16 January 2024 , 13:47
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Cristiano Ronaldo did not vote for FIFA's The Best awards, despite being eligible as the captain of Portugal.
The voting process allows the captains and coaches of every national team to vote for the winner of each individual award, alongside a specialist journalist representing each nation and fans who were able vote on FIFA's website.
As Portugal's regular captain, Ronaldo was among those able to cast a vote for the individual men's award. However, veteran defender Pepe ultimately voted on Portugal's behalf this year, despite not captaining his country once in 2023.
Pepe did wear the armband in Ronaldo's absence when he was benched at the Qatar World Cup by manager Fernando Santos, but the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star has captained Portugal in every game he has played since the tournament under new boss Roberto Martinez.
Lionel Messi won The Best Men's Player of 2023 award, finishing ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, and it has now emerged that Pepe voted for Bernardo Silva, Haaland and Victor Osimhen in that category.
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Martinez, meanwhile, voted for Marcelo Brozovic, Silva and Messi as his top three. And it has since been revealed that Messi and Haaland actually finished level on votes, with the Inter Miami star only picking up the award as he received more votes from national team captains.
Both Messi and Haaland received 48 points, while Mbappe finished third with 35. Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli forward Victor Osimhen rounded out the top five. City players then made up the next three players on the list, with Rodri, Julian Alvarez and Silva also receiving significant votes.
Pepe voted instead of Ronaldo, despite not captaining Portugal since the Qatar World Cup (Getty Images)Former City captain Ilkay Gundogan, who left to join Barcelona over the summer, finished ninth. Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Brozovic both picked up seven points, while Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice finished 12th.
Mirror Football's own John Cross also voted, picking Haaland, Rodri and Messi as his top three. Messi was not at the ceremony to collect his award and Thierry Henry accepted it on his behalf, cracking a joke about Tottenham in the process at the expense of his co-presenter Reshmin Chowdhury.
"Unfortunately the winner is not here, so someone is going to have to take the trophy," Henry said. "I will take it. I mean I came. I actually have two reasons for taking it. I never won it, so I'll keep it. And you are a Tottenham fan right? You usually don't get your hands on a trophy, so I'll take this one. Thank you very much."