Mexico national team coach Miguel Herrera says he gave his Ballon d'Or number one to Germany's Philipp Lahm, not to winner Cristiano Ronaldo as FIFA's official voting record shows.
According to the FIFA documentation released on the night the award was announced, Herrera's votes were given to first Ronaldo, then Lahm and third Toni Kroos.
The final result for the 2014 poll saw the Real Madrid and Portugal star easily win a third career prize with 37.66 percent of the votes cast by international coaches and captains, and selected journalists worldwide.
Barcelona and Argentina's Lionel Messi was in second place with 15.76 percent, with Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer third on 15.72 per cent.
Neuer's club and country colleague Lahm was down in sixth spot, with 2.9 percent of the votes cast. Kroos, of Germany and Real Madrid, was ninth with 1.43 percent.
Herrera told ESPN Deportes that he rated Ronaldo and Messi as phenomenal players, but his intention had be to recognise Germany winning last summer's World Cup by giving his first choice to one of their players, and had opted for full-back Lahm.
"The truth is I feel that Cristiano and Messi are players from another time, a spectacular time in football, but I voted for Philipp Lahm," Herrera said.
"The truth is they attributed the vote to Cristiano, and he is a player I like a lot, the same as Messi. They are special players, they put on a show, but I believe a German player deserved it. I do not know if Neuer did. Neuer had a great World Cup, but for me Philipp Lahm was important."
Herrera is not the only voter to quickly come out and say the official records do not fit with his intention. Atletico Madrid midfielder and Turkey captain Arda Turan has said that he gave his first choice to his club boss Diego Simeone, not Chelsea's Jose Mourinho as FIFA's documentation says.