Best Fifa Football Awards 2019: Lionel Messi wins best men's player of the year

[MenInG]

All The Best awards and nominees as follows:

The Best FIFA Football Awards finalists in full

The Best FIFA Men’s Player
Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) - Juventus
Lionel Messi (ARG) – FC Barcelona
Virgil van Dijk (NED) - Liverpool

The Best FIFA Women’s Player
Lucy Bronze (ENG) – Olympique Lyonnais
Alex Morgan (USA) – Orlando Pride
Megan Rapinoe (USA) – Reign FC

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach
Pep Guardiola (ESP) – Manchester City
Jurgen Klopp (GER) – Liverpool
Mauricio Pochettino (ARG) – Tottenham Hotspur

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach
Jill Ellis (USA) – USA national team
Phil Neville (ENG) – England national team
Sarina Wiegman (NED) – Netherlands national team

FIFA Fan Award
Silvia Grecco (BRA)
Netherlands Fans at the Women’s World Cup (NED)
Justo Sánchez (URU)

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper
Alisson (BRA) - Liverpool
Ederson (BRA) – Manchester City
Marc-André ter Stegen (GER) – FC Barcelona

The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper
Christiane Endler (CHI) – Paris Saint-Germain
Hedvig Lindahl (SWE) – Chelsea / Wolfsburg
Sari van Veenendaal (NED) – Arsenal / Atletico Madrid

FIFA Puskás Award
Lionel Messi (ARG) - Real Betis v FC Barcelona [La Liga] (17 March 2019)
Juan Fernando Quintero (COL) - River Plate v Racing Club [Argentinian Superliga] (10 February 2019)
Dániel Zsóri (HUN) - Debrecen FC v Ferencváros TC [Nemzeti Bajnoskag I] (16 February 2019)

What happens next?
The Best FIFA Men's and Women's Coach, Player awards:
The winner of the voting by national team captains, coaches, fans and media will be announced during The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony at the Teatro all Scala in Milan on Monday 23 September.

FIFA Fan Award:
Voting is now open, and will close during the ceremony on 23 September.

FIFA Puskás Award:
The three finalists selected by the FIFA.com users will be put up for a vote among FIFA Legends, who will decide the award winner.

The Best FIFA Men's and Women's Goalkeeper awards:
The winner of the award will be selected by a panel of experts chosen by FIFA, comprised of former goalkeepers and strikers.

FIFA/FIFPro Men’s and Women’s World11:
The 55 nominees for each award will be announced by FIFPro this week: for the men’s edition on Wednesday 4 September and for the historic first edition of the FIFA/FIFPro Women’s World11 on Thursday 5 September.

https://www.fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards/news/the-best-finalists-unveiled-in-milan

 

[topspin]

VVD deserves it more than Messi and Ronaldo.

 

[Firebat]

Messi's individual stats this past year have been mind-blowing as usual, but I think the performance of the team means VVD will win this. Even though Messi won La Liga with Barcelona, Liverpool's performance in the league, of which VVD was an integral part of, was simply outstanding and they were very unlucky to not win the league after losing 1 match all season. Not to mention of course, they are the current European champions, beating Barcelona in the semi final when Messi failed to show up when it mattered. Liverpool are currently on an unprecedented winning streak in the Premier League, and none of this would be possible without the immovable Van Dijk at the back. He fully deserves it.

 

[Mueez]

VVD deserves it!

Guy has turned the Netherlands into a world class team again!

 

[The Viper]

After he won the UEFA award, I think VVD is the favourite.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think Messi and Ronaldo have dominated for a very long time. It is time for a new superstar.

I voted for VVD.

 

[Mamoon]

All the fawning over Van Dijk is getting a little tiresome now. Yes he is great and had a brilliant season, but the never ending adulation would make you think that he has invented defending.

Premier League has witnessed better defenders who actually helped their teams win the league.

Go ahead and give him the Ballon d’Or as well and a 99 rating on FIFA 20.

 

[Mueez]

All the fawning over Van Dijk is getting a little tiresome now. Yes he is great and had a brilliant season, but the never ending adulation would make you think that he has invented defending.

Premier League has witnessed better defenders who actually helped their teams win the league.

Go ahead and give him the Ballon d’Or as well and a 99 rating on FIFA 20.

I think it more has to do with his never give up-attitude and how he turned himself into a world-class beast from a normal defender at FC Groningen and Celtic.

He is a great defender, however the credit should also go to Jürgen Klopp who has helped Virgil a lot.

 

[Firebat]

Best Fifa Football Awards: Premier League receives most nominations for World11 team

The Premier League has the largest number of nominations for the Fifa Fifpro Men's World11 for the first time in 10 years.

