FIFA in the Middle of a Scandal, Messi’s Award Under Suspicion

FIFA is again in the middle of the scandal. It appears that the global house of soccer was once again involved in illegal activities which might shake the foundations of this institution. The latest news is suggesting that there have been some suspicious activities during the ballot for the World’s Player of the Year award.

According to some of the participants, their votes either haven’t been calculated in the final result or have been changed. FIFA announced a few days ago that Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won the award, but since then we saw three complaints.

At first, the votes of Egypt were allegedly left out only because the voting application contained capital letters, which is not allowed according to FIFA’s rules. Several sources were suggesting that both the federation and its captain voted for Liverpool’s duo Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk. Salah is the leader of the Pharaons, while on the other hand, his teammate is considered to be the key player in Liverpool’s quest towards the Champions League title. These two guys were strong favorites to win the award, and points earned from Egypt might have changed the final order. Especially in Van Dijk’s case, as the Dutchman finished second.

FIFA explains why Egypt's votes for Salah did not count for its Best Player ballot. https://t.co/hdRv0M1mNe

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) September 26, 2019

As we said, FIFA explained that the capital letters were the reason for declining Egypt’s votes. Yet, they additionally stated that there wasn’t a signature of the federation’s general secretary on the voting papers, which is necessary.

After that, we have a case of Sudan’s head coach, Zdravko Logarusic. The 53-year old expressed his disbelief on the social networks claiming that he didn’t vote for the players as FIFA presented later. Logarusic declared that once he saw FIFA’s results and the voting summary, he immediately noticed that the world house of soccer put different names under his choice.

https://twitter.com/KeylorinhoW/status/1176870433490112513

The FIFA announced that Sudan’s coach voted for Messi, but in fact, the native Croatian claims that he backed Salah as the best player of the year. His other two choices were Sadio Mane and Kylian Mbappe, but the FIFA voting documents are suggesting that he voted for Van Dijk and Mane in that order. He also posted the pictures with his votes and the ones FIFA presented, which immediately raised suspicion that there has been a fraud during the ballot.

There is another situation like this one, only with Nicaragua’s captain Juan Barrera. He claims that he didn’t even vote for the best player. Nevertheless, his name appeared in the end, and according to the graphics, the player’s choices were Messi, Mane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I did not vote for Messi. I was surprised to be on the list of captains who voted for Messi, and there is no explanation how it appeared there,” Barrera said after all the chaos broke loose.

Juan Barrera, Nicaragua Captain:

I'd not vote for Messi. I was surprised to see myself on the list of captains who voted when I did not vote this year. "FIFA says they sent me the voting link to my email, but I never received it.

His votes were: 1. Messi, 2. Mane, 3. Ronaldo pic.twitter.com/vsbB2ANF0u

— SportsEmpire.com (@SportsempireC) September 25, 2019

According to the player, he was told that an e-mail would be sent to him, which would allow him to vote from home. But he never received anything from FIFA after that.

This is a massive scandal, the one which could finally ruin the shaky reputation of the highest soccer institution in the world. Messi’s award could easily be revoked, and that would be the first time to see such a thing.

The Argentinian had 46 points according to the final results; Van Dijk ended with 38 while Cristiano Ronaldo finished third with 36. In such a close race, a few voting points would mean a lot, and there is no doubt that with all these mistakes, the winner could be someone else.

Messi’s season wasn’t impressive as the ones before, same as Ronaldo’s and the biggest favorite for taking the honors was Liverpool’s Van Dijk. The “Flying Dutchman” already won the UEFA Player of the Year award and was expected to win the FIFA’s honors.

We are still waiting for an official response of FIFA.