Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo don't vote for each other in Ballon d'Or

Neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo voted for each other when choosing their top three players in the world from the past year.

The duo have long been regarded as the best two players in world football, battling it out for the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for the past six years.

Ronaldo picked up the gong for the first time since 2008 this evening, ending a four-year reign for Barcelona's Messi.

However, the Real Madrid striker did not include Messi in his trio of votes for the year, instead picking Radamel Falcao as his number one choice and Gareth Bale and Mesut Ozil as second and third respectively.

Messi took a similar approach to favouring players that he had worked with, voting for Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Neymar as his top three.

Other interesting choices include Liverpool and England skipper Steven Gerrard, who named Luis Suarez as his third choice behind Ronaldo and Messi, while Martin Skrtel voted Suarez as his number one player of 2013.

England manager Roy Hodgson omitted Messi from his top three altogether, opting for Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robin van Persie, while Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal did not name either Messi or Ronaldo in his top three.