There were no surprises as Ronaldo won player of the year at FIFA’s rebranded awards. Other notable winners were Claudio Ranieri, who won coach of the year, and Germany’s Silvia Neid, named women’s coach of the year.Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned world player of the year at FIFA’s new ‘The Best’ awards.
Ronaldo adds FIFA’s showpiece award to the Ballon d’Or title he picked up in December, with the Real Madrid and Portugal star once again beating Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann to first place.
“I’m very happy and I can say that 2016 was the best year of my career,” said Ronaldo as he was presented the award by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
France Football, who present the Ballon d’Or, severed their six-year association with FIFA last year, leading to the creation of FIFA’s rebranded annual ceremony to be staged every January.
Claudio Ranieri won coach of the year for guiding Leicester City to the Premier League title, and Silvia Neid, the former head coach of the German women’s football team, won women’s coach of the year for guiding Germany to Olympic gold. The award for women’s player of the year went to USA’s Carli Lloyd.
The Puskas Award, given for the year’s best goal, was awarded to Mohd Faiz Subri for his amazing free-kick in the Malaysian Super League.
Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool shared the fan award for their spine-tingling joint rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in last season’s Europa League.
The evening’s most emotional winners were Colombian side Atletico Nacional, who forfeited the Copa Sudamericana final following the Chapecoense tragedy. They were given the fair play award.
