Rooney is best in the world ... at least according to Cambodia
Posted Wednesday, January 09, 2013 by The Sun
IF EVER the Premier League needed proof that it is falling behind La Liga... this is it!
The superhero of the Spanish league, Lionel Messi, picked up 452 votes from experts around the globe in winning his fourth straight Ballon d’Or trophy.
But the Prem’s biggest star, Wayne Rooney, attracted just EIGHT votes — and those came from soccer outposts such as Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea and North Korea.
Much-heralded Mario Balotelli, who helped Manchester City to the title, fared even worse with three votes — from Palestine, Laos and Austria.
National team captains, coaches and a selected journalist from each FIFA nation were eligible to vote for world football’s most prestigious individual award.
But the whole process ended up more akin to the Eurovision Song Contest with large swathes of tactical voting.
Many international coaches picked players from their own squad.
Barcelona wizard Messi was always favourite to triumph after netting 91 goals in 2012. He took 41.6 per cent of the vote, beating Cristiano Ronaldo (23.68 per cent) and Andres Iniesta (10.91 per cent) into second and third.
Roon was even snubbed by England manager Roy Hodgson — who plumped for Messi, Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao.
All 11 players in the World Team of the Year came from the Spanish league.
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