Cristiano Ronaldo lifts FIFA Best Player Award 2016

- FIFA lifetime achievement award: Alessandro "Falcão" Rosa Vieira

19:55 | Thanks for joining us this evening.

19:53 | A muito obrigado from the 2016 Fifa Men's Best Player and we are done in Zurich!

19:51 | Another space will have to be cleared in his Funchal museum for a further piece of silverware after the Portuguese led his nation to Euro 2016 glory and helped Real Madrid to the Champions League title.

19:50 | And... no major surprise here... it's Ronaldo!

19:48 | The Men's Award is next up... Just a reminder that it's Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and Leo Messi in line for the gong.

19:46 | And the winner is... Carli Lloyd! The USA and Houston Dash midfielder retains her award.

19:45 | And Batigol is the man to present the award.

19:43 | And now we're on to the Women's Award...

19:38 | And now we have just the Men's and Women's awards to go. With a suitable pause of course... some more music now, with an A cappella version While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

19:36 | And the winner is... Mohd Faiz Subri! His stunning free kick for Penang FA takes the coveted award. 

19:35 | And here we go with the Puskas Award! Ronaldo Nazario to do the honours...

19:33 | It will take far too long to list Falcão's achievements, there isn't anything he hasn't won and he bagged 201 goals in 339 games for Brazil.

19:31 | And it goes to Brazilian futsal star Falcão!

19:30 | Voting for the Puskas Prize is now closed. And now we're on to the lifetime achievement award...

19:27 | Dilly ding, dilly dong, he doesn't say as he accepts the award for leading Leicester City to the Premier League title last season.

19:26 | And the winner is... Claudio Ranieri!

19:25 | And none other than the Cosmic Barrel, Diego Armando Maradona, is the man to ease the envelope open...

19:22 | And now we're on to the Best FIFA Men's Coach Award, with Claudio Ranieri, Fernando Santos and Zinedine Zidane up for the gong.

19:20 | And of course it goes to Atlético Nacional, who asked Conmebol to name Chapecoense champions of the Copa Sudamericana after the air disaster in which 71 people were killed when the Brazilian side was travelling to Colombia to play Nacional in the first leg of the final.

19:15 | Griezmann and Ronaldo go through their paces on stage. Eva Longoria breaks out some French to ask Griezmann a few questions. And now we're on to the Fair Play Award...

19:14 | And we're having a look now at the nominees for FIFA Men's Player Award (Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and Leo Messi).

19:12 | He does have an album called "Stitch me Up." We'll assume that's what the presenter meant.

19:10 | Another reminder that voting for the Puskas Award is still open... And now some more music. "Get it up for Julian Perretta," Marco Schreyl says rather unfortunately.

19:06 | Germany of course triumphed at the Rio Olympics. Neid also has a win percentage of 73.96 percent over 169 games, which is impressive.

19:05 | Frank Rijkaard to announce this one, and the winner is... Silvia Neid!

19:02 | We guess they'll be announcing the winner of that one later... And now we're on to the coaches. Jill Ellis, Silvia Neid and Pia Sundhage are the nominees for Best Women's Coach.

19:01 | Ah, ok, it's a look back over the year in women's football, with the under-20 tournament in Papua New Guinea now being featured.

19:00 | And the award goes to... oh, hang on, they're off the stage and we're having a look now at the Fifa under-17 Women's World Cup in Jordan.

18:56 | And we move on the award for The Best FIFA Women's Player. The nominees are Melanie Behringer, Carli Lloyd and Marta...

18:55 | And there are some touching words from the representatives of both clubs.

18:53 | And it goes to Dortmund and Liverpool's supporters for their show of solidarity during a Europa League match.

18:50 | Next up is the award for the best set of fans... voted on by the fans. Iceland, Liverpool and Dortmund coming together in remembrance of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, and ADO den Haag, whose fans rained toys on the home support in Feyenoord in aid of a local children's charity, are the nominees. 

18:48 | Attention now switches to Johan Cruyff and Carlos Alberto, who passed away in 2016, with a video tribute.

18:46 | The inevitable awkward selfie opportunity arrives.

18:44 | Andrés Iniesta is speaking on a video message on behalf of Barcelona's contingent, who are not in Zurich as they prepare for the Copa del Rey game against Athletic on Wednesday.

18:42 | And indeed not. The FIFPro World XI in full is: Manuel Neuer; Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Andrés Iniesta; Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez.

18:40 | It's not going to full of surprises by the look of this video montage...

18:38 | You can still vote for your favourite goal for the Puskas Award on the Fifa website, with voting to close in an hour. And first up tonight will be the FIFPro XI...

