The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021: full list of award winners
Christine Sinclair wins the women's special award
The Best Women's Goalkeeper is Christiane Endler
The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper is Édouard Mendy
Erik Lamela wins the Puskas Award
Denmark National team and medical team win the FIFA Fair Play Award
Emma Hayes is The Best FIFA Women's Coach
Thomas Tuchel is The Best Men's Coach
The Best FIFA Fan Award winner is the Denmark and Finland fans
Alexia Putellas wins The Best Women's Player of the Year
Robert Lewandowski wins The Best Men's Player of the Year for 2021
Cristiano Ronaldo collects an award for being the top men's international goalscorer of all time
Ronaldo wins Special Best Men's award
FIFA President Gianni Infantino presents the FIFA Special Best Men's award to Cristiano Ronaldo during the Best FIFA Football Awards 2021 in Zurich.
Photo by Harold Cunningham / AFP
No Putellas in World XI
Just bear with me here for a second. Alexia Putellas won The Best Women's Player of the Year for 2021 but has not made it into the FIFPRO World XI...
Haaland joins Lewy in attack
No room for Mbappé in the FIFPRO XI but Haaland makes his way into the forward line.
FIFA FIFPRO Men's World XI
Ronaldo takes home another trophy
Lamela wins the Puskas Award
This rabona by Lamela for Tottenham against Arsenal is outrageous and a deserving winner of the Puskas Award for best goal in 2021.
And that's a wrap. Reshmin Chowdhury finishes the ceremony by saying: "Thanks so much for watching, it has been a pleasure to have your company."
Lewandowski comes out on top again
Cristiano Ronaldo receives award
Cristiano Ronaldo is the top men's international goalscorer of all time with 115 goals and counting.
"It's a dream. Thank you to my team-mates, especially the national team over the last 20 years. I never thought I'd beat this record. I'm so proud," Ronaldo says.
Lewandowski: "I'm honoured to win this trophy. I'm very proud. This belongs to my team-mates and my coaches."
Lewandowski wins it again!
The Best Men's Player of the Year 2021
The Best Men's Player of the Year for 2021 is Robert Lewandowski!
Robert Lewandowski, who won the men’s award last year, is once again in the running.
The Best Men's Player of the Year 2021 nominees
The finalists for the 2021 Best Men's Player award are: Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah.
Putellas becomes the first female Spanish player to win the award. "We have a lot of talent in Spain," she says.
Alexia Putellas is the winner!
Putellas says: "I would like to thank all my team-mates. This award is for all of them."
The Best Women's Player of the Year 2021 nominees
Barcelona players Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso are considered strong contenders after a stellar season with the Catalan club. Chelsea's Sam Kerr completes the final three nominees.
Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandowski and Haaland in attack!
"I'm happy to have made the team. I've been watching people score goals all my life. This is a good feeling," Haaland says.
That team definitely wouldn't have an issue scoring goals!
FIFA FIFPRO Men's World XI
This Men's team is as follows:
Gianluigi Donnarumma - David Alaba, Ruben Dias, Leonardo Bonucci - Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne - Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi.
Carli Lloyd: "This team would be strong defensively, gritty, but we would also score a lot of goals."
It's a very impressive Women's team with a mix of players from across the world!
FIFA FIFPRO Women's World XI
Endler - Bronze, Renard, Bright, Eriksson - Banini, Lloyd, Bonansea - Miedema, Marta, Morgan.
FIFPRO World XI
Time for the FIFPRO World XI...
I don't think we'll ever forget that match between Denmark and Finland and thankfully Christian Eriksen is still here with us.
The Best FIFA Fan Award winner is the Denmark and Finland fans for their gesture during the terrifying moment as Christian Eriksen's life was being saved on the side of the pitch during the Euro 2020 match between the two nations.
When the fans heard that Eriksen was stable in hospital, the fans united and came together to celebrate life. The different sides of the grounds were chanting together as Eriksen was recovering in hospital.
