Coaches Claim FIFA Awards Was Rigged Because They Did Not Vote Messi

FIFA vote-rigging storm: Captains and coaches claim they DID NOT vote for Lionel Messi for The Best award - and now FIFA reveal Egypt's vote for Salah was rejected because it was written in CAPITAL LETTERS

FIFA's prestigious The Best awards have been struck by a vote rigging storm amid claims indicating the ballot was rigged — with the governing body suggesting Egypt's votes were left out after the signatures were written in capital letters.
Lionel Messi walked away with the best men's player accolade at the glitzy ceremony in Milan on Monday, pipping Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk to the award.

Given Van Dijk's remarkable season at Liverpool, where he led the club to their sixth Champions League title, and Ronaldo's excellent campaign at Juventus - Messi's winning award was met with a degree of surprise.

There was also a belief that Mohamed Salah would be a strong contender for the prize.

And now the Barcelona superstar's claim to the honour has been thrown into serious doubt following questions over the legitimacy of the voting.

The Egyptian football association, Sudan's coach Zdravko Logarusic and Nicaragua's captain Juan Barrera have raised concerns over the authenticity of the ballots - citing uncounted or misallocated votes.

Egypt's association called on FIFA to explain why the votes of its national coach Shawki Ghareeb and captain Ahmed were not taken into account. Ghareeb and El-Mohammadi are not mentioned in FIFA's publication of official votes.

FIFA have now indicated that they were not included because signatures on Egypt's ballots 'were in capital letters and thus seemed not valid (not authentic).'

They added that 'voting forms were also not signed by the (federation) general secretary which is mandatory.'