FIFA THE BEST AWARDS
Who has won the most Best FIFA Football Awards? The winners year by year
Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland will fight it out for this year’s men’s award, while one female coach could extend her FIFA The Best record.
Following a breakaway from 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 and Carli Lloyd picking up the first Best Player’s award. 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 2023 The Best FIFA Football Awards?
The 2023 The Best FIFA Football Awards will confusingly be held in 2024, on Monday 15 January to be precise. Inter Miami star Lionel Messi will be looking to win the men’s award for a second successive year in London following his electric start to life in the United States, although he will face stiff competition from fellow finalists Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, who continue to bang in the goals for Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City respectively.
Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas has won the women’s award for the last two years but drops out of contention this time around as a result of her injury issues. Her international teammates Aitana Bonmatí and Jenni Hermoso, who played key roles in Spain’s Women’s World Cup victory, are finalists along with Colombian prodigy Linda Caicedo, who shone on her World Cup debut in Australia and New Zealand.
FIFA The Best: past winners
The Best FIFA Men’s Player
2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2018: Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid)
2019: Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona)
2020: Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich)
2021: Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich)
2022: Lionel Messi (Argentina/Paris Saint-Germain)
The Best FIFA Women’s Player
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)
2021: Alexia Putellas (Spain/Barcelona)
2022: Alexia Putellas (Spain/Barcelona)
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper
2016: not awarded
2017: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Juventus)
2018: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium/Chelsea/Real Madrid)
2019: Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool)
2020: Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich)
2021: Édouard Mendy (Senegal/Chelsea)
2022: Emiliano Martínez (Argentina/Aston Villa)
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper
2016: not awarded
2017: not awarded
2018: not awarded
2019: Sari van Veenendaal (Netherlands/Arsenal/Atlético Madrid)
2020: Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon)
2021: Christiane Endler (Chile/PSG/Lyon)
2022: Mary Earps (England/Manchester United)
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach
2016: Claudio Ranieri (Leicester City)
2017: Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)
2018: Didier Deschamps (France)
2019: Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool)
2020: Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool)
2021: Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)
2022: Lionel Scaloni (Argentina)
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach
2016: Silvia Neid (Germany)
2017: Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)
2018: Reynold Pedros (Lyon)
2019: Jill Ellis (USWNT)
2020: Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)
2021: Emma Hayes (Chelsea)
2022: Sarina Wiegman (England)
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.
Ronaldo, Lewandowski and Messi tied for Best Men’s Player awards
Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2016 and 2017, as well as the Euros with Portugal in 2016, won the first two Best Men’s awards, an achievement that has since been matched by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski (2020 and 2021) and Messi (2019 and 2022).
England coach Sarina Wiegman made Best awards history last year
However, the most decorated Best recipient is Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, who last year 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 the Lionesses reached the World Cup final in August, Wiegman is once again one of the three finalists for Best Women’s Coach, alongside Chelsea’s Emma Hayes, who has agreed to become new manager of the USWNT, and Jonatan Giráldez, who led Barcelona Femení to Champions League victory in 2022-23.