The Best FIFA Football Awards: Live results as the world’s top players and coaches are honored

For the second time in a row, Carli Lloyd has been named the top player in women’s soccer, earning The Best FIFA Women’s Player award on Monday. She beat out finalists Melanie Behringer of Germany and Marta of Brazil to win the award.

Lloyd scored 15 goals for the USWNT in 2016, with four of those goals coming in Olympic qualifying and two at Rio 2016. Lloyd also scored five goals for her club team, the Houston Dash.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named The Best FIFA men’s player of the year for 2016, giving the Real Madrid star yet another honor to a trophy cabinet that started to overflow with them over the course of the last year. Last year saw Ronaldo win the Ballon d’Or — no longer FIFA’s top award, but still handed out to the top European player by the France Football publication — earn a spot in FIFPro’s World XI squad, and even earn a place in UEFA’s All-Time Euro XI before helping Portugal win Euro 2016.

Ronaldo scored 42 goals for Real Madrid in 2016, plus three more for Portugal during their run to the Euro 2016 championship, and a further ten in World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies for his country. That 48-goal total is incredibly impressive and not a figure that many players can reach, and the fact that Ronaldo reached it during a time when many observers feel he’s starting to slow down is even more impressive.

Last February, Mohd Faiz Subri of Penang FC in Malaysia scored a free kick the likes of which hasn’t been seen before. It curled to the left, quickly swung back to the right and appeared to be swerving out of play. Instead, it dropped perfectly into the top corner, and for that, he’s won the FIFA Puskas Award for best goal of the year.

The goal has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, FIFA’s rules prevent us from embedding it here, but you can watch the goal over at their website. Subri was emotional as he accepted the award, and amusingly struggled to find his speech on his phone.

Leicester City famously overcame 5000-to-1 odds to become Premier League champions last season, and their manager has been honored for his accomplishments. FIFA named Claudio Ranieri as The Best FIFA men’s coach of 2016 for his work in charge of the Foxes.

Ranieri was a last-minute hire after Nigel Pearson’s exit in 2015, and he wasn’t a popular choice after he struggled while in charge of Greece. But Ranieri turned out to be the perfect manager for Leicester, as he quickly figured out how to get the best from his players. Under Ranieri, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, and N’Golo Kante transformed from virtual unknowns into global superstars.

The naming of the FIFPro World XI kicked off The Best FIFA Awards on Monday, and there was a notable snub. Despite being named as one of the three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player, Atlético Madrid star Antoine Griezmann was not named to the World XI, with Luis Suarez sneaking into the team ahead of him.

Only one player who did not spend part of 2016 with Real Madrid or Barcelona was selected for the team. That’s Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who now appears to be a near-permanent fixture in this team. Dani Alves is the only other World XI player not currently on one of Spain’s big two teams, after he made a move to Juventus in the summer.

FIFA’s annual awards ceremony takes place in Zurich on Monday, with a grand total of eight prizes up for grabs. The ceremony has this year been rebranded, with the Ballon d’Or having been replaced by The Best FIFA Men’s Player. That’s just one of a raft of changes, some of which will have more material consequences. For the first time this year, fans have been invited to participate in the voting, with the previous award having been nominated only by journalists, coaches, and captains.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the early favorite to win the men’s award, which would see him reclaim the prize from Lionel Messi. The Argentine attacker is, however, also in the running this time around, alongside Frenchman Antoine Griezmann. As for the women’s prize, Marta, who has won the FIFA World Player of the Year award five times previously, goes head to head with Germany’s Melanie Behringer and United States veteran Carli Lloyd.