Highlights

• Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d'Or trophy, edging out Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
• The voting system for the Ballon d'Or involves 100 journalists from FIFA's top 100 nations, who each select five players
• Notable votes include journalists who didn't choose Messi or Haaland as their first pick, and the inclusion of players like Vinicius, Bounou, and Jude Bellingham in some journalists' top fives.

Lionel Messi was announced as the 2023 Ballon d'Or winner on Monday. This year's award was considered a two-horse race between Messi and Erling Haaland and it was the former who came out on top, being awarded his eighth Ballon d'Or trophy after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar.

Haaland, who helped Man City to a terrific treble last campaign, had to settle for a second place finish. While Kylian Mbappe finished third, his highest ever finish in the Ballon d'Or.

Speaking after his victory, Messi said, per Sky Sports: "I couldn't imagine having the career that I've had. Everything that I've achieved. The fortune I've had playing for the best team in the world, the best team in history. It's nice to win these individual trophies. To win the Copa America and then the World Cup, to get it done is amazing.

"Being world champion was fantastic. But the truth is I've never really got used to receiving awards and being on the stage like this. Slowly I have got used to it a bit more since winning it for the first time in 2009. I think today is the last time I will win it, so it feels calmer and I will enjoy it in a different way.

"I'm proud of the career I've had. I've enjoyed football all my life and soon I'll enjoy it from the other side. I don't know for how much longer I'll play but I plan to enjoy it. I can't put a number on it as things can change very quickly from day to day in football. But I know that day is getting closer and closer."

How the Ballon d'Or voting works

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 100 journalists from FIFA's top 100 nations. They each pick five players from the 30-man shortlist and are allowed to pick players from their own nation. The scoring system is as follows:

• First: Six points
• Second: Four points
• Third: Three points
• Fourth: Two points
• Fifth: One point

Messi was the runaway winner as he picked up 462 points, 95 more than Haaland. Messi's former Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Mbappe rounded out the podium places with a respectable 270 points. Kevin De Bruyne (100 points) and Rodri (57 points) also finished in the top five.

Read more: Ballon d'Or 2023 top 10 revealed & how many points they got

In total, 92 journalists from countries ranked in FIFA's top 100 casted votes for the men's award. View a round up of the most interesting votes below...

Only six journalists didn't give first place vote to Lionel Messi or Erling Haaland

Messi picked up 65 first place votes, while Haaland was given 22. So, who did the other six journalists give their first place vote to? Emmanuel Gustave Samnick (Cameroon), Adam Khalil (Ivory Coast), Patricio Corneiro (Ecuador), Michel Savov (Bulgaria) and Stansilav Hrabe (Czech Republic) thought Mbappe was the best player in the world in the 2022/23 season. While, interestingly, Portugal's Joaquim Rita gave his first place vote to Man City's Bernardo Silva. The Man City winger finished ninth, with Rita's vote accounting for six of the 20 points he received.

Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Portugal journalists' eyebrow-raising votes

We briefly touched on Samnick, Khalil and Rita's votes in the last section but their whole top fives are bizarre. Samnick (Cameroon) didn't vote for Messi or Haaland, with his fourth place vote going to his compatriot Andre Onana. Haaland didn't feature in Khalil's (Ivory Coast) top five, with Messi being his fifth vote. While Rita, after voting Silva first, put Vinicius second above Messi, Haaland and Mbappe.

Swiss and Argentine journalists' top five

Switzerland's Christophe Cerf, who works for Radio Télévision Suisse, did not include Messi or Mbappe in his top five. He gave his first place vote to Haaland, while he also included Yassine Bounou third after his heroics for Morocco in the 2022 World Cup. While Argentina's Enrique Wolff may have been slightly biased with his votes, including four of his compatriots in his top five. Of course, he voted Messi first.

English representative explains why he voted for Lionel Messi

England's representative, Henry Winter of The Times, gave his vote to Messi. He explained why he voted as he did.

He said: "In casting England’s votes for the Ballon d’Or, I thought long and hard about the respective claims of the magnificent Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, studied their stellar stats and best clips, and came back to Messi.

"In assessing and selecting the Ballon d’Or, inevitably much weight is placed on success in the Champions League and in tournaments. The game is about trophies, and Messi’s performance in Qatar sealed first place and six points from this judge.

"Messi was on a mission out there, absolutely driven with the obsession of winning the World Cup. Messi’s career, even one as glittering as his, with four Champions Leagues, needed this nirvana in Qatar."

Winter voted Haaland second, Mbappe third, Haaland fourth and Jude Bellingham fifth. He explained why he doesn't vote more for English players and explained his decision to give one point to Bellingham.

He added: "One of the questions I get asked is why, as the English judge for the Ballon d’Or, that I don’t vote more for English players. The answer is simple, none have been good enough since Michael Owen’s remarkable season in 2001, holding off Raúl and Oliver Kahn to win. Frank Lampard (148 points) and Steven Gerrard (142) were closest to Ronaldinho (225) in 2005.

"Over the past 12 months, an English prodigy has excelled at a World Cup and is now Real Madrid’s most important player. I put Jude Bellingham in fifth place (one point) for his maturity on and off the field, his hunger to learn and win, his desire to take responsibility and his increasing attacking threat. He is a future England captain. And, along with Haaland and Mbappé, a member of a thrilling generation that gradually succeeds the Messi-Ronaldo Ballon d’Or era."