What’s the story?
Cristiano Ronaldo won the inaugural FIFA Best Player of the Year over rivals Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann. Later on, the list of how players, managers and journalists of each country of the world voted was revealed by FIFA.
Also Read: FIFA Best Player of 2016 - voting revealed
From India, skipper Sunil Chhetri, manager Stephen Constantine and journalist Dhiman Sarkar cast their votes on behalf of the billions of football-crazy fans in the country. While Chhetri and Sarkar selected Ronaldo as their top pick, Constantine decided to choose Ronaldo’s Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale as his top pick.
In case you didn’t know…
After the split with French magazine ‘France Football’, FIFA decided to award a separate trophy to recognise the best player in the world. It was decided that the captain, coach, and one journalist from each footballing playing nation would cast three votes in their order of preference.
Ronaldo had previously bagged the Ballon d’Or trophy earlier last year and was the firm favourite to win FIFA’s top award as well.
The heart of the matter
Ronaldo had a spectacular year in 2016. He won the Champions League and the Club World Cup with Real Madrid and the Euro Cup with Portugal. Deservedly, he was voted as the FIFA World player of the Year.
India football team captain Sunil Chhetri picked Ronaldo as his first pick, followed by Messi and Griezmann. Constantine, on the other hand, went for Bale as his first pick and voted for Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez as his last two picks, not voting for either Ronaldo or Messi. Reputed journalist, Sarkar picked Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar in that order.
For the best coach award, Chhetri voted for Leicester City boss and eventual winner, Claudio Ranieri, followed by Diego Simeone and Fernando Santos. Constantine picked Simeone, Ranieri, and Jurgen Klopp in that order, while Sarkar voted for Ranieri, Zinedine Zidane, and Pep Guardiola.
What next?
Now that the first ever FIFA Player of the Year award has been picked up by Cristiano Ronaldo, it remains to be seen who claims the award the next time. Until now, Messi has the statistical edge over Ronaldo, but Real Madrid are well on course to yet another successful season.
Players like Griezmann, Suarez and Neymar could also spring a surprise and take away the award next year.
Sportskeeda’s take
Players from all over the world have the opportunity to win the award and instead of Indian players just voting for the other players it would be nice to see a player get up there in the future.
However, considering the huge difference in the level of football played in Europe and America, and India, the chances of that happening in the near future are slim.
