The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023: how the voting system works

FIFA will host its annual “The Best” ceremony on Monday to celebrate players and coaches in football. Last year’s winners included Lionel Messi, Alexia Putellas, Lionel Scaloni and Sarina Wiegman. Given the time periods involved for each of the categories - that’s right, it’s not the same for all - Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is the clear favourite for the men’s title, but we won’t know for sure until the votes are counted and announced.

How does the voting for the The Best FIFA work?

The award differs from the Ballon d’Or by letting fans vote for their favorite player and coach. The selection process involves a jury comprising current national team coaches and captains, one journalist per national team, and fans registered on FIFA.com. Each group (coaches, captains, journalists, fans) contributes equally to the final vote, each accounting for one quarter of the total.

Participants can vote for candidates from their own country or team, but nominated individuals cannot vote for themselves. The individual votes of coaches, captains, and journalists are publicly disclosed on FIFA.com. Each jury member nominates their top three choices for players, coaches, and goalkeepers in order of preference, based on set criteria. Full details.

The timeframe for eligibility for the women’s categories, including The Best Women’s Player, The Best Women’s Coach, and The Best Women’s Goalkeeper, spanned from 1 August 2022 to 20 August 2023, concluding on the date of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final.

For the men’s categories, encompassing The Best Men’s Player, The Best Men’s Coach, and The Best Men’s Goalkeeper, the qualification period was set from 19 December 2022 to 20 August 2023. The same period is used for the FIFA Puskás Award.

The Best FIFA finalists

The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper Award Finalists

Mackenzie Arnold (Australia / West Ham United FC)

Catalina Coll (Spain / FC Barcelona)

Mary Earps (England / Manchester United)

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper Award Finalists

Yassine Bounou (Morocco / Sevilla FC / Al Hilal)

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium / Real Madrid CF)

Ederson (Brazil / Manchester City FC)

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach Award Finalists

Jonatan Giráldez (Spain / FC Barcelona)

Emma Hayes (England / Chelsea FC)

Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands / England)

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach Award Finalists

Pep Guardiola (Spain / Manchester City FC)

Simone Inzaghi (Italy / FC Internazionale Milano)

Luciano Spalletti (Italy / SSC Napoli)

The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award Finalists

Aitana Bonmatí (Spain / FC Barcelona)

Linda Caicedo (Colombia / Deportivo Cali Femenino / Real Madrid CF)

Jennifer Hermoso (Spain / CF Pachuca Femenil)

The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award Finalists

Erling Haaland (Norway / Manchester City FC)

Kylian Mbappé (France / Paris Saint-Germain)

Lionel Messi (Argentina / Paris Saint-Germain / Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami)

FIFA Puskás Award Finalists

Julio Enciso (Paraguay / Brighton & Hove Albion FC)

Guilherme Madruga (Brazil / Botafogo Futebol Clube)

Nuno Santos (Portugal / Sporting CP)

Where are The Best FIFA Football Awards hosted?

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023, the eighth in its relatively short history, will take place in London, with the ceremony scheduled to get going at 2:30 pm ET / 11:30 am PT.

The Best 2022 winners

Here’s who picked up the awards last year:

We at AS USA will bring you the event live on Monday.