MAGAZINE France Football had to remove a Ballon d'Or fan poll after thousands of readers voted for just Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah. The publication wanted to provide their readers with the chance to say who they think should win the prestigious award following the announcement of the 30-man shortlist. 4 Lionel Messi picked up a whopping 48 per cent of the vote Credit: Getty Images - Getty Over 700,000 people cast their opinions but only two names were of interest. Liverpool ace Salah, who scored 42 goals in both the Premier League and Champions League last season, took over 50 per cent of the votes after the first 250,000 people had their say. Messi, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner would soon surpass his total and would end the poll on top when France Football decided to pull the plug. After 704,396 votes, the Barcelona superstar took 48 per cent of the votes with Salah receiving 31 per cent. Luka Modric beats Mo Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo to win FIFA Best Awards player of the year 4 Mo Salah had stormed ahead with the vote after the first 250,000 people Credit: Getty - Contributor 4 The final results of French Football's poll before it was pulled The nominees: Who are the 30 players up for the 2018 Ballon d'Or Sergio Aguero (Man City & Argentina) Alisson Becker (Liverpool/Roma & Brazil) Gareth Bale (Real Madrid & Wales) Karim Benzema (Real Madrid & France) Edinson Cavani (PSG & Uruguay) Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/Real Madrid & Belgium) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus & Portugal) Kevin De Bruyne (Man City & Belgium) Roberto Firmino (Liverpool & Brazil) Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid & Uruguay) Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid & France) Eden Hazard (Chelsea & Belgium) Isco (Real Madrid & Spain) Harry Kane (Tottenham & England) N'Golo Kante (Chelsea & France) Hugo Lloris (Tottenham & France) Mario Mandzukic (Juventus & Croatia) Sadio Mane (Liverpool & Senegal) Marcelo (Real Madrid & Brazil) Kylian Mbappe (PSG & France) Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) Luka Modric (Real Madrid & Croatia) Neymar (PSG & Brazil) Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid & Slovenia) Paul Pogba (Man United & France) Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona & Croatia) Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid & Spain) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) Luis Suarez (Barcelona & Uruguay) Raphael Varane (Real Madrid & France) In comparison Cristiano Ronaldo received just eight per cent. Ballon d'Or favourite Luka Modric had just two per cent alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. The winner of the famous award is decided by journalists worldwide who cast their votes on who they think should finish first, second and third. Modric helped Real Madrid win the Champions League and led Croatia to the World Cup final in a stunning 2018. Premier League Goals of the Season so far including Sturridge, Ramsey, Sigurdsson and Trippier 4 Luka Modric had just two per cent despite being heavy favourite to win the Ballon d'Or Credit: Getty Images - Getty La Liga, as expected, dominated the list with 14 stars, while the Premier League boasted a further 11. Meanwhile, no fewer than SEVEN French World Cup winners made the list, including Mbappe and Paul Pogba.<doc-sep>In a very unusual turn of events, France Football have elected to take down their Ballon d'Or poll because the results were seemingly not what they wanted them to be. The publication, who are presenting the 2018 award yet again, announced the 30-man shortlist a couple of days ago and then put out a poll on their website to allow fans to cast their votes on who they think deserves the award. All the nominees were options on the poll but Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi dominated proceedings. Salah, after his 44-goal season for Liverpool, ended up with 31 per cent of the votes, while Messi was by far the clear winner - garnering 48 per cent of the 704,396 votes. Advert 10 The website of France Football, the medium that awards the award for best player of the year, deleted a poll in which Leo Messi obtained 48% of the more than 700,000 votes by its readers. [md] pic.twitter.com/Hsic6zv0YR - Barça Centre (@barcacentre) October 10, 2018 I am really disappointed with France Football because of the general bias against Messi, they just deleted their fan vote poll on who should win the Ballon d'or because Messi was winning by a huge margin and now when you go back to the page this is what you will see pic.twitter.com/S3rrXHzfUt - SuperBarca (@RodriBarca1) October 10, 2018 So you're telling me Messi won that Ballon D'Or poll by a huge margin but France Football ended up deleting the poll and posted a link about his tax fraud case on their website instead? Say what you want, but you gotta respect the hustle. - Xav Salazar (@XavsFutbol) October 10, 2018 Advert 10 Cristiano Ronaldo only accrued eight per cent of the voting, while FIFA Best Men's Player Luka Modric and PSG duo Kylian Mbappe all had a mere two per cent. But then weirdly, the poll was pulled suddenly and now has angered plenty of fans due to the link now leading readers onto an article about Messi's tax issues. Image: PA<doc-sep>The Ballon d'Or ceremony is less than two months away now. After the Champions League draw and FIFA's 'The Best', football fans are in the swing of awards season and the approaching gala in Paris will bring an end to another eventful year in the sport. Luka Modric has dominated the individual accolades so far this year - taking home the top prize twice now - but you can never write off Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The mercurial pair