The Best FIFA Football Awards: Cristiano Ronaldo wins, Claudio Ranieri top coach
Cristiano Ronaldo has pipped Lionel Messi and Antione Griezmann to win the FIFA Best player of the year award. Relive all the highlights of the Best FIFA awards here
Cristiano Ronaldo has pipped Lionel Messi and Antione Griezmann to win the FIFA Best player of the year award. Carli Lloyd of the United States won the FIFA best women’s player award while Caludio Ranieri won the award for the best coach of the year. Relive all the highlights of the Best FIFA awards here. (ALL YOU NEED KNOW OF THE AWARDS | STREAMING INFO)
12:25 hrs IST: Cristiano Ronaldo, you legend. Wins the FIFA Award for the best player of the year. He had mentioned that 2016 has been a magnificent year for him. In addition to winning the Champions League with Real Madrid, Euro with Portugal and the Ballon D’Or, this award caps his brilliant year.
12:16 hrs IST: Carli Lloyd of USA wins the FIFA award for the best female footballer of the year. Right, now we are down to the final award of the day. This is the big one. Who will win it?
00:07 hrs IST: Mohd Faiz Subri wins the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of 2016. It was a brilliant goal.
00:03 hrs IST: Brazil’s Radamel Falcao wins the award for FIFA outstanding career.
23:58 hrs IST: Claudio Ranieri, who was the main person behind the miracle of Leicester City winning the Premier League, has been awarded the best coach award.
23:51 hrs IST: Atletico Nacional win the FIFA Fair play award for their amazing gesture following the Chapecoense disaster in which 71 players were killed in a plane crash. They decided to award the title to Chapecoense
23:46 hrs IST: Cristiano Ronaldo: I hope to get the award. It is a great feeling. 2016 was a dream year. For Real Madrid, we won the Champions League. For Portugal, we won the Euro for the first time. Amazing year.
23:40 hrs IST: There is a performance from British singer Julian Perretta. More awards will follow after this.
23:39 hrs IST: Earlier, there was a tribute paid to legendary Dutch football player Johann Cruyff and Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto
23:38 hrs IST: Silvia Neid of Germany wins the FIFA Award for the best women’s coach.
23:30 hrs IST: The next segment is about a football documentary about the rise of Jordan in football and how their infrastructure has improved.
23:29 hrs IST: Carli Lloyd, Melanie Behringer and Mata are the three nominees for the FIFA Women’s Football player of the year.
23:22 hrs IST: Yelena Isinbayeva is present and will give the award. Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool supporters get the FIFA Fan award. The moment is during the UEFA cup game when fans of both teams sang the song, “You will never walk alone”. This event was to pay tribute to the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster during the 1989 FA Cup.
23:14 hrs IST: Toni Kroos, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Dani Alves and Luca Modric are the other players.
23:10 hrs IST: The FIFA FifPro XI is up first. Manuel Neur is the best goalkeeper in the team, followed by the usual list of Ronaldo and Messi. There are four players from Barcelona XI. Andre Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are not available to take the award as they are preparing for a Copa Del Rey match against Athletic Bilbao.
23:05 hrs IST: The ceremony has begun with some song and dance. The song, “I have been waiting for this moment” by Natural 7 is first up. And then, here comes Eva Longoria, the host for the evening.
22:58 hrs IST: Cristiano Ronaldo has swag and style and he showed it in a great way when he arrived at the ceremony.
22:53 hrs IST: The awards ceremony is just 10 minutes away. Meanwhile, it was good news for Indian fans of Real Madrid. Bollywood’s Badshah, superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was presented with an honorary Real Madrid jersey.
22:46 hrs IST: Cristiano Ronaldo arrives and there is a massive reception. Meanwhile, most of the members have arrived at the main venue. Some of the members actually spilled over from the barricade to have a glimpse of him and the security staff had to intervene.
22:37 hrs IST: Toni Kroos arrives at the venue. He has been plagued by injury but he will be aiming to do well for Real Madrid in the Champions League.
22:28 hrs IST: Sergio Ramos, who scored a goal for Real Madrid in the Champions League, gets a huge reception and he obliges with some autographs.
22:26 hrs IST: Cristiano Ronaldo has had a memorable 2016. He won the Champions League with Real Madrid but his crowning moment would definitely being part of the Portugal squad in clinching their maiden Euro title.
22:20 hrs IST: Zinedine Zidane arrives and there is a loud cheer. Chants of “Zizou, Zizou” are reverberating outside the arena. Marcello, Brazil international, also arrives and he indulges in some football skills.
22:16 hrs IST: All the stars are arriving for the event. Eva Longoria, a Hollywood actress best known for her role in the serial Desperate Housewives, will be hosting the show.
22:14 hrs IST: A warm welcome to The Best FIFA Awards. Today, the best player in the world will be crowned. Will it be Lionel Messi or will it be Cristiano Ronaldo? Or could it be a surprise in Antoine Griezmann? Live updates of the event here
There are several categories of awards in this event. The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach Award, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach Award, The FIFA Puskas Award 2016, The FIFA Fair Play Award and the FIFA fan award.
Barring the Men’s player award, the other interesting award that will be monitored is the FIFA Men’s coach award. Will Claudio Ranieri, who scripted the 5000-1 miracle for Leicester City in the Premier League get the award or will Zinedine Zidane, who has rejuvenated Real Madrid C.F get the top honour?
In this event, there will be fan votes for The FIFA Puskas Award and FIFA Fan Award. There will be a 50 percent split between an online public ballot of fans (25 per cent) and submissions from a selected group of media representatives (25 per cent). The voting took place between November 4 and 22, 2016 and it was monitored by the independent observer, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland.
