Who has won the most Best FIFA Football Awards? The winners year by year

This evening in Doha, the world’s best soccer players, coaches, fans and goals of the past 12 months will be recognized at FIFA’s ‘The Best’ gala in Doha.

The Best is a relatively new award which runs in tandem with the prestigious Ballon d’Or which was first awarded in 1956 by France Football magazine. In 1991, FIFA created its own award, the FIFA World Player of the Year which for 19 years also ran in parallel with the Ballon d’Or, until 2010 when the two awards were merged.

That arrangement lasted until 2016. FIFA decided to break away from their partnership with France Football and create their own individual award.

The first ‘The Best’ ceremony was held in January 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carli Lloyd picking up the first main awards. The voting for this award is carried out by an international jury which is made up of national team managers and captains, and a pool of journalists, while a percentage of the vote is also made by fans who vote through the FIFA website.

When are the 2025 The Best FIFA Football Awards?

The 2025 The Best FIFA Football Awards, the tenth edition of FIFA’s annual gala, will be held at Fairmon Katara Hall in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday Dec. 16, 2025. The event is scheduled to begin at noon ET / 9 a.m. PT.

Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi picked up the men’s award in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Last year Vinicius Junior took home the award.

FIFA The Best: past winners

The Best FIFA Men’s Player

The Best FIFA Women’s Player

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper

The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach

Who has won the most FIFA The Best awards?

Given the award has only been going since 2017 (rewarding players for their 2016 performances), it is it perhaps not too much of a surprise that there have been few multiple winners.

Messi edges Cristiano to the most Best Men’s Player awards

Lionel Messi leads the men’s ranking with three wins (2019, 2022 and 2023), ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, won the first two Best Men’s awards, an achievement that has since been matched by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski (2020 and 2021).

Four for England coach Sarina Wiegman

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However, the most decorated Best recipient is Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, who in 2022 become the first person to win three awards. Having won Best Women’s Coach with the Netherlands in 2017 and 2020, she won the gong for a third time after leading England to the European Championship in the summer of 2022. She had also won the same tournament with her home nation five years earlier.

After guiding the Lionesses to the Women’s World Cup final in August 2023, Wiegman was voted the Best Women’s Coach at last year’s gala - the fourth time she has won the award.