Fair Play Award

Francis KONE

🇹🇬 Togo

During a Czech First League game, Slovacko's Togolese player Francis Kone saved the life of Bohemians goalkeeper Martin Berkovec. Kone gave the opposing player first aid treatment after Berkovec was knocked unconscious in a collision with a team-mate. “I can’t stand there, watching someone suffocate, without doing something. I just can’t,” Kone told FIFA.com. “I didn’t even think about it.” The forward says this is the fourth time he has administered life-saving first aid on the football pitch - twice in Africa and once in Thailand.

0

Puskás Award

Olivier GIROUD
 FRANCE

Olivier Giroud’s superb ‘scorpion kick’ was voted by fans around the globe as the best goal of 2016-17, succeeding Mohd Faiz Subri as this year’s FIFA Puskás Award winner. His brilliantly improvised finish, scored against Crystal Palace in the English Premier League on 1 January 2017, completed a swift counter attack by Arsenal. Alexis Sanchez curled in a cross from outside the penalty area on the left wing for the Frenchman, whose audacious, acrobatic effort crashed in off the crossbar before bulging the inside of the Palace net.

---

The Finalists

---

Deyna CASTELLANOS
 VENEZUELA

Masuluke OSCARINE
 SOUTH AFRICA

---

The other candidates

---

Kevin-Prince Boateng
 GHANA

Alejandro CAMARGO
 ARGENTINA

Moussa DEMBELE
 FRANCE

Aviles Hurtado
 COLOMBIA

Mario MANDZUKIC
 CROATIA

Nemanja MATIC
 SERBIA

Jordi MBOULA
 SPAIN

0

The Best FIFA Women's Coach

Sarina WIEGMAN
 NETHERLANDS

Sarina Wiegman follows in the footsteps of some legendary names in the women’s game by becoming the latest The Best FIFA Women’s Coach. The Netherlands native led her country to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 title on home soil. The hosts’ brand of attacking football brought an end to Germany’s run of six successive European trophies. Wiegman’s side came into their own in the knockout stages, scoring two and three goals in the quarter- and semi-finals against Sweden and England respectively before hitting four past Denmark in the finale.

---

The Finalists

---

Nils NIELSEN
 DENMARK
In charge of Denmark's women's team since 2013, Nils Nielsen made up for the disappointment of missing the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™ with a superlative campaign at the recent continental finals. The Greenland-born coach steered his side to UEFA Women's EURO 2017 with an impressive qualifying record, and he promptly took them all the way to the final in the Netherlands before the hosts triumphed 4-2 in the decider. The highlight of that historic run was a quarter-final victory against Germany, a feat no team had achieved in any of the six previous editions. Denmark caught the eye with a 4-4-2 formation built on a highly experienced rearguard – his defensive quartet boasting over 350 caps between them – while explosive duo Pernille Harder and Nadia Nadim provided the firepower further forward. That approach has now made Denmark a force to be reckoned with in the women's game.

Gerard PRECHEUR
 FRANCE
Lyon coach Gerard Precheur was always going to have a tough time matching his achievements of 2015/16, a treble-winning season that yielded trophies in the UEFA Women's Champions League, French league and French Cup. Nevertheless, he rose to the challenge. Les Fenottes defended their French crown with an eight-point gap over second-placed Montpellier and won the two knockout competitions with final wins against Paris Saint-Germain, both times edging dramatic penalty shootouts. Each of those triumphs carried the stamp of the talented, ambitious and demanding coach at the helm. "A fan," in his own words, "of possession-based football and through balls beyond defences," Precheur is now free to implement his philosophy with a new set of players. He stepped down from his Lyon role in June 2017, but not before ensuring his status as a true club legend.

---

The other candidates

---

Olivier ECHOUAFNI
 FRANCE

Emma HAYES
 ENGLAND

Ralf KELLERMANN
 GERMANY

Xavier LLORENS
 SPAIN

Florence OMAGBEMI
 NIGERIA

Dominik THALHAMMER
 AUSTRIA

HWANG Yongbong
 KOREA DPR

0

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper

Gianluigi BUFFON
 ITALY
It is testament to his professionalism, dedication and ability that Gianluigi Buffon has been crowned The Best FIFA Goalkeeper as he approaches his 40th birthday. Last season, ‘Gigi’ guided Juve to a record sixth consecutive Serie A title, his eighth with I Bianconeri, which saw him equal the all-time record as the player with most Italian league victories. He also went 600 minutes without conceding in the UEFA Champions League last season, keeping a remarkable 25 clean sheets in 50 games for club and country during the 2016/17 season.

