Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated individual awards across this generation and we’ve decided to look at who Messi voted for across the past six years in FIFA’s Best Player award.
To allow the players a choice for an award, rather than just one journalist from the top FIFA 100 countries, the France Football prize was merged with FIFA to bring us the FIFA’s Best Player award.
With that in mind, here are the nine players Messi voted for from 2016-2022.
Luis Suarez
Having previously voted for him in the years prior for the Ballon d’Or, he opted to vote for his teammate and close friend in consecutive years in 2016 and 2017 – when he was in the final two years of his true peak.
He lifted La Liga in the 2015-16 season, the Spanish Super Cup and the Spanish Cup during this spell, with 95 goals in all competitions coming from 2015-17.
He finished outside the top three on both occasions but was included in the World XI in 2016.
Neymar
A teammate in 2016 and 2017 – before his move to PSG in the summer of 2017, Neymar was in and around his peak during this time and was still a lethal partner with Messi and Suarez in attack.
He also scored two goals and produced the assist to beat PSG in the famous 6-1 Champions League game during this spell too. Messi voted for him in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
He finished third in 2018 and wasn’t voted for again until 2o2o, where he was then chosen for the following two years as well.
However, he failed to cut into the top three after the emergence of Kylian Mbappe and others.
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Andres Iniesta
Having previously recieved Messi’s Ballon d’Or votes, Iniesta was always going to feature.
He voted for him in the first two years (2016 and 2017) but his importance to the side had wavered, as he was ageing and started fewer games.
His peak came a lot earlier, especially around the 2010s when he helped dominate with club and country, especially with Spain around those peak years.
Luka Modric
Featuring in Messi’s votes in 2018, it was clear that the Croatian was set to win the award having been tipped to win the Ballon d’Or before winning this.
He had won the Golden Ball at the World Cup as Croatia reached the final and won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
A stunning midfielder, Modric peaked in this season, showcasing a fantastic, elegant style of play where he dominated the ball, affected games and won multiple honours.
And he was a deserved winner ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah in 2018.
Kylian Mbappe
The emergence of the Frenchman took the football world by storm and he eyed the big awards early on in his career.
However, despite winning the World Cup in 2018, he didn’t feature in the top three until 2022.
Messi voted for him in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 but, as mentioned, he featured second behind Messi in 2022 after his World Cup win over him in the final, despite his hat trick.
Before then featuring third behind Erling Haaland and Messi in 2023.
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Sadio Mane
With Liverpool winning the Champions League in 2019 and achieving 98 points in the Premier League only to finish second, Mane was one of Liverpool’s most electric performers, scoring goals, creating goals and beating players at will.
It was no doubt his best personal season in terms of quality, as he won the African Player of the Year, reached the final with Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations, shared the Premier League Golden Boot and was in the UEFA Team of the Year – and Messi voted for him in 2019 only.
Cristiano Ronaldo
His big rival across a decade for awards, Ronaldo featured as the winner ahead of Messi in both 2016 and 2017 before featuring as the runner-up to Modric in 2018.
After that came a second and third-placed finish in 2019 and 2020 which are set to be his final nominations.
Messi only voted for him in 2019 when he came third when he was at Juventus, still regularly scoring goals at the top level.
After that followed an emotional to Manchester United which was personally successful for a spell, netting 18 goals in a stuttering side in his mid-30s.
Ronaldo then left to join the Saudi Arabian revolution which essentially ruled him out of being close to winning any type of world award.
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Frenkie De Jong
Having been a key figure in Ajax’s incredible rise and run to the Champions League semi-finals, De Jong was one of the most adored figures in that brilliant side as the midfield metronome – and he looked like the next big football superstar.
He was the Eredivisie Footballer of the Year and made the UEFA Team of the Year and FIFA World XI.
Messi clearly respected this and voted for him in 2019 and it wasn’t long before he secured a move to play alongside him at Barcelona, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing over the years, despite the fact his style suits the Barca way.
Robert Lewandowski
The Polish striker was consistently netting top-class numbers across all of these years but hit his peak in 2020 and 2021 – which is when Messi voted for him as he took home both awards ahead of Ronaldo and Messi in consecutive years.
However, the 2020 and 2021 awards were symbolic of the fact he should have won the Ballon d’Or that year – it was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic but Messi later said that he deserved to win it after he picked up the 2021 award.
However, he only voted for him in 2021.
Karim Benzema
Lastly, Messi voted for Madrid’s Benzema in both 2021 and 2022, when the Frenchman hit his peak in the years after his partnership with Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.
In 2022, he captured the Ballon d’Or after an incredible 40+-goal season that included 15 goals in the Champions League, a La Liga triumph and a Spanish Cup victory but he finished in third, surprisingly, behind Mbappe and Messi.
