Messi and Ronaldo: Ex-international captain claims his Ballon d'Or vote was changed | OneFootball

The ex-captain of the Equatorial Guinea national team, Juvenal Edjogo, has claimed his votes for the 2013 Ballon d'Or were changed.

On Monday, Lionel Messi claimed FIFA's The Best Men's Player Award for his incredible 2022.

Messi beat Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema to the prize, to claim his second 'The Best' accolade.

The award is voted for by the captains of every FIFA nation as well as the coach and one member of media for each country. Each voter has to pick a 1st, 2nd and third.

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The Argentine finished on 52 points, to Mbappe's 44 and Benzema's 34.

Hours later, it's always interesting to see who everyone voted for.

The captain of Equatorial Guinea's 2013 Ballon d'Or vote

However, the former captain of Equatorial Guinea has dropped a bombshell regarding the voting process.

He claims that back in 2013 when voting for his Ballon d'Or winners, the organisers changed his vote to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo claimed the prize, ahead of Messi. But the top three were extremely close with Franck Ribery, who many believed deserved to win, finishing in third.

Juvenal claims he voted for Didier Drogba and Andres Iniesta.

“What little I can say about this type of award is that in 2013, I voted for my three players for the Ballon d’Or, and I sent my votes, and in the end when it was made public, the list of who voted for who, my votes were different,” Juvenal told Gol Play earlier this week, per AS.

“It said I voted for Messi, Cristiano, and I don’t know who else, but I didn’t vote for any of them.That’s why I say, I don’t believe in absolutely anything about those awards.

“Since then, I’ve thought these awards have no value.”

Wow.

2013 Ballon d'Or voting controversy

The deadline for the vote in 2013 was originally November 15, but it was extended by two weeks due to "a lack of eligible voters”. This was the first time this had happened.

UEFA president Michel Platini joked that FIFA did it “to please” Ronaldo as the Portuguese superstar scored a hat-trick for Portugal against Sweden to book their place at the 2014 World Cup.

And Juvenal is far from the first person to claim his 2013 Ballon d'Or vote was changed.

Coaches from Bolivia, Albania, Equatorial Guinea, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Kuwait and Vanuatu claimed the vote was rigged.

"I think there has been a fraud here,” said Kuwait manager Jorvan Vieira. “I voted for [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic." Records state he voted for Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo.

Ribery still hasn't forgotten the 2013 Ballon d'Or

It's been almost 10 years since the 2013 Ballon d'Or but it's clear Ribery still feels bitter.

The Bayern Munich legend led the German to Champions League glory and, last year, reiterated his frustrations at the result.

“It was unfair," Ribery told La Gazzetta dello Sport last year. "It was an incredible season for me, and I should have won it.