FIFA Award Winners List: Origins and the list of winners

Every footballer’s dream is to trophies with their respective club and country, yet vying to become the best player is their holy grail. Football’s governing body, FIFA, hands this opportunity every year in the form of The Best FIFA awards to recognize the best-performing players in the sport. In simple terms, The FIFA Best is an equivalent of the Ballon d’Or, a prestigious award presented to the top-performing player in Europe by the French Football Association.

The Best FIFA Awards – Origins and the voting criteria

While the Ballon d’Or has a long history, stretching back to 1956, the FIFA Best Award was introduced as recently as 2017. The award ceremony will be generally at the start of a year and is presented to the top-most players based on their performances in a calendar year. The inaugural ceremony was held in January 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. In contrast to the Ballon d’Or, where the winners are decided by journalists and former winners, The Best FIFA award takes into account the voting from journalists, coaches and fans. 

There are also two more categories, namely the Best FIFA Goalkeeper and the Best FIFA Coach, handed to the top-performing shot-stoppers and managers. Similarly, women footballers are also recognized in the three categories during the award ceremony.

Best FIFA Award Winners List

Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo was the inaugural recipient of the Best FIFA Men’s Player in 2017 for his performances in 2016, and Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, and Robert Lewandowski also won the prize in the years that followed. As it stands, Messi has won the most number of awards (3).

Name	Team	Year
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	2016
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	2017
Luka Modric	Real Madrid	2018
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	2019
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	2020
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	2021
Lionel Messi	Paris Saint-Germain	2022
Lionel Messi	Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami	2023

Lionel Messi (2019, 2022, 2023)

The record Ballon d’Or holder has also won the most number of The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards (three times), one ahead of his long-standing rival Ronaldo (two). Messi had a fantastic 2018/19 season, registering impressive goals and assists numbers as well as single-handedly leading Barcelona to the La Liga crown while reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. In the 2021-22 season, La Pulga finished as the Pichichi winner with 30 goals as well as leading Barca to the Copa del Rey title, but the defining moment was lifting the Copa America 2021 with Argentina, thereby ending his long-running hoodoo at the international level.

The mercurial playmaker was also at the forefront of the fairly tail campaign, eventually awarded the best player of the tournament, which, in turn, led him to the Best FIFA award in 2022. Little was he aware at that point that he would go on to add more laurels to what was already a decorated career. Then came the zenith of his legacy, getting his hands at the holy grail – The FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Winning the Golden Ball for the second time ever – a rare feat, Messi further fortified his status as the best player in history.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2017, 2018)

Cristiano Ronaldo was arguably at the top of the football pyramid when he won the first two Best FIFA Best Player awards. Nobody came close to matching unparalleled success as he won three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid while finishing as the competition’s top scorer 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons – which also gave birth to his moniker ‘ Mr Champions League.” As an icing on the cake, he ended his trophy drought with Portugal by winning the Euro 2016. The Portuguese stalwart has also won the Ballon d’Or five times, the second most in history and only behind Messi. Currently in his twilight years, Ronaldo is still showing signs of slowing down as he continues to score week in and week out for his current employer Al Nassr.

Robert Lewandowski (2020, 2021)

Getting his name on the list two times amid competition from a legion of great players shows how much Robert Lewandowski has grown to see himself catapult into the pantheon of greats. Between 2020 and 2021, the Polish legend stood alone at the top of the mountain with his mind-blowing scoring records. He was a key driving force behind Bayern’s treble in the 19/20 season – also his first taste of the UCL title, netting more than 50 goals in all competitions. He also broke club legend Gerd Muller’s long-held record of most Bundesliga goals in a calendar year in 2021, surpassing the 40-goal mark. Furthermore, Lewy also finished 1st in the Ballon dor rankings in 2020, which was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19.

As Bayern’s second-highest goal scorer (344 goals), Lewandowski’s name always resonates throughout the club’s history books; moreover, he is arguably the best player in the Bundesliga in the last decade, having enjoyed a spectacular spell at Borussia Dortmund – which put him on the map – ahead of his move to Bayern. Records also followed him when he moved to Barcelona in 2022, winning the Pichichi trophy (awarded to the top scorer of La Liga) in his debut season. In a short tenure, Lewy has become a fan-favourite and an influential figure at Barca, not only because of his performances but also the way he is nurturing youngsters. 

Luka Modric (2018)

The year 2018 saw Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric break the hegemony of Messi and Ronaldo by winning the Ballon d’Or. It was the year that everyone began to embrace the Croatian as one of the greats of the game. Not only playing a hand in Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph in the 2017/18 season, Modric further fortified his legacy with a remarkable World Cup campaign that summer. He was the backbone of the Croatian underdogs, who finished as an unprecedented runners-up, which also further served as a springboard for them to continue their ascension in the years that followed.

It is 2024 and Modric is already 39 but he is still pulling strings in the midfield as he was in his prime, which is another testimony to his longevity. The history has been graced with some of the mercurial central midfielders, but few had a decorated career and an unparalleled legacy as Modric. Above all, it will be forever inspiring how Modric went from a failure at Tottenham Hotspur to becoming the best the game has ever seen.   

List of The Best FIFA Goalkeeper winners

Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon was the inaugural recipient of the Best FIFA Goalkeeper in 2017 following his impressive contributions to Juventus and the national team during the 2016/17 season. He played a key role in the Old Lady winning the Scudetto and ending up as the runners-up of the Champions League. Meanwhile, Thiabaut Cortois, Manuel Neuer, Alisson Becker, Edouard Mendy, and Emiliano Martinez have also bagged the prize over the years, with Man City’s Ederson being the latest winner in 2023.

Emi Martinez’s trophy in 2022 was quite special as he had less success with Aston Villa but in contrast, reached new heights by winning the FIFA World Cup 2020 with Argentina – besides, he was also the Golden Glove winner of the tournament. Ederson was bestowed with the honour after winning a treble with Manchester City in the 2022/23 season, which included the Cityzens’ first-ever Champions League title.

Name	Team	Year
Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	2017
Thibaut Courtois	Chelsea, Real Madrid	2018
Alisson Becker	Liverpool	2019
Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich	2020
Edouard Mendy	Chelsea	2021
Emiliano Martinez	Aston Villa	2022
Ederson	Manchester City	2023

List of The Best FIFA Coach winners

Italian mastermind Claudio Ranieri took home the inaugural Best FIFA Coach award after leading Leicester City to the Premier League trophy in 2016 – which is considered one of the most remarkable underdog stories in history. Former Liverpool gaffer Jurgen Klopp has the most number of awards (2), while Man City’s Pep Guardiola lifted the prize for the first time last year.

Name	Team	Year
Claudio Ranieri	Leicester City	2016
Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	2017
Didier Deschamps	France	2018
Jurgen Klopp	Liverpool	2019
Jurgen Klopp	Liverpool	2020
Thomas Tuchel	Chelsea	2021
Lionel Scaloni	Argentina	2022
Pep Guardiola	Manchester City	2023

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