18:37 | If you were also wondering about these new trophies, the ball on top is based on the one used at the first World Cup in Uruguay.

18:36 | The presenters are on stage now, and there will be eight awards in all this evening. You can see the full list below.

18:31 | And we're off! With a musical number to get everybody warmed up. It's a cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", lest you were wondering...

18.30 | We're about to get underway...

18:25 | The nominees for the award of best fans are being shown now, among them Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool's supporters during the Europa League and of course Iceland's fans and their famous hand clap at Euro 2016.

18:13 | And Cristiano Ronaldo arrives, pausing for photos with his jaw set in determined fashion.

18:10 | Toni Kroos arrives now to a huge ovation. A few words for the reporters and he glides into the auditorium with a beaming smile.

18:08 | Meanwhile, Barça vice-president has explained why there are no Camp Nou playing staff present at tonight's ceremony.

18:07 | A reverantial hush descends, surely this is the moment... 

18:05 | The limos have dried up a tad, the Fifa chap informs us, leading him to describe the interior of the ceremony site, which apparently has a "solid buffet." Come on Cristiano, help the man out...

18:00 | Paul Pogba has cleared up whose goal celebration is the best anyway... "His [Griezmann's 'Hotline Bling' goal celebration at EURO 2016] was special because he was the only one to do it. But my dab was more powerful around the world than his ‘Hotline Bling’ celebration." Is there an award for that this evening?

17:57 | Sergio Ramos puts in an appearance to huge cheers, looking very dapper in his tux and dickie bow.

17:56 | We don't envy the Fifa live reporter, who is plugging the gaps in star arrivals gamely enough. We are informed that the green carpet is green, because grass is green, you see...

17:52 | Luka Modric has now emerged from the steady stream of black cars and is signing autographs with the same ease he pings passes around. Great technique with his pen there.

17:51 | Zidane is being interviewed on the carpet now, to enthusiastic chants of "Zizou, Zizou!"

17:50 | Marcelo's son is also in attendance, in a matching tux to his dad. He takes a couple of swings at some footballs left lying around on the green carpet and... misses! just wide of the far post, both attempts. It was on his right foot though...

17:50 | Marcelo arrives and gets the biggest cheer of the evening so far...

17:45 | We've finally figured out where we've seen Dani Alves' number before... pretty sure it's the same one Antonio Banderas swashed his buckle in for the Zorro films.

17:40 | "An expectant hush" has fallen on the gathered fans, we're informed, so we can only assume Cristiano Ronaldo is imminent...

17:30 | Dani Alves has arrived sporting a rather eye-catching jacket, while Antoine Griezmann is doing the rounds on the green carpet. He's bring interviewed, in French, which leaves us largely guessing at what's being said... "We're playing for third" perhaps, the mantra of his club boss, Diego Simeone.

17:20 | Eva Longoria, described by the Fifa roving reporter as a "life-long football fan", has emerged onto the green carpet to a predominantly male roar. The Fifa chap now informs us that "she isn't wearing very much and it is very chilly in Zurich, so it's a brave performance from her..."

17:10 | Marta has arrived at the gala. The Brazil superstar has picked up a record five best player awards and been runner-up on four occasions. This year she is up against Carli Lloyd of the USA and Germany's Melanie Behringer.

16:50 | Meanwhile, Zidane has been named as the best French coach of the year by France Football, which will hardly rank up their with Brexit and Donald Trump in the list of 2016's biggest voting surprises.

16:30 | Just a couple of hours to go until the ceremony gets underway in Zurich. Cristiano Ronaldo is the overwhelming favourite for the men's award but what of the best coach? Fernando Santos guided Portugal to Euro 2016 glory while Zinedine Zidane led Real Madrid to the Champions League, but surely Claudio Ranieri's achievement at Leicester City will give him the nod... we'll find out anyway.

15:20 | Maradona, Van Basten, Batistuta, Desailly, Puyol & more all took part in a friendly game in the Zurich snow this morning.

14:35 | Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) will co-host the FIFA gala tonight along with German presenter Marco Schreyl

14:00 | FC Barcelona have announced that none of their players, including main prize contender Lionel Messi, will be attending the FIFA 'Best' Awards tonight. More on this story here.

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016: Preview

Respected French football magazine France Football and FIFA went their separate ways recently with the publication recuperating their original Ballon d'Or award, prompting the world's football governing body to look for a new award system. That award is titled simply "The Best" and the winners for the past year will be revealed tonight in the Swiss city of Zurich.

You can read everything else you need to know about the ceremony in our very informative article here!