Lionel Messi was crowned FIFA Best Men’s award winner despite finishing level in the voting with Man City’s star Erling Haaland.
Messi was confirmed as the winner of the award for a record third time, with the Argentina legend edging out Haaland despite the Norwegian’s role in Man City‘s Treble last season.
Both Messi and Haaland scored 48 points after votes were tallied, with Kylian Mbappe finishing third on 35 points.
Messi was ultimately named as the winner after receiving the most first-choice nominations from national team captains.
The votes were accumulated from national team captains, coaches, media and fans, leading to a tie for first place.
Messi outscored Haaland on votes from national team captains and fans, scoring 13 points to the striker’s (Haaland) 11.
Coaches and media votes favoured Haaland by the same figures, leading to a tie.
The winner was decided by the highest number of ‘five point’ scores from votes of men’s national captains under the award’s rules.
Messi totalled 107 point scores to scoop the award, with Haaland receiving 64.
One of the captain votes received by Haaland was from Messi, with the Argentina star placing the Norwegian in first place.
France captain Mbappe selected his former PSG team-mate Messi as his top choice.
England captain Harry Kane was among those to vote in favour of Messi over Haaland, with the duo his top two choices with Bernardo Silva third.
Liverpool trio Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson also voted for the Inter Miami star over their Premier League rival.
Egypt’s captain Salah chose Messi, Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland as his top three, while the Man City team-mates were switch around in Van Dijk’s selection.
Robertson picked the eventual top three in order, with South Korea and Tottenham captain Son Heung-min voting the same way.
However, Haaland did receive the backing of some of Man City’s Premier League rivals.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, his team-mate at international level with Norway, gave the forward his first choice vote.
Man United defender Victor Lindelof, Sweden’s captain, put the Red Devils rivalry with Man City aside with his selections.
Lindelof placed Haaland above Messi in the voting, while he also chose Silva for his third place vote.
Haaland, unsurprisingly, received the backing of former Man City captain Ilkay Gundogan.
The German national team skipper gave the nod to Haaland over Messi, while he also gave his former midfield partner Rodri a third place vote.
Everton full back Seamus Coleman gave De Bruyne his first place vote ahead of Haaland, with the Republic of Ireland captain putting Messi in third place. Northern Ireland captain Jonny Evans also voted in favour of Messi, but picked Mbappe second ahead of Haaland.
Real Madrid stars Luka Modric and Federico Valverde voted in favour for Barcelona legend Messi.
The duo placed the 36-year-old above Mbappe and Haaland, two stars to have been strongly linked with moves to the Spanish giants.
Modric left Haaland and Mbappe out of his top three altogether, with his second and third place votes going to Rodri and Croatian team-mate Marcelo Brozovic.
Valverde plumped for Mbappe and Haaland in second and third, respectively.