FIFA celebrates The Best gala on Monday, January 17. The award ceremony for the best soccer players and coaches of the year 2021 in different male and female categories will take place at the headquarters of the highest international soccer body in Zurich (Switzerland). Below we provide you with everything you need to know about the event, which will be telematic for health reasons due to covid-19.
The Best 2021 awards will be delivered on January 17, 2022
the nominations
Messi already won the Ballon d’Or at the end of the year
Best player and player of the year
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski is seeking to be named footballer of the year for the second time in a row, but it won’t be easy. PSG and former Barça footballer Leo Messi, six-time winner of the award, and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) are the other candidates.
In the women’s category, two players from Barcelona, European champion last season, are up for the award: Jennifer Hermoso and Alèxia Putellas. Chelsea’s Australian Sam Kerr has the fewest options.
Alexia Putellas and Jenni Hermoso celebrate a goal
Puskas Award
This prize is awarded to the footballer who has scored the most spectacular goal of the year, regardless of the competition and the gender or nationality of its author. The candidates this year are the Argentine Érik Lamela (Tottenham) for his rabona goal against Arsenal in the Premier League, the Iranian Mehdi Taremi (Porto) for his Chilean goal against Chelsea in the Champions League and the Czech Patrick Schick for his goal from midfield against Scotland in the last European Championship.
Best goalkeeper and goalkeeper
The goalkeepers, the great forgotten of individual awards, are taken into account at the FIFA gala. The three men’s finalists are Gianluigi Donnarumma, a former Milan player and current PSG goalkeeper who stood out for his superb performance in the European Championship that he won with Italy; the Senegalese Édouard Mendy, decisive for Chelsea to lift the Champions League; and a legend like Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich).
In the women’s category, the absence of San Paños, European champion with Barça, is surprising. The candidates are the German Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea), the Canadian Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbé (former Rosengard and now a PSG player) and the great favorite, the Chilean Christiane Endler, PSG’s goalkeeper last season and currently at the mighty Olympique de Lyon.
Best coach and trainer
There are four male and two female technicians between the two categories. Lluís Cortés, who led Barça’s treble from the bench, is up for the best coach of the year in women’s football along with the English Emma Hayes (Chelsea) and the Dutch Sarina Wiegman (former Netherlands coach and now England coach).
Lluís Cortés, during a match with Barcelona
In men’s football, the Catalan Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), the Italian Roberto Mancini (Italian team) and the German Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea) are up for the award.
best hobby
The best fans of the year will be announced on the day of the gala.
Premio al Fair Play
In this edition the winner seems clear, since among the nominees is the Danish team, its medical team and its coaching staff after being crucial in saving the life of its star Christian Eriksen in a match of the European Championship.
The other two candidates are manager Claudio Ranieri, for his show of respect, and Celtic captain Scott Brown for his gesture towards Glen Kamara, a Glasgow Rangers player (the eternal rival) who had received racist insults.
Eriksen’s scare during the European Championship
the note
Incredibly, for eleven consecutive years (2009-2019), the award went to a player from the Spanish league: Messi (6 times), Ronaldo (5) and Luka Modric (1). The only winners to compete outside of Spain in this century have been Zinedine Zidane (Juventus in 2000), Kaká (AC Milan in 2007), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United in 2008) and Lewandowski (Bayern Munich in 2020).
Schedule and where to see the gala The Best
The event can be followed on the FIFA channel on YouTube this Monday from 7:00 p.m. In addition, the website The vanguard will offer live and online monitoring of everything that happens at the event.
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