Ballon d'Or:
-Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez finished 4th and 5th respectively in the overall vote. Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Eden Hazard, Andres Iniesta and Alexis Sanchez rounded out the top 10.
-Ronaldo, as per usual, went with teammates over his Barcelona rivals. His pick to win: Karim Benzema. Benzema!! James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale rounded out his top three.
-Messi and Neymar, meanwhile, had each other as their winner (cute!) while giving Luis Suarez the nod for 2nd. Messi picked Andres Iniesta 3rd, Neymar went with Ivan Rakitic.
-Eighteen people (18!!!) had Yaya Toure on their ballots, including five first-place votes. Meanwhile, Africa’s Player of the Year, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was on zero ballots.
-Myanmar’s coach gave Kevin De Bruyne the No.1 spot over Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller. Togo’s coach also voted for De Bruyne, followed by Eden Hazard and Yaya Toure.
Neither Myanmar nor Togo’s national teams are very good.
-In a shout-out to Roy Hodgson, Guatemala and Mauritania’s captains each picked Javier Mascherano as their Ballon d’Or winner, though he didn’t even make the FIFPro World XI. Hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.
-Italy’s coach and captain did not cast a ballot. Turns out, according to Tancredi Palmeri, the Italian FA decided
not to vote for the Ballon d'Or to protest against the absence of Buffon from the 49-man shortlist of names. Wow…
-Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio appears to be a big Bayern Munich fan. His top three were: Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Arturo Vidal.
-Last but not least, U.S. men’s national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann selected Messi-Neymar-Ronaldo on his ballot, while U.S. captain Michael Bradley voted for Messi-Ronaldo-Suarez. The USA’s media representative, Paul Kennedy, selected Messi-Ronaldo-Neymar. Looks like at least we got it right! Phew..