Virgil van Dijk shows loyalty to Mohamed Salah as Liverpool captain's award vote revealed

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Virgil van Dijk showed his loyalty to Mohamed Salah for The Best FIFA Men's Player award, with the Egyptian missing out on the prestigious prize.

PSG superstar Ousmane Dembele picked up the award on Tuesday, edging out Barcelona's Lamine Yamal. Kylian Mbappe made up the top three, although Salah was among those in the running.

The Egyptian has cut a frustrated figure for most of this season and launched an astonishing outburst at Arne Slot recently, which saw him axed from the squad. But his impact last season cannot be underestimated as his goals fired Liverpool to the Premier League title in Slot's first campaign.

As Dutch captain, Van Dijk is eligible to take part in the voting process, as is Salah and club mates Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai, who skipper Scotland and Hungary respectively.

The trio all put Salah in first place for the award, as did Japan skipper Wataru Endo. But Conor Bradley, who wears the armband for Northern Ireland named Yamal as his top pick.

Salah meanwhile gave his pick to PSG star Achraf Hakimi, who was excellent in PSG's Champions League win.

Van Dijk, Robertson and Szoboszlai all voted for Arne Slot as The Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year in 2025 – but three other Liverpool players voted for Luis Enrique.

Arne Slot and Luis Enrique before Liverpool played PSG in the Champions League.

Unsurprisingly, Paris Saint-Germain manager Enrique claimed the gong after winning four trophies with the French giant last season. Barcelona manager Hansi Flick ended the voting in second place, with Reds boss Slot coming in third.

The winner of the award was decided by a combination of votes from men's national team coaches, men's national team captains, football journalists, and fans who voted on FIFA's official website.

While Van Dijk, Robertson and Szoboszlai all voted for Slot – Salah, Bradley and Endo all voted for Enrique, with all three players putting Slot in second place.

Objectively, Enrique had a better year than Slot in terms of the trophies he won with PSG – but the voting for these awards usually sees players and managers stay loyal to people they work with, which makes it slightly surprising that Salah, Bradley and Endo did not vote for their boss at club level.