Over 131,000 fans vote Messi top of Goal.com 50 poll

Lionel Messi has been voted as the top player in the Goal.com 50 fans’ vote, an annual title that sees the experts and fans clash in a vote for the best player in the world. Over 131,000 fans voted in the open poll, illustrating the wide-reaching presence Goal.com has around the world that makes it the truest gauge of opinion in football. As the world’s largest new media football community, with users in every single country on earth, Goal.com’s experts put together a shortlist of the 50 players they feel have excelled during the previous 12 months. Following an impressive domestic season with Inter Milan and some stellar performances for Netherlands in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Wesley Sneijder secured the Goal.com experts’ vote in mid-August. However, when voting was opened up to Goal.com fans around the globe, Barcelona and Argentina star Messi secured top spot by little over 2,000 votes in what was a close result. The diminutive dribbling wizard very nearly managed a goal a game in La Liga, scoring 34 in 35 appearances, while he also contributed a career-record 13 assists. In the Champions League Messi struck a further eight goals, and while he did not hit the back of the net at the 2010 FIFA World Cup his performances nonetheless endeared him to the fans sufficiently to win the vote. Goal.com International chief editor, Ewan MacDonald, said: “Inter Milan secured the treble last term and Wesley Senijder played a massive part in that, and that role was reflected in the Goal.com experts’ decision to place him top of the Goal.com 50. “However, Lionel Messi is undeniably one of the greatest talents to grace football and, though the results were close, the fans have made their voices heard.” -Ends- About Goal.com: Goal.com was founded in 2004 by Gianluigi Longinotti-Buitoni and has grown into the largest football new media community on the planet with 22 editions delivering content in 15 languages. Goal.com uniquely presents football through the eyes of its local editors who live in the locations on which they report, ensuring they express the cultural, ethnical, political, economic, religious, and social distinctiveness in each region. Goal.com’s aim is to unite the world through its mutual passion for football. For further information please contact Goal.com PR Director Will Wood on will.wood@goal.com.

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