Twenty one of the 55 nominees play club football in England, as the Premier League ends La Liga's dominance.

Seven of Liverpool's European champions are included although Real Madrid and Barcelona each provided more players.

The team will be revealed at the Best Fifa Football Awards in Milan on 23 September.

More than 23,000 professional players around the world were asked to choose their best team by Fifpro, the players' union, based on performances between July 2018 and July 2019.

The final team will be made up of a goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfield players and three forwards.

Four Liverpool players are among 17 debutantes on the shortlist, including Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, while several high profile players such as Romelu Lukaku and David Silva have not received enough votes to feature for a second consecutive year.

While the Premier League (21) ended La Liga's (20) nine-year spell as the most productive league, Spanish giants Barcelona provided the most players.

Nine of Barca's championship team were included as Real Madrid had eight players, while Liverpool and Manchester City both had seven players.

Former Madrid and current Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to be named on all 15 World11 shortlists.

FIFPRO MEN'S WORLD11 NOMINATIONS

Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker (Liverpool), David De Gea (Manchester United), Ederson Moraes (Manchester City), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

Defenders: Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Daniel Alves (Paris St-Germain/Sao Paulo), Joao Cancelo (Juventus/Manchester City), Daniel Carvajal (Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Diego Godin (Atletico/Inter Milan), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City), Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Thiago Silva (Paris St-Germain), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur), Frenkie de Jong (Ajax/Barcelona), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Arthur Melo (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Dusan Tadic (Ajax), Arturo Vidal (Barcelona)

Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico/Barcelona), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Neymar (Paris St-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Mohammed Salah (Liverpool), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49590798

 

[MenInG]

Happening today - who will win?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Yes I am biased but Virgil should win this.

Messi and Ronaldo are greats with excellent stats but Pepe was the first to dribble past him after a 50-match sequence stretching back to March 2018. This is a truly incredible stat.

Virgil is also has a champions league medal in his pocket right now.

 

[KingKhanWC]

"Jurgen Klopp wins best coach award

Best men's coach

That's what you get for winning the Champions League. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is all smiles as he trots up to grab his trophy."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/49791263

Congratulations boss

 

[MenInG]

Barcelona's Lionel Messi won the best men's player at the Best Fifa Football Awards in Milan as Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk missed out on the top prize.

It is the sixth time Messi has been voted the world's best, after wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015.

The 32-year-old Argentine helped Barcelona win La Liga and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

United States forward Megan Rapinoe won the best women's player award.

Lionel Messi scored 54 goals in 58 games for club and country in 2018-19, compared to Cristiano Ronaldo's 31 in 47
Absent Ronaldo and surprising voting - things you might have missed
Klopp gets coach prize ahead of Guardiola and Pochettino
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was named men's coach of the year after a season in which they beat Tottenham 2-0 to lift the Champions League.

The Reds also finished second in the Premier League with 97 points - the third-highest tally recorded in the competition.

Klopp was nominated for the award along with two other Premier League bosses - Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino.

Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp guided Liverpool to their first Champions League success since 2005 with a 2-0 win over Tottenham
"It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I would be standing here," said Klopp, whose team have won all six league matches at the start of the 2019-20 season.

"We know what an incredible job you [Mauricio Pochettino] did and what Pep did. I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC.

"To the owners thank you, they gave me an incredible team. I have to thank my team - as a coach you can only be as good as your team is. I'm really proud of being manager of such an incredible bunch of players."

In accepting the award, Klopp announced that he is joining the Common Goal initiative set up by Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata. It means the Reds boss will donate 1% of his salary to the charity, which pledges to "generate social change and improve lives".

Alisson and Bielsa are also winners
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was also a winner as he took the best goalkeeper prize ahead of Manchester City's Ederson and Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen. As well as success in the Champions League, Alisson was first choice for Brazil as they lifted the Copa America on home soil.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa won the fair play award after he ordered his team to allow Aston Villa to score an uncontested equaliser during their 1-1 draw in their Championship match in April.

Bielsa's side had gone ahead controversially when the Villa players stopped as they expected the ball to be kicked out of play when Jonathan Kodjia was injured, before the Argentine intervened.

Eighteen-year-old Daniel Zsori won the Puskas award for the best goal with his spectacular 93rd-minute overhead kick for Debrecen against Ferencvaros, just after he came on as a substitute for his Hungarian league debut in February.

His strike beat Messi's chip from the edge of the penalty area against Real Betis and Juan Quintero's powerful 30-yard free-kick for River Plate against Racing Club.

Fifa Fifpro Men's Team of the Year
Three players who featured in last season's Premier League were included in the Fifa Fifpro Team of the Year, but none from champions Manchester City.

