The Best Fifa awards LIVE: Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, and Kylian Mbappe nominated for top men’s prize
Who will triumph at Fifa’s annual awards ceremony?
The seventh annual Fifa Best Awards takes place this evening with a host of football’s biggest stars, including the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, nominated for the top prizes. Three finalists in each category have been confirmed ahead of the ceremony in Paris.
France’s Karim Benzema, along with Messi and Mbappe has been nominated for the Best Fifa Men’s Player award whilst England’s Beth Mead is competing against the USA’s Alex Morgan and 2021 winner Alexia Putellas for the Fifa Best Women’s Player award. Elsewhere, England boss Sarina Wiegman is nominated for Fifa Best Women’s Coach and the Puskas Award will be handed out to the male or female judged to have scored the “most beautiful” goal of the calendar year.
This year saw major tournaments in both men’s and women’s football meaning men’s World Cup winners Argentina and England’s Euro 2022-winning Lionesses are both in line for a trophy-laden night. The great and the good will all be gathered in Paris for a ceremony that should celebrate a fantastic year of football.
Follow along with out live blog as the Fifa Best award winners are announced:
Fifa Best Awards
The Puskas Award goes to Marcin Oleksy!
Marcin scored an incredible goal for the Warta Poznan amputee football team in their win against Stal Rzeszow. He threw himself into the air and finished in spectacular style.
Fifa Best Awards
Next up it is the Puskas Award.
This is awarded to the male or female judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or “most beautiful”, goal of the calendar year.
Past winners include Cristiano Ronaldo, Mo Salah and Erik Lamela.
Fifa Best Awards
Emiliano Martinez is the Best Men’s Goalkeeper thanks to his heroics in Argentina’s World Cup winning team.
Fifa Best Awards
England’s Mary Earps collects the award for Best Women’s Goalkeeper.
Fifa Best Awards
Emiliano Martinez wins the Men’s Goalkeeper Award! Martinez was Argentina’s goalkeeper throughout their winning World Cup Campaign.
He made a vital save in the dying minutes of the final to force a penalty shootout which Argentina won 4-2.
Fifa Best Awards
There’s no prizes for guessing which award is up next. It’s, of course, the Best Men’s Goalkeeper award. The nominees for this prize are:
Yassine Bounou (Morocco and Sevilla)
Thibaut Courtois (Belgium and Real Madrid)
Emiliano Martinez (Argentina and Aston Villa)
Fifa Best Awards
Mary Earps wins the Women’s Best Goalkeeper Award!
She has been brilliant for Manchester United over the last year and was instrumental in the Lionesses’ victory at the 2022 European Championship.
Fifa Best Awards
The first prize of the night is the Women’s Goalkeeper Award. Thje nominees are:
Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea)
Mary Earps (Manchester United)
Christiane Endler (Lyon)
Fifa Best Awards
Next up is the Fifa Fair Play Award.
This award honours a fan, team, player, coach, federation or other collection of individuals who “displayed exemplary behaviour which promoted the spirit of the game throughout the year.”
The Denmark national team, medical team and staff won this prize last year for their response following Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.
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