'I Didn't Vote For Lionel Messi' - The Best FIFA Awards Rigged?

One national team captain and another national team coach have come forward and insisted they did not vote for Lionel Messi, raising doubt that the voting for The Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year award was rigged.

Click through the gallery above to see who Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo Virgil van Dijk voted for!

Some were surprised the FC Barcelona superstar picked up the main award on Monday after Virgil van Dijk beat him and Cristiano Ronaldo to the UEFA Player of the Year accolade in August.

Messi received the most votes from national team coaches, national team captains and the fans, while Van Dijk received the most votes from journalists – FIFA's Player of the Year award is based on four voting panels, each having a weighting of 25%.

However, some doubt over the voting process has now been raised by two different football personalities, both of whom insisted their votes were counted incorrectly.  

"I did not vote for Messi," Nicaragua captain Juan Barrera told La Prensa.

"Last year I voted, but this time I did not."

In FIFA's voting breakdown, though, votes for Messi, Sadio Mane in second and Ronaldo in third place were registered for the surprised Barrera.

Click through the gallery below to see how the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Van Dijk voted:

Lionel Messi: 1) Sadio Mane 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Frenkie de Jong

Cristiano Ronaldo: 1) Matthijs de Ligt 2) Frenkie de Jong 3) Kylian Mbappe

Virgil van Dijk: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Mohamed Salah 3) Sadio Mane

Luka Modric: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo 2) Eden Hazard 3) Lionel Messi

Eden Hazard: 1) Sadio Mane 2) Virgil van Dijk 3) Lionel Messi

Harry Kane: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Virgil van Dijk 3) Cristiano Ronaldo

Manuel Neuer: 1) Virgil van Dijk 2) Sadio Mane 3) Eden Hazard

Sergio Ramos: 1) Eden Hazard 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Mohamed Salah

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo 2) Eden Hazard 3) Lionel Messi

Andre Ayew: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo 2) Lionel Messi 3) Eden Hazard

Ahmed Musa: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Mohamed Salah

The Nicaragua captain is not the only person who questioned the voting. Sudan head coach Zdravko Lugarusic has also claimed his votes were registered incorrectly.

According to FIFA's voting breakdown, the Sudan coach chose Messi in first place, Van Dijk in second and Mane in third, but he has since released a screenshot of his actual vote, which shows Mohamed Salah in first position, Mane in second and Kylian Mbappe in third.

This is not the first time the voting process at a FIFA awards event were questioned – similar transpired in 2015, when several national team captains insisted their original votes were altered.

Do you think the FIFA awards were rigged? Have your say in the comments section below.

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