(L to R) Young Boy, Shiny Gold Thing, Delirious Old Man

Yesterday, Lionel Messi was crowned FIFA World Player of the Year, and quite rightly so. Both he and his team, Barcelona, have been streets ahead of the rest in 2009 as they scooped up just about every trophy they could possibly win.

Forget that his national team needed some late heroics in their World Cup qualifying campaign in order to secure a spot in South Africa; Messi has been transcendent this season and the award is richly deserved.

What’s more interesting is when we look at who the world captains and coaches voted for.

Some intriguing, to say the least.

- Saudi Arabia loves Chelsea
I’m not sure quite what the correlation is, but one of the most bizarre ballots came from Saudi skipper Yasser Al-Qahtami, who selected John Terry, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien as his 1, 2, and 3 for the award. Maybe they only get Chelsea TV down there.

- Raymond Domenech loves to be different
Does anyone know Messi’s star sign? I’m guessing it’s incompatible with the French manager, who snubbed the Argentine completely, inking Drogba, Buffon and Rooney on his ballot. Maybe he knows something we don’t. Or maybe he’s just an idiot.

- Chelsea players: loyal to the end (for the most part)
No-one tells the Chelsea skipper what to do; he picked two teammates as his #1 and #2 (Drogba and Ballack), seemingly throwing Iniesta in there as a half-hearted effort to look impartial. I’m thinking he’s still so scarred by that Champions League semi-final that he can’t bear the thought of picking Lionel Messi for the award, though in selecting the Spanish midfielder he shows some begrudging respect for the man who scored that lovely goal at the Bridge. Similarly, Ballack makes the obvious pick of Messi for his #1, throwing buddies Lamps and Drogba on the ballot for good measure.

(The Daily Mail, amongst other places, is picking up this furore and running with it as well)

However, special notice must be paid to Drogba and Cech, who clearly doesn’t rate his teammates as highly as they do. The Ivorians’ ballot: countryman kindred spirit Samuel Eto’o, followed by Messi and Fernando Torres, while the Czech Traffic Cone opted for for Xavi, Messi and C-Ron.

- A Toast to Yossi Benayoun
With all the turmoil in the Anfield dressing room and whispers that the core players have lost faith in Rafa Benitez, the Israeli midfielder clearly knows who to lobby for more playing time. He picked teammate and team captain Steven Gerrard as his pick for World’s #1, which is hard to fathom despite their relationship. As much as I love The Talisman (Jersey Shore nickname generator, anyone?), his injury struggles would keep him off my ballot.

- Hanging Chads
Spare a thought for professional footballers. The day-to-day grind of kicking a ball around makes it hard for them to do daily tasks, and as such, several captains appeared incapable of voting properly. In that spirit, we give kudos to Aruba’s captain (who didn’t submit his name either), Belarusian Aleksandr Hleb (whose pick for World #1 was invalid), Gambia’s Ebou Silah (all votes invalid), Skorykh Sergey of Kazakhstan (all votes invalid), Somalia’s Yusuf Ali (no vote for #3), and Venezuela’s Juan Arango (who filled in his name but then was recorded as “no vote” for all 3 picks).

- Bob Bradley Plays It Straight
He went with a 1-2-3 of Messi, Xavi and C-Ron, though you can imagine the urge to vote for his son Michael was strong until the very end.

See the entire list here and point out anything fun you find.