The soap opera surrounding Macedonia captain Goran Pandev's vote for 2012 FIFA Coach of the Year has just taken a turn for the surreal. For those of you who have been living under a rock, here's a brief recap: Mourinho criticised alleged irregularities in the voting, then Pandev – Mou's close friend and former player – claimed that his vote had been changed, only for FIFA to publish, two days a later, a copy of the forward's voting slip (pictured), showing that the captain's vote had gone to Del Bosque.

So, clearly someone was either lying or had messed up. Now the Macedonian Football Federation has owned up, issuing a statement in which it backs up Pandev's claims: "Goran voted for Jose Mourinho as the best coach. He gave him five points".

"However, a technical error in completion of the slip – with no intention to change Pandev's choice – led to Del Bosque's name being marked. The next day, the slip was sent off to FIFA. It was a technical error".

When MARCA contacted the federation, a representative, Zlatko Andonovski, sought to draw a line under the issue: "Don't look for something that isn't there. The person responsible for filling in the ballot made a mistake when ticking the boxes. He should have marked Mourinho and he marked Del Bosque. It's as simple as that".

Whatever the case may be, the whole palaver should serve as a wake-up call for FIFA, which is now planning on introducing a new, more reliable and professional system that is less open to such errors.