Salah, Mane place fourth and fifth in Best FIFA Men’s Player award

Liverpool's Sadio Mane (right) celebrates scoring his side's second goal of the game with team-mate Mohamed Salah

Tuesday Sep 24, 2019. 12:00

Liverpool’s African duo of Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal) have finished fourth and fifth respectively in the voting for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.

The voting was topped by Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, while the Women’s award was won by American Megan Rapinoe.

Messi headed the poll with 46 points, while Liverpool and Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk was second with 38 and Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal) was third with 36.

Salah (26) and Mane (23) rounded out the top five, with Kylian Mbappe (17), Frenkie de Jong (16), Eden Hazard (16), Matthijs de Ligt (9), and Harry Kane (5) completing the list.

Salah and Mane’s club manager, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, won the coach’s prize after guiding the Reds to UEFA Champions League glory. Africa Cup of Nations winner Djamel Belmadi came home in fifth place.

Neither Salah nor Mane were included in the Fifpro Men’s Team of the Year:

Goalkeeper – Alisson (Liverpool/Brazil).

Defenders – Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax and Juventus/Netherlands), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands), Marcelo (Real Madrid/Brazil).

Midfielders – Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia), Frenkie de Jong (Ajax and Barcelona/Netherlands), Eden Hazard (Chelsea and Real Madrid/Belgium)

Forwards – Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain/France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Portugal), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)