---

The Candidates

---

Keylor NAVAS
 COSTA RICA
One of the unsung heroes amongst Real Madrid’s star-studded starting XI, Keylor Navas is nevertheless without doubt one of the globe’s top custodians. The 30-year-old – who celebrated his birthday last December with a clean sheet in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, which the Merengue went on to win – exhibited his cat-like reflexes throughout a 2016/17 season that culminated with glory in the Spanish league and a second consecutive UEFA Champions League conquest. In contrast to his unassuming role for Real, he is a star for Costa Rica, keeping three clean sheets in six FIFA World Cup™ qualifying games during the 2016/17 campaign.

---

Manuel NEUER
 GERMANY

Manuel Neuer, one of the few goalkeepers to be a finalist for FIFA’s top individual award in years gone by (alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in 2014), is superb on his line, dominates his penalty area and is also excellent with the ball at his feet. In September 2016 he was named Germany captain, a role he also took on at Bayern Munich this summer and by the end of the 2016/17 season he had helped the club win a fifth consecutive league title. He kept three clean sheets in the three FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers he appeared in last season, also keeping an impressive 19 clean sheets in 39 competitive appearances for Bayern Munich in 2016/17.

0

The Best FIFA Men's Player

Cristiano Ronaldo
 PORTUGAL

The recipient of the inaugural The Best FIFA Men's Player Award has retained his position at the pinnacle of the men’s game, adding yet another individual award to his glittering personal trophy cabinet. The second consecutive The Best award comes after a superlative season in which he won the Spanish league, the FIFA Club World Cup and another UEFA Champions League crown - remarkably finishing as the competition's leading marksman for the fifth-straight season. Yet, despite another stellar year, Portugal's semi-final loss in the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 will surely continue to rankle with this fiercest of competitors.

---

The Finalists

---

Lionel Messi

 ARGENTINA

La Pulga remains as decisive as ever for both club and country. The Argentinian national team are a completely different beast without Messi, as has been laid bare once more on the road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Meanwhile, the pint-sized forward's 37 league goals kept Barça in the title race right down to the wire last season, as well as earning him his fourth Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the leading goalscorer in the Spanish top flight. He also finished as the joint-top marksman in the Copa del Rey, which the Catalans captured again, and as the second-highest scorer in the UEFA Champions League.

---

NEYMAR

 BRAZIL

Already the linchpin of the Brazilian national team, Neymar bolstered his standing this year by helping A Seleção become the first side to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. He was similarly instrumental for Barcelona last term, even if his tally of 20 goals in all competitions dropped from 31 in the previous campaign and 39 before that. In contrast, his contributions elsewhere increased, with Neymar delivering 21 assists – a personal best. The Brazil forward was also one of the heroes of the famous 'Remontada' against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, conjuring up two goals and an assist in an unforgettable second leg. Neymar then signed for the French club in August, opting for a fresh challenge in the most expensive transfer deal in history.

---

The other candidates

---

Pierre AUBAMEYANG

 GABON

Leonardo BONUCCI
 ITALY

Gianluigi BUFFON
 ITALY

Daniel CARVAJAL
 SPAIN

Paulo DYBALA
 ARGENTINA

Antoine GRIEZMANN
 FRANCE

Eden HAZARD
 BELGIUM

Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC
 SWEDEN

Andres INIESTA
 SPAIN

Harry KANE
 ENGLAND

N'Golo KANTE
 FRANCE

Toni KROOS
 GERMANY

Robert LEWANDOWSKI
 POLAND

MARCELO
 BRAZIL

Luka MODRIC
 CROATIA

Keylor NAVAS
 COSTA RICA

Manuel NEUER
 GERMANY

Sergio RAMOS
 SPAIN

Alexis SANCHEZ
 CHILE

Luis SUAREZ
 URUGUAY

0