Lionel Messi's win in the race to be named as The Best player in FIFA's gala sparked some controversy, and that is not going to change due to recent claims by members of three different federations.
Soon after the voting concluded, FIFA released the full list of voters and the order of their votes. Almost immediately after this list made it online, Juan Barrera, the captain of Nicaragua's National Team stepped up to reveal on social media that he had not voted for Messi, as shown on the file posted by FIFA.
Then, Sudan's coach, Zdravko Lugarisic, supported Barrera's claims about a possible rigged voting since he stated he had not voted for Lionel Messi in first place, as FIFA's document states.
But the strangest case of them all is the case of Egypt's Football Association. The Pharaohs allegedly submitted their votes on August 15, four days before the deadline, and neither their captain nor their coach's votes are listed in FIFA's document. This controversy was brought to light after Mohamed Salah blasted his FA for not voting for him, which caused Egyptian execs to demand an explanation on this matter.
Captain Ahmed Elmohamady's name is nowhere to be found in this list.
While FIFA tried to pin the blame on the Egyptian FA by stating that the African federation failed to submit their ballots in time, this is not the first time in which the methods used by football's governing body are questioned. Is it time to have all votes cast live to avoid these problems?
