After the FIFA The Best 2024 Player of the Year ceremony, which crowned Vinícius Júnior, the captains’ votes were revealed. As Argentina’s captain, Lionel Messi made a baffling choice by completely overlooking the Real Madrid star.

Having delivered a phenomenal season, Vinícius Júnior deservedly claimed the FIFA The Best Player of the Year award, organised annually by FIFA. In a ceremony held this Tuesday, the Madrid star received the trophy from the hands of Gianni Infantino, president of the global football governing body, just a day before competing in the Intercontinental Cup final against Mexico’s Pachuca FC this Wednesday (match link here). Shortly after this significant achievement, the votes from national team captains were unveiled. As Argentina’s captain, Lionel Messi made some singular decisions.

Messi’s bizarre voting choices

FIFA The Best 2024: Lionel Messi completely destroys Vinicius Junior

While most voters chose either Vinícius Júnior or Rodri, Lionel Messi decided to crown Lamine Yamal as the best player of 2024. Despite Barcelona’s disappointing season, with no trophies won, La Pulga awarded the most points to the 17-year-old Catalan sensation. Adding to this surprising choice, Messi placed Kylian Mbappé second. The French striker, who endured a challenging season with Paris Saint-Germain, seeing limited playtime before his move to Real Madrid, and an underwhelming Euro campaign, was still ranked ahead of Vinícius Júnior by Messi.

Rather than completely excluding the Brazilian winger from his top three, the former Barcelona star placed Vinícius Júnior third, behind both Yamal and Mbappé. This decision, deemed completely bizarre, could have cost the 24-year-old Brazilian star dearly. According to the final voting results, Vinícius garnered 48 votes compared to Rodri’s 43. With just five points separating them, the electrifying Madrid winger might have missed out on this significant award, which he unquestionably deserved.

Key voting insights

FIFA The Best 2024: Lionel Messi completely destroys Vinicius Junior
Thankfully, players like Mohamed Salah showed rationality by putting the Real Madrid star at the top of their votes. It should be noted that Messi wasn’t the only national team captain to vote against Vinícius Júnior for the FIFA The Best 2024 award. After tallying the votes, the majority of coaches favoured Rodri, who collected 461 votes compared to Vinícius’s 431. Similarly, the media votes leaned towards the Manchester City midfielder, who secured 543 votes to Vinícius’s 538.

Without the clear backing of the players, who overwhelmingly voted for the Brazilian (617 votes against Rodri’s 373), and especially the fans (1,147,276 votes compared to just 264,835 for the Spanish midfielder), the outcome might have mirrored that of the Ballon d’Or 2024 ceremony on 28 October. Ultimately, Vinícius Júnior emerged victorious thanks to the players and fans, with a final tally of 48 votes to 43 after the overall count.