Cristiano wins AS.com poll as The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016
The striker from Madeira topped the AS.Com online survey with Barça's Leo Messi coming second and Atleti striker Griezmann third <ul> <li> Champions League semi-final first leg: <a href=" http://en.as.com/en/2017/05/02/football/1493711828_941024.html" title="Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid live online, Champions League semi-final"> Real Madrid-Atletico live</a>. </li> </ul>
FIFA announced a shortlist of 23 players aspiring to win the new The Best FIFA Men's Player 2016 award, a prize which substitutes the FIFA Ballon d'Or award. The voting process has changed too with 50% of the total votes being decided by members of the public who will be asked to vote online. The other 50% will be decided by national team coaches and captains along with selected members of the global press corps.
REVEALED: The 23 candidates for #TheBest FIFA Men's Player Award 2016
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) November 4, 2016
More info: https://t.co/zogL124IEL pic.twitter.com/5Uj9gR52Fi
As.com carried out a survey asking readers who they felt deserved the award. Cristiano Ronaldo was the resounding winner securing 53,02% of the vote. Barcelona striker Leo Messi came second with 27,67% of the total vote followed by Antoine Griezmann in third place with 7,15%.
Bale fourth
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These three players totaled 87,84% of the total vote with the other 20 candidates sharing the remainder. Gareth Bale secured (2,2%), Alexis (1,70%) Modric (1,33%) Iniesta (1,31%) with surprisingly Neymar securing just 0,15% of the overall vote.
The winner will be announced on January 9, 2017 at a FIFA gala event along with another seven awards including, best female player, goal of the year, coach of the year, Fair Play award, supporters of the year...
Nominees (in alphabetical order):
Sergio Agüero (Argentina/Manchester City)
Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Juventus)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (BelgiumManchester City)
Antoine Griezmann (France/Atlético Madrid)
Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain/Manchester United)
Andrés Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona)
N’Golo Kanté (France/Leicester City/Chelsea)
Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich)
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Leicester City)
Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona)
Luka Modrić (Croatia/Real Madrid)
Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona),
Mesut Özil (Germany/Arsenal)
Dimitri Payet (France/West Ham United)
Paul Pogba (France/Juventus/Manchester United)
Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid)
Alexis Sánchez (Chile/Arsenal)
Luis Suárez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona)
Jamie Vardy (England/Leicester City).