FIFA Fan Award
Julio Cesar is here to present to fan award. The former Brazilian keeper is in good spirits!
Mendy, Hayes and Tuchel have all taken home FIFA Awards. A proud day for the club.
Chelsea have their third award!
Tuchel: "I enjoy the journey that I'm on. I'm a good fit at Chelsea. I'm grateful to have such wonderful people around me at the club. We are still following our goals and trying to compete at the highest level."
Tuchel: "I've just come from training, this is pretty surreal, I feel a bit uncomfortable!"
The Best Coach Award goes to the exceptional Thomas Tuchel!
Arsene Wenger is on hand to reveal the winner
"In my role at FIFA, I'm here to help young players to develop across the world. There are many countries that don't give players the opportunity. We need coaches. In Europe, the situation is almost perfect," Wenger says.
The Best FIFA Men's Coach 2021 nominees
Pep Guardiola, Roberto Mancini and Thomas Tuchel are the three finalists in the running for The Best FIFA Men's Coach award.
Hayes is the winner!
Emma Hayes is the winner!
The Chelsea boss admits she is quite shocked at winning the award!
"I'm not usually stunned, but I am! The coach is only as good as the people around them and we have great people at Chelsea."
The Best FIFA Women's Coach 2021
Emma Hayes, Chelsea Women's manager, Barcelona Women's coach Lluis Cortes and Sarina Wiegman of the Netherlands are the nominees.
FIFA Fair Play Award
The FIFA Fair Play Award winner goes to the Denmark National team and their medical team and staff for their role in saving the life of player Christian Eriksen at the Euros last summer.
We now have a nice tribute to German football legend Gerd Müller, who passed away in August.
Lamela: "I never practice this type of shot. It just comes to you!"
Lamela scored a rabona for Tottenham against Arsenal in the North London derby!
Lamela wins the Puskas Award
The winner of the Puskas Award is Erik Lamela
A truly magnificent goal and a fully deserved winner.
The nominees for the Puskas Award are:
Erik Lamela (March 14, 2021, Tottenham vs Arsenal)
Patrik Schick (June 14, 2021, Czech Republic vs Scotland)
Mehdi Taremi (April 13, 2021, Porto vs Chelsea)
The Puskas Award!
Now it's time to celebrate the goalscorers. Yaya Toure makes his way onto the stage to reveal the winner...
And the winner of the Men's goalkeeper award is... Édouard Mendy.
There has been a technical issue with Mendy's line so Schmeichel takes over to take about the Chelsea man.
The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper 2021 nominees
Peter Schmeichel is now in the studio and will reveal the winner of the Men's goalkeeper award.
Chelsea's Edouard Mendy, Bayern Munich netminder Manuel Neuer and Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma are the three nominees.
Endler is delighted with the award and says she wants to win the Champions League with Lyon. "I hope we can do it this year".
And the winner is... Christiane Endler!
Endler becomes the first South American player to win this award. She is Lyon and Chile's goalkeeper.
The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper 2021 nominees
England's most capped player female player Fara Williams has joined Reshmin Chowdhury and Jermaine Jenas on the stage.
Ann-Katrin Berger from Chelsea is in the running for the Women's Goalkeeper award alongside Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbe and Christiane Endler.
Former NBA player Steve Nash comes on to congratulate Sinclair on her Special Award. A nice moment between two Canadian legends.
Christine Sinclair is now live, talking to Giovanni Infantino.
"I'd like to thank FIFA for this once-in-a-lifetime recognition. I'd like to thank my family, allowing a young girl to leave home and chase her dreams."
Christine Sinclair wins the women's special award
The first special award is for Christine Sinclair. She scored an astonishing 188 goals for Canada, setting the all-time international record.
"I want to inspire young girls to follow their crazy, wild dreams," she says.
FIFA president Giovanni Infantino is here. He welcomes everyone to the home of FIFA.
"Millions of people are watching tonight. This is a celebration of football," Infantino says.
