Cristiano Ronaldo and Lieke Martens named The Best FIFA Men's and Women's players

Italian great Gianluigi Buffon claims inaugural The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award in London

*Zinedine Zidane and Sarina Wiegman voted The Best coaches of the season *

Following an incredible season of continental glory – at club and national team level, respectively – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lieke Martens today picked up football’s top individual accolades at The Best FIFA Football Awards™ in London.

Winner of the inaugural The Best Men’s Player award in January 2017, the Portuguese star was recognised by FIFA as the player of the year for the fifth time in his career, while 24-year-old Martens claimed her maiden award. Both players’ coaches on the way to their European titles – Real Madrid CF’s Zinedine Zidane and the Netherlands’ Sarina Wiegman – were also voted The Best.

The second edition of football’s official and most prestigious awards ceremony also introduced a new individual prize: The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award, given to Italy and Juventus FC’s Gianluigi Buffon, who was also chosen as the goalkeeper of the FIFA FIFPro World11.

Summary of the season’s individual awards presented at the London Palladium this evening:

The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo

The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Lieke Martens

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Zinedine Zidane

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon

Team of the season

Thousands of football players from around the world voted for their 11 peers who form this season’s FIFA FIFPro World11, *which was also revealed in London:*

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon

Defenders: Dani Alves, Leonardo Bonucci, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos

Midfielders: Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric

Strikers: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar

Of great goals and fans

Two awards were voted for directly by football fans from all around the world, who had their say on FIFA.com:

FIFA Puskás Award: Olivier Giroud With 36.17% of the 792,062 votes, Olivier Giroud’s incredible scorpion kick for Arsenal against Crystal Palace was chosen as the best goal of the season.

FIFA Fan Award: Celtic Supporters The Celtic fans received 55.92% of votes and were commended for the stunning 360-degree card displayed around Celtic Park during the final match of the Scottish League season, paying homage to the 50th anniversary of the club’s European Cup title of 1967.

A show to remember

The evening at the London Palladium also included the handover of the FIFA Fair Play Award, which recognised the gesture by Togolese player Francis Kone, who performed life-saving first aid on an opponent – Bohemians 1905’s goalkeeper Martin Berkovec – during a Czech League game in February.

There was plenty of artistic prowess on stage as well, with the show brilliantly hosted by Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor Idris Elba and featuring dazzling performances by dance and percussion group Stomp and English rock band Kasabian.

The results:

The winners of the four individual The Best awards were determined through a voting process in which four groups had an equal say: football fans, selected media representatives and the captains and head coaches of national teams from around the globe. Here is how they voted:

The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017:

Cristiano Ronaldo: 43.16% of total votes

Lionel Messi: 19.25% of total votes

Neymar: 6.97% of total votes

The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2017:

Lieke Martens: 21.72% of total votes

Carli Lloyd: 16.28% of total votes

Deyna Castellanos: 11.69% of total votes

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2017:

Zinedine Zidane: 46.22% of total votes

Antonio Conte: 11.62% of total votes

Massimiliano Allegri: 8.78% of total votes

*The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2017 *Sarina Wiegman: 36.24% of total votes

Nils Nielsen: 12.64% of total votes

Gérard Prêcheur: 9.37% of total votes

The inaugural goalkeeper award was voted for by* *a panel of FIFA Legends as follows:

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper 2017

Gianluigi Buffon: 42.42% of total votes

Manuel Neuer: 32.32% of total votes

Keylor Navas: 10.10% of total votes

And these are the details for the awards decided by public voting:

FIFA Puskás Award 2017:

Olivier Giroud : 36.17 % of total votes

Oscarine Masukule : 27.48 % of total votes

Deyna Castellanos : 20.47 % of total votes

FIFA Fan Award 2017:

Celtic Supporters: 55.92 % of total votes

Borussia Dortmund supporters: 36.20 % of total votes

FC Copenhagen supporters: 7.88 % of total votes

The voting procedure for each of the awards was supervised and monitored by the independent observer PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland. For more details about the voting process for each award, consult the Rules of Allocation.

For an even more detailed breakdown of the voting results, together with reactions from the winners and inside stories from this evening’s awards show, visit FIFA.com or watch exclusive videos on FIFA’s YouTube channel.

Visit The Best FIFA Football Awards page on Facebook too, and join the discussion about the winners of this year’s prizes by using the hashtag #TheBest.