Argentina and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi bagged his world-record sixth Ballon d’Or at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on Monday. He surpassed the likes of Liverpool stars Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo to bag home the coveted award.

With this award, he took his Ballon d’Or tally to six and became the most successful player since the inception of the award, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, who has five such awards to his name.

In a recent development, the details about which country voted for whom were revealed. Let us have a look at who India voted for.

The process

Shortlist

The first process is making a shortlist of 30 best footballers around the world as reflected by their performances in the calendar year. This shortlist is prepared by the editorial team at France football.

After the shortlist is prepared, a jury of sports journalists from across the globe is made, and they, in turn, are asked to give their vote to footballers already on the list. The jury is given the task to select the five best players in the world in the calendar year and they must rank these players in descending order.

There are mainly three parameters that have been set for the jury to evaluate the players on before they cast their votes. These are- (i) individual and team performances, (ii)fair play and talent, and (iii) overall evaluation of the footballer’s career.

Points

The top picks from each of these journalists are awarded six points. For the subsequent picks, four, three, two and one point is given.

Thus, the total points a player gets is calculated and the thirty players are ranked according to these points. Once the players are ranked according to these points, the top-ranked player is awarded the Ballon d’Or.

If it is a tie, the footballer who with more number of votes in the first position is declared the winner.

After following the entire process, the Ballon d’Or Rankings are decided. Find below the top 10 Rankings for Ballon d’Or 2019.

1. Lionel Messi

2. Virgil van Dijk

3. Cristiano Ronaldo

4. Sadio Mane

5. Mohamed Salah

6. Kylian Mbappe

7. Alisson Becker

8. Robert Lewandowski

9. Bernardo Silva

10. Kevin de Bruyne

And here is who India voted for:

1. Lionel Messi

2. Virgil van Dijk

3. Sadio Mane

4. Mohamed Salah

5. Cristiano Ronaldo