli. Next on the list were three City players: Rodri, Julian Alvarez, and Silva. All three of them got a lot of votes.Ilkay Gundogan, who used to lead City but left to join Barcelona over the summer, came in ninth. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Brozovic, both from Napoli, got seven points each. Declan Rice, a player for Arsenal, came in 12th.

John Cross from Mirror Football also voted and chose Haaland, Rodri, and Messi as his top three. Messi wasn’t at the ceremony to claim his award, so Thierry Henry did it for him. While doing so, he made fun of his co-host Reshmin Chowdhury by making a joke about Tottenham.

“Unfortunately the winner is not here, so someone is going to have to take the trophy,” Henry stated. “I’ll take it.” I really did come. There are two main reasons why I want to take it. I didn’t win it, so I’ll keep it. Also, you support Tottenham, right? A prize isn’t something you get very often, so I’ll take this one. Thanks a lot.”