The Spanish newspaper Marca published a leaked list of names of all journalists who voted in the Golden Ball, with their choices given to Croat Luka Modric for the first time in his history.
The list of journalists revealed somewhat "odd" and sometimes "biased" options to raise doubts about the credibility of the world's most prestigious individual football prize.
The Golden Ball gives the right to vote for one journalist from every country in the world, each listing the best 5 players in the world. The prize is then awarded to the player with the highest number of votes.
One of the most unusual choices was the selection of Frenchman Karim Benzema as the best player in the world by a journalist from the Central African Republic.
As the representative of the State of Kyrgyzstan, the Belgian goalkeeper Tibo Kurtwa was chosen as the best player in the world.
French defender Rafael Farran won first place in the votes of Luxembourg, India and Suriname, while the journalist from Granada voted for Argentine striker Sergio Aguero.
Voices biased
Following his country's famous enmity with Argentina, the Brazilian journalist Clavier Machado did not put Lionel Messi in the top five.
In contrast, Argentinian journalist Enrique Wolff chose Cristiano Ronaldo, Grem Messi, in fifth place, away from the lead.
Senegalese star Sadio Mani was among the top five, while Egyptian star Mohamed Salah received most of his votes from Arab journalists.
Observers believe that such choices may cast doubt on the credibility of the prestigious award, which may affect the affiliations and choices of emotional or irrational for some.
