Head coach of Egypt national team, Hector Cuper, has revealed he voted for Lionel Messi to win the FIFA Player of the Year and says Cristiano Ronaldo does not deserve it.
Ronaldo has already edged Messi to the 2016 Ballon D’Or award and is also favourite to take home the FIFA Player of the Year prize.
“Messi is my compatriot and I had to choose him, but I don’t think this affected my decision,” Cuper told Goal.
“He’s the best player I saw in the last year. We’re speaking about the whole performance. He gave everything to lead Barcelona to the domestic double.
“That also applies for Argentina where he did everything possible to win the Copa America, but he wasn’t lucky.”
The former Inter and Valencia coach admitted that Ronaldo might end up winning the award, but insists he was not good enough last year.
“Ronaldo won titles also, but I don’t think his performances were good enough to be the player of the year,” he said.
“Performance won’t be in his favour, it’s just the titles that would help him to be in the nominations. You can say I chose Messi for several reasons, not just because he’s Argentine.”
The winner will be crowned at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in Zurich on January 9, 2017.
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