FIFA did not count two votes for Mohamed Salah in the Best FIFA men’s player award. The two votes had signatures in capital letters, therefore, declared void.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said that the acting Egypt coach Shawky Gharib and captain Ahmed Elmohamady voted for the Liverpool forward Salah.
However, the votes were denied because “the signatures on the voting forms were in capital letters.”
The forms also lacked a mandatory signature by the EFA general secretary.
On the contrary, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won the award on Monday ahead of Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland supervised and monitored the voting. Said the football’s world governing body Fifa.
FIFA contacted EFA twice on 19th August. They needed them to submit properly signed voting forms. However, the votes were not received in time to be counted.
Fifa also said the Egyptian FA had “undergone a few structural changes” after the voting period opened.
Since the awards ceremony, Salah has removed “Egypt” from his twitter profile, which now read: “Football for Liverpool FC.”
He also posted a tweet which translates to, “Whatever they do to try t change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed.”
In 2018, Salah came third in the men’s award and also took the Puskas award for goal of the season.
Each nation has three voters: the national team coach, the national team captain, and a media representative. Each selects its top three players in the world.
The EFA said Gharib and Elmohamady picked Salah as their first choice. Hany Danial’s choices were Sadio Mane followed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Salah.
Nicaragua controversy
Nicaragua captain Juan Barrera called into question the authenticity of his country’s votes in the awards as he said he did not submit any votes.
FIFA’s records show that Barrera voted for Lionel Messi as the best player and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp as the best manager.
“I did not vote in the awards. Any information about my vote is false.” The 30-year-old Barrera tweeted.
Fifa said it has asked the Nicaraguan Football Federation to investigate the matter after receiving “votes signed by the player.”
The Nicaraguan federation has been approached for comments.