"Football is here to bring joy. We are here to celebrate football and reveal the best players in the world."
The ceremony has started with a special video on the return of fans to football after experiencing a tough time due to the pandemic.
Today is a virtual event. There are also two new awards. More on that in a bit...
If you are just joining our live coverage of The Best awards. They are getting underway in just a few minutes. The ceremony begins at 1pm ET / 7pm CET.
It will be held at the home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland, with Reshmin Chowdhury and Jermaine Jenas presenting.
Best Men's Coach of the year award
FIFA have a three-man shortlist for the Best Men's Coach of the year award for 2021.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel and Italy head coach Roberto Mancini are up for the gong.
The Best Men's Player 2021
That is not a bad forward line!
Lewandowski, Messi and Salah are the final candidates for the men's award.
The initial list of candidates looked like this:
Karim Benzema (France / Real Madrid CF)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium / Manchester City FC)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal / Juventus FC / Manchester United FC)
Erling Haaland (Norway / BV Borussia 09 Dortmund)
Jorginho (Italy / Chelsea FC)
N’Golo Kanté (France / Chelsea FC)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland / FC Bayern München)
Kylian Mbappé (France / Paris Saint-Germain)
Lionel Messi (Argentina / FC Barcelona / Paris Saint-Germain)
Neymar (Brazil / Paris Saint-Germain)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt / Liverpool FC)
The action gets underway in less than 30 minutes. We'll be bringing you all the winners as they are revealed.
FIFA Puskas Award
The nominees for the Puskas Award are:
Erik Lamela (March 14, 2021 Tottenham vs Arsenal)
Patrik Schick (June 14, 2021 Czech Republic vs Scotland)
Medhi Taremi (April 13, 2021 Porto vs Chelsea)
Three wonderful goals here. My personal favourite is Lamela's rabona for Spurs against Arsenal in the North London derby.
The voting is carried out by an international jury which composes of national team managers and captains and a pool of journalists.
Here's how the organisers explain it:
"The Best FIFA Men's Player is given to the most outstanding player in men's football as voted for by an international jury comprising the current coaches of all men's national teams (one per team), current captains of all men's national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com.
"From a shortlist of 11 male players, the panel will select the winner for their respective achievements during the period from 8 October 2020 to 7 August 2021."
As well as the high-profiled men's category, there are also The Best awards for women, goalkeepers and coach. All rules, conditions and voting guidance is provided in this wordy doc from FIFA.
Women's Player of the Year
Here at the previous female winners of The Best Award:
2016: Carli Lloyd (USA/Houston Dash)
2017: Lieke Martens (Netherlands/FC Barcelona)
2018: Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride)
2019: Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC)
2020: Lucy Bronze (England/Manchester City)
Current Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas is in the running this year. The Barcelona and Spain star is competing against Jennifer Hermoso and Sam Kerr for the 2021 award.
Following a breakaway from the prestigious magazine France Football, who oversaw the 'Ballon d'Or award, FIFA created their own individual award and staged the first 'The Best' ceremony in January, 2017 in Zurich (Switzerland) with Cristiano Ronaldo picking up the first award.
The voting for this award is carried out by an international jury which composes of national team managers and captains, a pool of journalists and a percentage of the vote is also made by fans who vote through the FIFA website.
Can Messi add to his Ballon d'Or award?
Robert Lewandowski, who won the men’s award last year, is in the running again. The Bayern striker is up against Lionel Messi and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah for the men's award.
Your presenters for the 2021 football awards will be Reshmin Chowdhury and Jermaine Jenas who will coordinate the handing out of the prizes of recognition after the achievements over the past year.
The Best FIFA Football Awards are being held today for the sixth time.
The annual awards honour the most outstanding members in the world of football.
The best men’s and women’s players of the last year will receive their honours, while the highly regarded Puskas Award is also up for grabs to celebrate the best goal in 2021.
The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021: Hello & welcome!
Hello and welcome to AS USA's live coverage of The Best FIFA Football Awards for 2021.