Why Cristiano Ronaldo Didn’t Vote for FIFA’s the Best Award for the First Time in Six Years

• Cristiano Ronaldo did not lodge a vote for the 2022 edition of FIFA’s The Best Award for the first time in six years
• Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi was named as the FIFA Best Men’s Player of 2022 at the ceremony in Paris
• It is the second time in his career the Argentine has claimed the award as he joins Ronaldo among top winners

Lionel Messi equalled Cristiano Ronaldo’s feat as only the second player to win FIFA’s The Best award twice after the Argentina captain claimed the 2022 accolade.

After receiving the most votes from his peers, the Paris Saint-Germain star was named the best player in the world during a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday night.

According to the Daily Mirror, Ronaldo did not cast a vote for the Best Men’s Player of the Year award after voting totals were released by FIFA after the ceremony.

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All national team captains got the chance to vote and that would usually have been Ronaldo for Portugal, but the Al-Nassr forward didn’t take the responsibility this time around.

FIFA confirmed that former Real Madrid defender, Pepe instead voted on behalf of the Portuguese national side instead of the superstar.

Ronaldo excluded from World XI

Meanwhile, Ronaldo’s 15-year streak of making the FIFPRO World Eleven came to end this year after the Portuguese was not included in the 2022 edition, Eurosport reports.

Messi made the team following his World Cup heroics with Argentina, but Ronaldo was not included for the first time since 2006 after not earning enough peer votes.

Along with La Albiceleste's captain, who won The Best FIFA Men's Player Award, Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema were also nominated for the men's award.

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Carabao Cup medal for Ronaldo?

Sports Brief also reported that in a different universe, Ronaldo would win the Carabao Cup with Manchester United and be celebrating the achievement.

However, a widely-publicised fallout with Erik ten Hag and the club hierarchy saw the prolific striker quit the Old Trafford club quite unceremoniously.

While Ronaldo has won the competition twice before, it is not impossible to believe he could rue missing out on the project the Red Devils are building.