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A gala night in Zurich, Switzerland saw Portugal and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo take home the 2014 Ballon D’Or crown. The 29-year-old beat Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer to win his third Ballon D’Or award – his second consecutive win.
Ronaldo won the award with 37.66% of the votes while Barcelona and Argentina captain Messi came in second with 15.76% while Germany and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer came in a close third with 15.72%. Ronaldo is now just one award away from tying Messi for the all-time record of four wins. He has already joined the illustrious company of Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten after winning it for the third time.
2014 Ballon D’Or: Who did the captains vote for?
The players are voted for by the captains of all countries which are member associations of FIFA, their coaches, and a media representative. FIFA has released the list of all the votes cast during the voting process. The first choice gets 5 points, the second choice gets 3 points while the third and final choice gets 1 point. The points are then added to reveal the final winner.
We’ve listed the choices of some of the more famous players and it’s interesting to note that the majority of them have gone with players from their club or national team.
| COUNTRY | CAPTAIN | 1st CHOICE (5 PTS) | 2nd CHOICE (3 PTS) | 3rd CHOICE (1 PT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Lionel Messi | Angel Di Maria | Andres Iniesta | Javier Mascherano |
| Australia | Mile Jedinak | Cristiano Ronaldo | Toni Kroos | Yaya Toure |
| Belgium | Vincent Kompany | Thibaut Courtois | Eden Hazard | Arjen Robben |
| Bosnia | Edin Dzeko | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Arjen Robben |
| Brazil | Neymar | Lionel Messi | Cristiano Ronaldo | Javier Mascherano |
| Chile | Claudio Bravo | Lionel Messi | Andres Iniesta | Manuel Neuer |
| Colombia | Radamel Falcao | James Rodriguez | Cristiano Ronaldo | Angel Di Maria |
| Costa Rica | Bryan Ruiz | Cristiano Ronaldo | Andres Iniesta | Arjen Robben |
| Croatia | Darijo Srna | Cristiano Ronaldo | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Arjen Robben |
| Czech Republic | Tomas Rosicky | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Bastian Schweinsteiger |
| Denmark | Daniel Agger | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Manuel Neuer |
| England | Wayne Rooney | Cristiano Ronaldo | Toni Kroos | Gareth Bale |
| France | Hugo Lloris | Cristiano Ronaldo | Karim Benzema | Manuel Neuer |
| Germany | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Manuel Neuer | Philipp Lahm | Thomas Muller |
| Ghana | Asamoah Gyan | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Toni Kroos |
| India | Sunil Chhetri | Manuel Neuer | Thomas Muller | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Italy | Gianluigi Buffon | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Manuel Neuer |
| Japan | Keisuke Honda | Manuel Neuer | Gareth Bale | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Mexico | Andres Guardado | Philipp Lahm | Angel Di Maria | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Netherlands | Robin van Persie | Arjen Robben | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Manuel Neuer |
| Nigeria | Vincent Enyeama | Cristiano Ronaldo | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Yaya Toure |
| Paraguay | Roque Santa Cruz | Cristiano Ronaldo | Arjen Robben | Philipp Lahm |
| Poland | Robert Lewandowski | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manuel Neuer | Bastian Schweinsteiger |
| Portugal | Cristiano Ronaldo | Sergio Ramos | Gareth Bale | Karim Benzema |
| Republic of Ireland | Robbie Keane | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Gareth Bale |
| Serbia | Brainslav Ivanovic | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Eden Hazard |
| Scotland | Brown Scott | Cristiano Ronaldo | Robben Arjen | Neuer Manuel |
| Slovakia | Martin Skrtel | Cristiano Ronaldo | Karim Benzema | Eden Hazard |
| Spain | Iker Casillas | Cristiano Ronaldo | Sergio Ramos | Thomas Muller |
| Sweden | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Lionel Messi | Manuel Neuer | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Switzerland | Gokhan Inler | Cristiano Ronaldo | Arjen Robben | Neymar |
| Turkey | Arda Turan | Cristiano Ronaldo | Arjen Robben | Karim Benzema |
| Uruguay | Diego Godin | Diego Costa | Thibaut Courtois | Arjen Robben |
| USA | Clint Dempsey | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Thomas Muller |
| Wales | Ashley Williams | Gareth Bale | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Eden Hazard |
