Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been crowned the best footballer in the world by football governing body FIFA.
Ronaldo won the award ahead of rival Lionel Messi at football’s annual celebration of its top performers, Monday evening, in Zurich. It was the inaugural edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™.
Ronaldo spoke to FIFA.com after the ceremony:
“I have said it a few times: this has probably been the best year of my career. Having won the [UEFA EURO 2016] trophy with the national team obviously plays a big part in it – since it was a first for Portugal and this makes 2016 a very special year. But there is also Real Madrid winning the Champions League and then the Club World Cup to finish the year in the best possible manner. It was a spectacular year, a truly special one. I have no doubt that it has been my best since I have started to play football.
“I have no doubt that I am already a part of football’s history. This has always been my major goal, since I started playing: not only to become a player, but to be a star and constantly strive to be the best. And I did it: the trophies speak for themselves – both the titles, the individual awards, the records… It is a reason of great pride and it motivates me to keep on working the same way I have been doing so far.
“It is the first time that FIFA organises this award and this makes it even more special. It is an enormous privilege for me.”
The former Manchester United forward who had in December won the Ballon d’Or also expressed delight to have won the award via twitter. He thanked his teammates, coaches and supporters, saying they made it possible.
Delighted to win The Best FIFA award. Wouldn't be possible without my teammates, coaches and you who support me every day. Thanks everyone! pic.twitter.com/1E1VkaYbTu
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) January 9, 2017
The winners of the prestigious individual awards as the best of the last 12 months are:
The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo
The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016: Carli Lloyd
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016: Claudio Ranieri
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016: Silvia Neid
Focus on the fans
Football fans are at the heart of FIFA’s new award show. Not only did they take part in choosing the winners of the individual awards for the first time ever, they also had a recognition of their own. Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool supporters were chosen by other football fans from around the world and received the inaugural FIFA Fan Award for their unified singing of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in memory of those involved in the Hillsborough disaster.
Public voting on FIFA.com also decided the most beautiful goal of the season, with Mohd Faiz Subri taking the FIFA Puskás Award 2016 trophy back home to Malaysia.
The team of the year
The votes from over 45,000 players around the world decided the FIFA FIFPro World11, the football players’ own selection of the dream team of 2016. Here is the line-up:
Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer
Defenders: Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Andres Iniesta
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo
Paying tribute
Atlético Nacional were chosen by a panel of football experts as the deserving recipients of the FIFA Fair Play Award 2016. The Colombian club displayed humanity and compassion in face of the tragic plane crash that befell Chapecoense – the Brazilian club they were to face in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, and to whom, they insisted that the cup be given.
The evening also featured a homage to Alessandro Rosa Vieira, known more popularly as the “king of futsal”, Falcão. Following his retirement from the national team after the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016, the Brazilian legend was lauded with the FIFA Award for an Outstanding Career.
The awards show was held at Zurich’s TPC studios and presented by Eva Longoria and Marco Schreyl. It featured performances by ‘vocal play’ pioneers Naturally 7 and English singer-songwriter Julian Perretta.
Key statistics:
The individual winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 were determined through a combined voting process, in which 50% of the decision was based on the votes of captains and head coaches from national teams all around the globe. The other 50% was split between an online public ballot of football fans and votes by a select group of media representatives from all around the world.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo: 34.54% of total votes
Lionel Messi: 26.42% of total votes
Antoine Greizmann: 7.53% of total votes
The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016: Carli Lloyd
Carli Lloyd: 20.68% of total votes
Marta: 16.60% of total votes
Melanie Behringer: 12.34% of total votes
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016: Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri: 22.6% of total votes
Zinédine Zidane: 16.56% of total votes
Fernando Santos: 16.24% of total votes
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016: Silvia Neid
Silvia Neid: 29.99% of total votes
Jill Ellis: 16.68% of total votes
Pia Sundhage: 16.47% of total votes
The voting procedure for each of the awards was supervised and monitored by the independent observer PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland.
And the details from the awards decided by public voting:
The FIFA Puskás Award 2016: Mohd Faiz Subri
Mohd Faiz Subri: 59.46% of total votes
Marlone: 22.86% of total votes
Daniuska Rodriguez: 10.01% of total votes
Others: 7.68% of total votes
FIFA Fan Award 2016: Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool supporters
Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool supporters: 45.92% of total votes
Iceland supporters: 31.37% of total votes
ADO Den Haag supporters: 22.71% of total votes
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