Best FIFA Football Awards 2022: Sunil Chhetri's vote revealed - and it's not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo
Lionel Messi pipped French strikers Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema for the top prize in Paris.
Football
Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri is a self-confessed “huge” fan of Lionel Messi but he didn’t vote for the Argentine great in the recently-announced Best FIFA Men’s Player 2022 award.
After leading Argentina to their third football World Cup glory in Qatar last year, Lionel Messi was voted the Best FIFA Men’s Player 2022 at the annual awards ceremony on Monday night in Paris.
Votes were cast by players, national team captains and coaches, as well as select football journalists, to determine the winners of the Best FIFA Awards.
Messi, who also plays for the Paris Saint-Germain club, swept the top honours at the Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 with 52 points, ahead of Kylian Mbappe’s tally of 44 points and Karim Benzema’s 34.
Several big names voted for Messi, including England captain Harry Kane, German captain Manuel Neuer, Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk, Polish star Robert Lewandowski and Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets from Spain.
Sunil Chhetri, however, did not. The Indian football star reserved his top vote for Real Madrid striker and current Ballon d'Or holder Karim Benzema.
For Chhetri, one of the top goal-scorers in international football, his first choice was Karim Benzema (five points) ahead of Kylian Mbappe (three points) and Lionel Messi (one point).
Karim Benzema had a stellar 2021-22 season last year for Real Madrid and helped his club win the UEFA Champions League and La Liga. He was awarded the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for his exploits. However, Benzema could not make the French World Cup squad due to injury.
Messi, meanwhile, had a stellar season with the national team. He scored seven goals and made three assists for Argentina at the FIFA World Cup 2022. He was also the winner of the Golden Ball award in Qatar.
Indian football team coach Igor Stimac, meanwhile, voted for Croatia’s Luka Modric as his top choice, followed by Messi and Benzema. The 37-year-old Modric, who also plays for Real Madrid, led Croatia to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022.