Antonio Conte, Gianluigi Buffon ‘snub Ballon d’Or voting’ over keeper’s exclusion

Italian media are united in reporting that after Buffon himself was not included in the 50-man group for consideration, both men boycotted the vote.

Buffon helped Juventus to a domestic double last season and he came within 90 minutes of adding the Champions League too, even making a fantastic save in what transpired to be a defeat to Barcelona in the final in Berlin.

Both men’s names were absent from the breakdown of those who did vote Lionel Messi the world’s best player for the fifth time.

There has been no official comment as yet but the Sky Sport journalist who first reported the story last night did write Conte’s biography. Also, Buffon’s girlfriend Ilaria D’Amico is one of the leading sports journalists in Italy and also works for Sky Sport. Read into that what you will.

Actually, yes. Iker Casillas had a vote as Spain captain but didn’t use it. This was apparently due to an administrative error on the part of the Spanish federation.