FIFA deems Egypt's votes for Salah as Player of the Year invalid

Ballot papers by Egypt's team coach and captain 'were in capital letters' and thus didn't count, says the football body.

Football's world governing body FIFA has said two votes from Egypt for national star Mohamed Salah did not count in its Men's Player of the Year ballot because they were in capital letters.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi won the award for a record sixth time on Monday, beating Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

Liverpool forward Salah finished fourth - 20 points behind Messi.

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) questioned why ballot papers on behalf of its national team coach and captain were not included in a FIFA document published after Monday's ceremony.

In a statement on Thursday, FIFA said the signatures on Egypt's ballots "were in capital letters and thus seemed not valid (not authentic)".

The football body added that the "voting forms were also not signed by the [federation] general secretary which is mandatory".

FIFA said its voting is monitored by independent auditors and confirmed Egypt "received two reminders to submit the properly signed voting forms on August 19".

The voting closed on August 21.

FIFA did not clarify whether the final standings would have been any different if the Egyptian votes had been valid.

Although Egypt's votes from their captain Ahmed Elmohamady and the then-coach Shawky Gharib did not count, their media representative Hany Danial's choices (Sadio Mane, Ronaldo and Salah) were listed on FIFA's website.