Zebras captain�s FIFA awards vote missing
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Thursday October 26, 2017 14:53
However, Mathumo’s vote was not reflected in the final list, meaning it did not count. Zebras coach, David Bright did not vote as it was during the transition period when he took over from Peter Butler. Each country is allocated three votes, with one vote coming from a media person while two others coming from the national team captain as well as the national team coach.
Portugal captain and Real Madrid forward, Cristiano Ronaldo walked away with the grand prize for the second consecutive time, beating Barcelona striker, Leonel Messi and PSG star, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. Although, Mathumo’s name does not appear on the list of those who cast their votes, BFA spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane said as far as he knows, the Rollers defender voted. He said Mathumo had voted for the Portuguese international as the best player this year.
The award winner was decided by the highest number of votes from all FIFA member countries. In the media category, Botswana’s representative, Duncan Kgangkenna of Sunday Standard and The Telegraph voted for Ronaldo as the best player followed by Barcelona and Uruguay international, Luis Suarez. Messi, in Kgangkenna’s preference, came third behind Ronaldo and Suarez.
The award for the best goal, named the Puskas award, went to Arsenal forward, Olivier Giroud whose goals against Crystal Palace beat that of South African goalkeeper, Oscarine Masuluke who plays for Baroka FC as well as Deyna Castellanos of Venezuela. Real Madrid coach, Zinedine Zidane beat Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri to win the best male coach of the year.
It is not the first time that the BFA votes did not count, as in the previous awards the association claimed both the captain and the coach voted, while FIFA denied receiving their selections.