FIFA has threatened to “investigate and apply sanctions” if it finds any wrongdoing in the voting for The Best Men’s Player of 2019.
Tuttosport lashed out at FIFA for ‘robbing’ Cristiano Ronaldo after it had been alleged votes were incorrectly given to Lionel Messi, who took home the award.
FIFA has threatened to “investigate and apply sanctions” if it finds any wrongdoing in the voting for The Best Men’s Player of 2019.
Tuttosport lashed out at FIFA for ‘robbing’ Cristiano Ronaldo after it had been alleged votes were incorrectly given to Lionel Messi, who took home the award.
“FIFA has been disappointed to see a number of reports in the media questioning the integrity of the voting process for The Best FIFA Football Awards™,” responded the governing body in an official statement.
“These reports are unfair and misleading. The voting procedure for each of the awards is supervised and monitored by an independent observer, in this case PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland.
“FIFA and PwC follow the Rules of Allocation and relevant standard control procedures. As per these procedures, FIFA requested all member associations to submit their voting forms both electronically and in writing.
“The written documents must also be signed by the responsible persons of the association as well as by the persons authorised to vote.
“Therefore in order for a vote to be valid it must include the respective signatures and the member association’s stamp.
“Both FIFA and the independent observer can demonstrate that all the votes submitted in accordance with the rules and within the deadlines were taken into account.
“Consequently, there is no doubt whatsoever as to the authenticity of the result.
“Should there have been any case of wrong-doing, and even if this did not affect the result of the vote, FIFA will investigate and apply sanctions where necessary.”
Nicaragua captain Juan Barrera said he had not voted, despite FIFA publishing he had backed the Barcelona superstar on his ballot paper.
The Egyptian vote for Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was also not considered for administrative reasons.