London:2007 Ballon d'Or winner Ricardo Kaka has told in an interview that he backs Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk to win Monday's FIFA Best men's player award in Milan.
The Dutch defender goes up against perennial award winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in this Sunday's ceremony at La Scala opera house.
Brazilian midfielder Kaka was the last player to win the Ballon d'Or before Argentina's Messi and Portugal's Ronaldo began their decade-long stranglehold over the famous golden ball and FIFA's Best award in 2008.
Croatian midfielder Luka Modric broke the duopoly last year taking both the FIFA Best award and the Ballon d'Or after another Champions League triumph with Real Madrid and ending as runner-up with Croatia at the FIFA World Cup.
Van Dijk has already beaten Messi and Ronaldo to one award this year - winning UEFA's award for last season's best player in Europe in Monaco last month.