both have five Ballon d'Or titles to their name, applying great importance on the latest ceremony and leaving fans to wonder if Modric will keep them level pegging. No matter who supporters want to collect the main award, though, the winner will ultimately be decided by a series of votes from selected journalists. Fans vote on the Ballon d'Or The first 30 candidates have already been named with 11 Premier League players making the cut, including Eden Hazard, Roberto Firmino, Paul Pogba and Kevin De Bruyne. Gareth Bale and Harry Kane are the sole British candidates, while no less than eight Real Madrid players make their way onto the list. However, France Football - who run the competition - did give supporters a brief opportunity to make their opinion known by staging an official Ballon d'Or poll. France Football stop the vote Given the magnitude and history of the award, there was no shortage of votes with a huge 700,000 fans expressing their opinion. Astonishingly, though, France Football had to pull the plug on the initiative after receiving some remarkable results that will surely go against their leading candidates. That's because favourites Modric and Ronaldo received a minuscule proportion of the vote, while Mohamed Salah and Messi ran away it. The full vote goes: 1. Lionel Messi: 48% (338,110) 2. Mohamed Salah: 31% (218,362) 3. Cristiano Ronaldo: 8% (56,351) 4. Luka Modric & Kylian Mbappe: 2% (14,087 each) Pretty convincing voting from the fans then. In their opinion, it should be Barcelona's Messi who collects the Ballon d'Or this years and pull aways into a six trophy lead as a consequence. It's pretty remarkable that the favourite can be seen with over 300,000 fewer votes than Messi and it's unlikely the final voting will be so harsh on Modric. The Croatian can take plenty of comfort in his Golden Ball, UEFA award and 'The Best' trophy if he does come up short in Paris, though. As for Messi, he'll have to hope the journalist's in charge feel similarly to all the football fans who voted for him but the bookmakers don't fancy his chances. Supporters will have to wait until early December to see who collects the award and how it potentially impacts the ever-raging GOAT debate. Who do you think should win the Ballon d'Or? Have your say in the comments section below. News Now - Sport News<doc-sep>Ballon d'Or poll disappears after Messi goes top LaLiga Santander - Barcelona Salah was in second place Lionel Messi may not be the clear favourite to win the Ballon d'Or this year, but he claimed 48 percent of the votes in a poll organised by France Football, the organisers of the award. Mohamed Salah was in second place, with 31 percent, and Cristiano Ronaldo was in third, with eight percent, before the online vote was then removed. While public opinion doesn't factor into who wins the prize, France Football decided to take this vote down, angering many football fans.<doc-sep>
What's the story? France Football, the French football magazine that awards the Ballon d'Or to the best footballer of the year, has taken down a fan poll after it was hijacked by fans of two players. Before the poll was taken down, Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi had received 48% of the votes while Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah had received 31% of the votes. The next highest vote-getter was last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus and Portugal) with 8%. In case you didn't know... France Football had recently announced the final 30-man shortlist for the 2018 Ballon d'Or. The 30 names were announced five at a time and the final list did create a debate on those who were included and those who missed out. However, the Ballon d'Or is not decided by a fan vote. Unlike FIFA's 'The Best' award where the fans' vote accounts for 25% of the total vote, the Ballon d'Or winner is decided by votes cast by an esteemed panel of journalists from around the world with one representative from each country. Heart of the matter Although the Ballon d'Or winner is not decided by the fans, it did not stop France Football from putting up a poll online. Fans were asked to pick one player from their list of 30 players and the votes were tallied. 🔴 We have our 30 nominees for the 2018 Ballon d'Or France Football! #ballondor pic.twitter.com/M01sH5gspj — #ballondor (@francefootball) October 8, 2018 At first, it was Mohamed Salah who was in the lead with over 50% of the vote; understandable as his fans from Egypt (and presumably Liverpool) hijacked the vote. It was one of the reasons why he won the Puskas Award for Goal of the Year at the FIFA Best awards even though most fans felt there were more deserving candidates. The Puskas Award is voted for only by the fans and Salah had won the award with 38% of the votes. However, once word of the poll got out, the word spread like wildfire and Messi's fans jumped in on the act to vote for their idol. At the time the poll was taken down, over 700,000 votes had been cast with Messi getting 48% of the votes while Salah's vote percentage dropped down to 31%. Ronaldo had 8% while other major candidates such as Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe barely received any votes in comparison. What's next? The winner of the prestigious award will be announced on 3 December at a ceremony in Paris. While the award has been dominated by both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - who have won it five times each - there is a possibility that Modric could end the duopoly. The Croatian midfielder won the Champions League for a third straight time and also led his country to their first-ever World Cup final. The 33-year-old picked up the UEFA Player of the Year award and the FIFA Best award and is one of the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or as well.