Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or after a spectacular performance in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The Argentine surpassed Norwegian forward Erling Haaland and French star Kylian Mbappe in the final voting.
However, many experts and fans disagreed with Messi receiving the award, arguing that it should recognize a year’s worth of work rather than just a two-week tournament like the World Cup.
Hence, one of the major mysteries surrounding the Ballon d’Or was to learn about the distribution of votes from all the journalists selected by France Football magazine.
Erling Haaland’s numbers in the 2022-2023 season were just amazing. 36 goals in the Premier League (a new record) and 12 goals at the Champions League. Meanwhile, had it not been for Messi in the final against France, Kylian Mbappe would have secured his first Ballon d’Or, as he was the top scorer of the tournament with epic performances in the decisive rounds.
Who voted for Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or?
France Football magazine, responsible for organizing the award, revealed the voting results of the journalists chosen to determine the winner of the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi received 462 points, Erling Haaland 357 points and Kylian Mbappe got 270 points. The rest of the Top 10 was completed by Kevin De Bruyne (100 points), Rodri (57 points), Vinicius Jr (49 points), Julian Alvarez (28 points), Victor Osimhen (24 points), Bernardo Silva (20 points), and Luka Modric (19 points).
Ballon d’Or 2023: Who gets a vote?
A few years ago, France Football decided to reduce the voting and now 92 journalists from among the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking are in charge of the decision. They have to pick five players from the list of 30 finalists giving points in descending order.
In fact, another topic that received widespread criticism worldwide is the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo was not among the 30 finalists. It’s essential to note that the period considered for the voting was the 2022-2023 season and not a calendar year.
Ballon d’Or 2023: The most controversial votes
Over the years, one of the major criticisms of the Ballon d’Or has been the neutrality of the selected journalists who cast their votes. The 2023 edition was no exception to this, with some surprising decisions.
One of the cases that generated a lot of controversy was that of the Argentine journalist, Enrique Wolff, who voted for Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez, Kylian Mbappe, Emiliano Martinez, and Lautaro Martinez.
Of course, it raises eyebrows that four players from his own country are on his list, and especially the exclusion of Erling Haaland after a spectacular season with Manchester City.
Another name that surprised with his decision was the French journalist Vincent Garcia. Despite his nationality, his top vote went to Erling Haaland, leaving his compatriot Kylian Mbappe in second place.
Furthermore, in another example where nationality influenced the selection, Emmanuel Gustave Samnick from Cameroon included the current goalkeeper of Manchester United, Andre Onana, in his Top 5.
Mostafa Badri from Morocco gave the fourth place to another compatriot, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. He didn’t even include Mbappe after his great performances in the World Cup.
Ballon d’Or 2023: Full List of Votes by Countries
As we’ve mentioned before, the selected journalists were required to choose five players to distribute points in descending order. Here is the complete list presented by France Football magazine.
