SOME BREAKING NEWS from Fifa’s awards bash in Milan tonight: Lionel Messi is the best footballer around.
He won the the men’s Player of the Year gong at the Fifa ‘Best’ awards do in La Scala, Milan ahead of Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo. In classical Ronaldo fashion, he didn’t turn up to the event not to win, despite the fact he is now living about an hour away in Turin.
The men’s Coach of the Year, meanwhile, is Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool. In winning the European Cup and finishing second with Liverpool’s highest-ever Premier League points total, Klopp took the award ahead of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino.
The award is decided by votes from the national team captains and managers of each Fifa member nation, along with a representative of that country’s media. Each of those voting picks a top three, with five, three and one point on offer to each of their picks.
As Irish captain, Seamus Coleman gave his top vote to Messi, followed by van Dijk in second and Ronaldo third.
He gave Guardiola his number 1 vote for the Coach gong, with Klopp second and Algeria’s Belmadi Djamel third.
Mick McCarthy, meanwhile, gave his top vote to van Dijk, and mixed it up from there with Frenkie De Jong second and Harry Kane third.
He recongised Klopp as the coach of the year, with Guardiola second and Pochettino third.
England captain Kane gave Messi his top vote, with van Dijk second and Ronaldo third. Gareth Southgate went Messi, Ronaldo, and van Dijk in that order.
As for coaches: Kane unsurprisingly went for Pochettino at the top of the pile, followed by Klopp and Guardiola. Southgate went for Guardiola, then Klopp and then Brazil’s Copa America-winning boss Tite.
Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis player picks were Messi/van Dijk/Mane, and then went for Klopp/Guardiola/Pochettino in the coaches’ category.
His manager Michael O’Neill went: van Dijk/Salah/Messi, and then Guardiola as his top coach, followed by Klopp and Erik Ten Haag of Ajax.
Messi gave his top vote to Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, and graciously included Ronaldo in second place. Ronaldo, hilariously, ignored his direct rivals and voted for De Ligt, De Jong and Kylian Mbappe.
Van Dijk, meanwhile, gave his top vote to Messi, with his pals Mane and Salah in second and third.
Neymar did not get a single vote.
Elsewhere, Sligo Rovers’ Dante Leverock voted van Dijk/Messi/Ronaldo in his capacity as the captain of Bermuda. He voted Ajax’ Erik Ten Hag as his Coach of the Year, followed by Klopp in second and Guardiola in third.
In the women’s votes, Irish captain Katie McCabe gave her top vote to Holland’s Vivianne Miedema, with American duo Rose Lavelle and Julie Ertz in second and third respectively.
Her club coach Joe Montemurro also got her top vote, followed by the States’ Jill Ellis in second and Holland’s Sarina Wiegman in third.
Tom O’Connor was in temporary charge of Ireland at the time of the vote, and he voted for Megan Rapinoe, Amandine Henry and Rose Lavelle in that order for the players’ award.
He recognised Ellis as the top coach, followed by Wiegman in second and Phil Neville in third.
In a rare flourish of transparency, Fifa have published the full breakdowns here.
