However, captain of the Portuguese selection, Cristiano Ronaldo did not vote for the title of The Best Fifa Player of the Year awarded to Lionel Messi. It was Pepe who chose Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Victor Osimhen.
In the wake of Lionel Messi’s astonishing coronation on Monday evening, Fifa quickly published the details of the votes of captains, coaches and journalists from around the world for the trophy of The Best Fifa Player of the Year. Next to the “Captain” and “Portugal” boxes, we discover the name of “Kepler Ferreira”, who voted for his teammate Bernardo Silva, with Erling Haaland and Victor Osimhen as second choices.
It was indeed Pepe who participated in the ballot as captain of the Portuguese Seleçao in place of Cristiano Ronaldo. Last year, the five-time Ballon d’Or had already refused to vote and the Portuguese federation then requested a top 3 from the central defender (now 40 years old). Pepe certainly wore the armband at the kick-off of the last two matches of the 2022 World Cup against Switzerland and Morocco (“CR7” being relegated to the bench), but he only played one match with the national team in 2023…
This year again, Ronaldo is nowhere to be found in the voting details and that is not normal. National captains around the world are making an effort to respond to Fifa in the run-up to The Best Fifa Football Awards. And it would not have made any waves if the Al-Nassr player had not voted for his rival Messi. And this, even if Kylian Mbappé, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, Son Heung-Min or Romelu Lukaku voted for “La Pulga”.
