Ballon d'Or breakdown: a look at how each country voted

Lionel Messi came out victorious in the battle for the 2019 Balon d'Or, seeing off a challenge from Virgil van Dijk and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo to become the player to have won the award the most times in history.

However, Messi was not everybody's pick of the awards, and a look at the voting of country's from across the world paints an intriguing picture.

Argentina were, of course, one of the 61 nations to put Lionel Messi in 1st place on their 5-man voting list but, perhaps surprisingly, amongst European countries, very few actually put Messi top of their rankings, instead opting for the likes of Virgil Can Dijk, Sadio Mane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Indeed, none of the top nations in European football actually placed Messi top of the pile, most putting him 2nd or 3rd on the list instead.

France chose Mane, Spain chose van Dijk alongside the quartet of The Netherlands, England, Belgium and Italy, Germany went for Munich-based Robert Lewandowski, while Portugal, alongside Croatia, voted for Cristiano Ronaldo in 1st place.

In fact, not just in Europe but on a global scale, Messi was not the player most commonly chosen as the best player of the year, with only 61 countries putting the Argentine top.

Meanwhile, 69 nations deemed Virgil van Dijk to be the best player of 2019, eight more than Lionel Messi. Despite this, Messi won the award, with Messi more regularly included at least the top 5 of the national rankings than Virgil van Dijk, giving him a greater points total overall.

Cristiano Ronaldo was put as the best player of the year by 17 countries overall, with the same number of countries putting Liverpool’s Sadio Mane top of the pile.

In total, 9 players were placed 1st in at least one nation’s list, with Salah (5 countries), Alisson (2), Lewandowski (2), Mbappe (1) and Alexander-Arnold (1) the other five in the exclusive group of players.

It was Sri Lanka that perhaps had the most outlandish list of them all, putting Alexander-Arnold in 1st place, Aubameyang in 2nd, Griezman in 3rd, Lewandowski in 4th and Ter-Stegen in 5th - one of only four countries to include neither of Messi or Ronaldo in their top 5.

The other three included Guatemala - who had Alisson (1st), Van Dijk (2), De Jong (3rd), Firmino (4th) and Salah (5th) - and Bhutan - with Mane (1st), Van Dijk (2nd), Salah (3rd), Alisson (4th) and Firmino (5th) - making up their top 5.

Ivory Coast also snubeed both of the world’s superstars, putting Alisson, Mane, Mahrez, Van Dijk and Mbappe 1st-to-5th respectively.

Perhaps unsurprigingly, Macau were one of the country’s to have two Portuguese players in their top 5, with Ronaldo given 1st place, and Bernardo Silva given 4th place, only below Van Dijk and Salah and above Messi. That was one place higher than where Portugal ranked Bernardo, putting the Manchester City star in 5th. Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe also had Bernardo Silva in at number 4.

Central African Republic (5th), Jamaica (5th), Ireland (5th), Russia (4th), Estonia (4th), South Korea (4th), Turks and Caicos (5th), Saudi Arabia (3rd), Trinidad and Tobago (3rd) and Zimbabwe (3rd) also put Bernardo Silva in their top 5.

It was both Qatar and El Salvador, however, that put Bernardo Silva the highest, both ranking him as the 2nd best player in world football for 2019.

Lionel Messi. Photo author: Agencia de Noticias ANDES. License link.