This year’s FIFA Best Awards will take place on September 24, following a star-studded affair last year when Cristiano Ronaldo took home the top award.
The Juventus striker will be looking to make it four awards in a row in the Best Men’s Award category after usurping Lionel Messi to the top prize in previous years.
The biggest surprise for this year’s awards, however, is the omission of Messi in the final three of the award.
Here is everything you need to know about the FIFA Best Awards including nominees, the voting process and past winners.
When are the FIFA Best Awards?
This year’s FIFA Best Awards will be held on September 24 in London at the Royal Festival Hall. The Best Awards have been presented by the governing body since 2016 and are aimed at reviving the old FIFA World Player of the Year prize, which was merged with the Ballon d’Or in 2010.
Last year’s ceremony, which was held at the London Palladium, was hosted by Idris Elba and Layla Anna-Lee with the likes of Patrick Stewart also in attendance.
The FIFA Best Awards are split into nine separate categories, including: Best Men’s Player, Best Goalkeeper, Best Men’s Coach, Best Women’s Player, Best Women’s Coach, the FIFA Fair Play Award, FIFA Puskas Award, FIFA Fan Award and the FIFA FIFPro World11.
Ronaldo, Lieke Martens, Gianluigi Buffon, Zinedine Zidane and Sarina Wiegman were among the award winners, with the Portuguese superstar lifting the award for the third consecutive time.
Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick for Arsenal against Crystal Palace was given the Puskas Award.
Players chosen for the FIFPro World 11 included Buffon as goalkeeper, Dani Alves, Leonardo Bonucci, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo as defenders, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Andres Iniesta as midfielders, and Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar as forwards.
Who are the nominees for this year’s FIFA Best Awards?
Ten players were shortlisted for this year’s awards with the selection panels announced on July 4.
The criteria for the best men’s players include their respective achievements from July 3, 2017 to July 15, 2018.
For the men’s best player awards this year, the top three finalists include Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah – with there no room for Messi in the top three.
Ronaldo and Modric book helped Real Madrid to victory following their Champions League win in May, while Salah broke record after record at Liverpool where he scored 44 goals during his mesmerising debut season.
The final longlist included Antoine Griezmann and Raphael Varane with Harry Kane and Salah represent players competing in the Premier League, while Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe is the sole Ligue 1 candidate.
After leading his side to a record-breaking 100 points as they won the Premier League, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been named as one of the nominees in the Best Men’s Coach category alongside England-based counterparts Jurgen Klopp and Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate. Jose Mourinho has not been nominated.
Zinedine Zidane is also a nominee following his third-consecutive European Cup victory with Real Madrid, alongside Diego Simeone, Ernesto Valverde, Massimiliano Allegri and Belgium boss Roberto Martinez.
Who will perform at the FIFA Best Awards?
Former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher will be performing at the FIFA Best Awards this year, with his solo group Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
The band released their third studio effort as the band in November 2017 titled ‘Who Shot the Moon?’, and the performance comes just days after Noel Gallagher lost out on the Mercury Prize for the album to London indie-rock band Wolf Alice.
Gallagher is also a keen Manchester City fan and has been spotted at the Etihad (alongside friend and fellow musician Johnny Marr) from time to time.
How does voting work for the FIFA Best Awards?
Fans had the chance to cast their votes for the Best FIFA Men’s Player, Best FIFA Women’s Player, Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Best FIFA Women’s Coach awards earlier this summer.
Fan votes count for 25% of the final vote, with FIFA’s selection committee finalising the decisions.
The remaining 75% will be distributed evenly between the national coaches of FIFA Member Associations, their team captains and a select group of football journalists from those countries.
The selection panel to shortlist the initial Best Men’s Player and Best Men’s Coach awards include a host of former footballing greats such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Kaka, Fabio Capello and the original Ronaldo.
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