Following the announcement of Lionel Messi as the winner of the 2010 Ballon d'Or, FIFA released the full list of votes from national team captains, coaches, and members of the media (download the PDF file here). And as with anything related to FIFA, there were several oddities. Here are a few worth noting:
-Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel's votes for first place and second place are both listed as "invalid votes" (his third place choice was Bastian Schweinsteiger). Most likely, his votes were invalid because he voted for his countrymen, but since this is Mark van Bommel, there are an infinite number of far more violent possibilities. Feel free to dream up your own guesses. I'm going to say he probably submitted drawings of himself slide tackling Xavi and Lionel Messi in half as his votes for the top two spots.
-Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk also hid his first place vote invalidated. This may have been because his vote was influenced by Nigel De Jong's threat of "vote for me or I will put a hole in your chest."
-Comoros' captain is listed as "Captain of the national team." Even though FIFA apparently have no idea what this man's name is, they do know he voted for Messi, Xabi Alonso and Samuel Eto'o, in that order.
-Belgium captain Thomas Vermaelen gave Cesc Fabregas his only first place vote, proving that FIFA apparently does not have rules against voting for BFF club teammates.
-Costa Rica manager Ricardo La Volpe had his second place vote invalidated. Did he vote for a Costa Rican after Messi and before Ronaldo? Or did he write "F*** Sepp" in that space?
-There are no votes listed from the Argentine or Irish teams. This might have something to do with Javier Mascherano's claim that he never received a ballot and the fact that the Irish aren't too fond of FIFA after that whole handball debacle.
Of course, there are plenty of interesting combinations and arrangements of (valid) votes, but for me, the main takeaway from this is the question of just who is the voting captain of Comoros?!
Photo: Getty Images
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