Malawi coach RVG vote  for De Bruyne, captain Lanjesi for Ronaldo as Luka wins Fifa award as best player 

Malawi national team Belgian coach Ronny Van de Geneughden (RVG) nominated his compatriot Kevin van de Bruyne to be considered as the winner of this year’s FIFA Ballon D’or while his captain John Lanjesi favoured Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.

Representing the Malawi media, Peter Kanjere nominated France’s Kylian Mbappé. All three’s nominations were beaten to it by others, who preferred Real Madrid’s Croatian superstar Luka Modric, who has finally ended the 10-year reign of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the 2018 Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018.

As second and third choices, RVG went for Eden Hazard and Mbappé respectively, Lanjesi went for Messi and Mbappé respectively while Kanjere opted for Ronaldo and Raphael Varane respectively. None considered the 2018 World Cup silver medalist Modric.

Kevin De Bruyne is a Belgian international professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Manchester City.

Most African coaches, captains and media representatives chose either Ronaldo or Messi but the rest of the world saw things in another perspective by choosing Modric, who was already crowned UEFA Player of the Year last month, to lift the prestigious FIFA award.

Modric’s fine form last season saw him lifting four trophies with Real Madrid as well as leading his country to their first ever FIFA World Cup final.

The 33-year-old was voted Player of the Tournament in Russia as well as at the FIFA Club World Cup – with the latter one of his four trophies in addition to the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Supercopa de Espana.

At the final analysis there were three nominees, Modric his former teammate Ronaldo and Liverpool striker, Egyptian Mohamed Salah. Last year’s runner-up Messi finished outside the top three for the first time since 2006.

Ronaldo had won four of the last five editions of the award but ended second this time around.

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