Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar have been nominated as finalists for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award, the sport’s governing body said on Friday in London.
FIFA, football’s world governing body, is running its awards for the second year since ending its association with France Football’s Ballon d’Or in September 2016.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the inaugural Best Player award. Cristiano Ronaldo, 32, is the overwhelming favorite to win the award, having led Real Madrid to the La Liga title and consecutive Champions League success in last season. Ronaldo previously won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2008 and is a four-time winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Messi and Neymar helped Barcelona to win the Spanish King’s Cup title with Messi finishing as La Liga’s top scorer with 37 goals last season.
The Argentina legend, a record five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, has made a superb start to the current campaign, scoring 12 goals in his first eight appearances in all competitions.
The Brazilian striker who recently moved to Ligue 1 club Paris Saint German with record breaking 222 million euros deal is in the list and looking forward for his debut international award.
The shortlist in other categories are as follows;
The 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)
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach:
- Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus)
- Antonio Conte (Chelsea)
- Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach:
- Nils Nielsen (Denmark)
- Gerard Precheur (Lyon)
- Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)
The 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
