The Ballon d'Or heretics: "I turned off my phone after it was known I didn't vote for Messi"

Five journalists refused to vote for Messi as their top choice in 2023's Ballon d'Or; the article interviews voters who defied consensus in recent years.

The Ballon d'Or voting process, while restricted to a select panel of journalists, generates intense debate about who deserves football's most prestigious individual award. AS spoke with voters who made controversial choices in recent years, bucking overwhelming consensus.

Christophe Cerf, a Swiss radio journalist with over a decade of Ballon d'Or voting experience, was one of only five voters (out of 92) who did not rank Messi first in 2023, despite his World Cup triumph. Cerf cited concerns about Messi's conduct during the tournament, particularly his provocations against the Dutch, saying such behaviour contradicted the values he associates with the award. He had voted for Messi first in 2015 but not in his subsequent three wins (2019, 2021, 2023).

Portuguese journalist Joaquim Sita similarly avoided voting Messi first in his last five Ballon d'Or votes, focusing exclusively on individual achievements rather than collective success. Víctor Duaso of Andorra was among the few who ranked Messi ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016, when Ronaldo won by a record margin of 429 points. In 2022, only four journalists declined to vote Benzema first, with voters from Egypt, the Netherlands, and Senegal choosing Salah, Mané, and De Bruyne respectively.