September 22 – Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Paris St-Germain’s Neymar were selected Friday as the final three nominees for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
At an announcement in central London, there were few surprises as the three European-based standout players, named in an initial 24-man shortlist, predictably made it through to the award ceremony on October 23.
The award covers the period of November 2016 to July 2, 2017, and is voted for by national team coaches, captains, selected media and fans.
Ronaldo won the inaugural award last year and is a favourite to claim the accolade again after helping Real to a third Champions League crown in four seasons, scoring twice against Juventus.
Messi finished as La Liga’s top scorer with 37 goals — 12 ahead of Ronaldo – while Neymar became the world’s most expensive player this summer when he left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in a €222 million deal.
The three finalists for Best Goalkeeper, a new award this year, are Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon, Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer while there are 10 nominations for best goal across the globe.
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is favoured to be named Best FIFA Men’s Coach. He is up against Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte.
United States midfielder Carli Lloyd will look to retain her best women’s player crown while the nominees for Best FIFA Women’s Coach are Denmark’s Nils Nielsen, France’s Gerard Precheur and Netherlands’ Sarina Wiegman.
FIFA is running the awards for the second year since ending its association with France Football’s Ballon d’Or in September 2016.
The final full shortlist is as follows, per category:
Best FIFA Men’s Player:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
- Neymar (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil)
Best FIFA Women’s Player:
- Deyna Castellanos (Santa Clarita Blue Heat and Venezuela)
- Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash and United States)
- Lieke Martens (Rosengard/FC Barcelona and Netherlands)
Best FIFA Men’s Coach:
- Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus)
- Antonio Conte (Chelsea)
- Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)
Best FIFA Women’s Coach:
- Nils Nielsen (Denmark)
- Gerard Precheur (Lyon)
- Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)
- Best FIFA Goalkeeper:
- Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy)
- Keylor Navas (Real Madrid and Costa Rica)
- Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany)
FIFA Puskas Award:
- Kevin-Prince Boateng (Las Palmas, 23 October 2016)
- Alejandro Camargo (Universidad de Concepcion, 4 December 2016)
- Deyna Castellanos (Venezuela Under-17 women 24 October 2016)
- Moussa Dembele (Celtic, 5 February 2017)
- Olivier Giroud (Arsenal , 1 January 2017)
- Aviles Hurtado (Tijuana Xolos, 1 April 2017)
- Mario Mandzukic (Juventus, 3 June 2017)
- Oscarine Masuluke (Baroka FC, 30 November 2016)
- Nemanja Matic (Chelsea, 23 April 2017)
- Jordi Mboula (Barcelona Youth, 22 February 2017)
FIFA Fan Award:
- Borussia Dortmund
- Celtic
- Copenhagen
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