Jamie Carragher slams Ballon d'Or voting system

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has slammed the FIFA Ballon d'Or voting system.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo won this year's award on Monday after fending off competition from Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Barcelona's four-time recipient Lionel Messi.

He told the Daily Mail: "So, Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or but what we really saw at the glittering award ceremony in Zurich was the politics of the voting system laid bare.

"Put it this way: if Liverpool had someone in the running for the Player of the Year award, or the Young Player of the Year award, the 'rule' in the dressing room would be: Do not vote for any of their rivals.

"Votes for the Ballon d'Or should be taken away from national coaches and captains and it should be left exclusively to journalists, as it used to be."

The award for Ronaldo was his first Ballon d'Or, but the second time he has been officially recognised as the world's best player, following his FIFA World Player of the Year prize in 2008.