Even though he was one of the national team leaders who could have voted, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t take part in the voting for FIFA’s The Best awards.

Lionel Messi, who is an angry foe of Ronaldo, beat Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win the award at the ceremony. He was celebrating a great year that included winning the World Cup with Argentina.

There are 677 leaders points and 476 coaches points for Messi among the players, and there are 613,293 points for him among the fans. The famous Argentine forward first won the Ballon d’Or last year, and this is his second award of the year. Ronaldo and the former Barcelona player often fought for that award.

Unfortunately, Ronaldo did not vote in the awards, even though he is captain of Portugal and should have. He is now with Al-Nassr and used to play for Manchester United.Pepe, a teammate on the national team, was given that honor instead. Some people didn’t agree with his choices because they were not the most popular ones.

Goal reported that Pepe would be voting after being captain of Portugal for most of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Ronaldo, on the other hand, was often put on the bench because he had lost favor with his old manager Fernando Santos. Ronaldo didn’t play in Portugal’s last two games in Qatar because they were eliminated by Morocco in the quarterfinals. Pepe played four of Portugal’s five games in Qatar.

In Ronaldo’s place, Pepe chose his countryman Bernardo Silva as the winner, with Erling Haaland coming in second. Pepe last played for Portugal in a 1-0 win over Iceland last summer.The famous former Real Madrid center back finished his choices by putting Napoli striker Victor Osimhen in third place.

Messi and Pepe were fierce rivals in La Liga, having fought each other in El Clasico games between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It’s not a wonder that Pepe didn’t pick Messi. 

Ronaldo went to the last two seasons in the Saudi Arabian top flight with Al-Nassr, so no other player picked him for the award. He wasn’t thought to be a popular choice either.

Messi won the Ballon d’Or and The Best awards in 2022 after helping Argentina win the World Cup. More national team coaches backed Messi over Haaland for those awards. 

France captain Kylian Mbappe, who came in third with 35 points, chose Messi even though he was competing with him for the award. Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne came in second and third, respectively.

Harry Kane, the captain of England, also chose Messi. He put Haaland in second place and Bernardo Silva of Man City in third. Messi was also picked by Virgil van Dijk as captain of the Netherlands, Romelu Lukaku as captain of Belgium, Gianluigi Donnarumma as captain of Italy, and Luka Modric as captain of Croatia. 

It may not have come as a surprise that Pepe, the captain of Portugal and a bitter rival of Messi from their time playing in La Liga, didn’t include the forward in his top three. Instead, he chose Bernardo Silva, another Portuguese player, as the winner, followed by Haaland and Victor Osimhen. 

It’s true that some of Man City’s Premier League foes backed Haaland. 

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, who plays for Norway and was on his team, chose the forward as his first pick.Vic Lindelof, the leader of Sweden’s football team and a defender for Manchester United, chose his team without thinking about their rivalry with Manchester City.

When it came time to vote, Lindelof put Haaland ahead of Messi and picked Silva for third place.

Haaland was more well-liked by trainers than Messi. Gareth Southgate, the manager of England, didn’t even put him in his top three. He chose Haaland, Rodri, and Silva instead. 

German manager Julian Nagelsmann also didn’t pick him. Instead, he chose Mbappe, Ilkay Gundogan, and Haaland. 

Dom Tedesco, the manager of Belgium, also didn’t have a spot for Messi.

Tedesco chose Kevin de Bruyne, who is his star player, then Mbappe and Haaland.