Alisson and Van Dijk were included, as was forward Eden Hazard, who was at Chelsea in 2018-19 before joining Real Madrid in the summer.

Seven City players were included in the 55-man shortlist - goalkeeper Ederson, defenders Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker, midfielders Bernardo Silva and Kevin de Bruyne and forwards Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero - but none of them made the final 11.

Tottenham trio Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min all missed out, as did Manchester United pair David de Gea and Paul Pogba, as well as Chelsea's N'Golo Kante.

Liverpool had two players selected but five others - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah - were overlooked.

Goalkeeper - Alisson (Liverpool/Brazil)

Defenders - Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax and Juventus/Netherlands), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands), Marcelo (Real Madrid/Brazil).

Midfielders - Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia), Frenkie de Jong (Ajax and Barcelona/Netherlands), Eden Hazard (Chelsea and Real Madrid/Belgium)

Forwards - Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain/France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Portugal), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49801286

 

[Mamoon]

Excellent decision. This Van Dijk drama needs to end. Hopefully he will miss out on the Ballon d’Or as well.

 

[MenInG]

The Juventus star used the social media platform to make an interesting contribution following his non-attendance at the ceremony
Cristiano Ronaldo posted a philosophical message on Instagram after opting to skip the FIFA awards ceremony, where long-time rival Lionel Messi was named the Best Men's Player.

Ronaldo finished third behind Messi and Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk, but decided not to attend the ceremony in Milan on Monday.

The 34-year-old has been ruled out of Juventus's Serie A clash against Brescia on Tuesday due to an adductor injury and, after the awards ceremony, Ronaldo took to his official Instagram account to post a cryptic message.

"Patience and persistence are two characteristics that differentiate the professional from the amateur," he wrote.

"Everything that is big today has started small. You can't do everything, but do everything you can to make your dreams come true.

"And keep in mind that after night always comes dawn."

Ronaldo controversially snubbed winner Messi among his three selected players in the ballot voting, opting to pick Juventus team-mate Matthijs de Ligt, Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong and PSG star Kylian Mbappe, in that order.

Messi, however, did include Ronaldo, having the Portuguese attacker as his second option behind Liverpool's Sadio Mane and ahead of his Barca team-mate De Jong.

Second-placed Van Dijk named Messi as his winner on his ballot before selecting Reds team-mates Mohamed Salah and Mane in second and third respectively, having won the Champions League alongside the Egypt and Senegal stars.

Ronaldo claimed the Best FIFA Men's Player award in 2016 and 2017 before finishing second to Luka Modric last year.

He has scored two goals in five games this season for Juventus, who are second to Inter in the Serie A table.


The former Real Madrid forward's conduct in Juve's recent 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League came into question after he was accused of making a controversial hand gesture.

But Ronaldo insists that the gesture means, 'learn, you have to learn', and suggested critics were reading too much into it.

"People like to talk too much, " Ronaldo told Sky Sport Italia . "That’s all. People are stupid and talk too much."

https://www.goal.com/en/news/you-ca...agram-message-after/11iqbxlxlm6ynzmxbm4ptgzfq

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2xFV0PAF6a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); widthlc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2xFV0PAF6a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decorationne; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-stylermal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div></a> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2xFV0PAF6a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-stylermal; font-weightrmal; line-height:17px; text-decorationne; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Paciência e persistência sao duas caracteristicas que diferenciam o profissional do amador. Tudo o que hoje é grande um dia começou pequeno. Você não pode fazer tudo, mas faça tudo o que puder para transformar seus sonhos em realidade. E procure manter em mente que depois da noite sempre vem o amanhecer. LR</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-spacewrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-stylermal; font-weightrmal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Cristiano Ronaldo</a> (@cristiano) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-09-23T2059+00:00">Sep 23, 2019 at 1:20pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Imagine pipping Barcelona star Lionel Messi to a global football award at the age of 18.

Daniel Zsori has done just that by winning the 2019 edition of Fifa's Puskas Award, given in recognition of scoring the best goal in a calendar year.

What makes his victory all the more remarkable is that the Hungarian forward's breathtaking overhead kick came in the 93rd minute of his professional debut for Debrecen in February and was against league leaders Ferencvaros.

His goal topped a three-man shortlist at the Best Fifa Football Awards, beating efforts from Colombian Juan Fernando Quintero and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi.

Revealing how he took inspiration from Cristiano Ronaldo, Zsori said: "The ball came into the penalty box and I just thought: 'Why not have a go?' I'd practised the move plenty of times in my training sessions and copied it from my idol Cristiano Ronaldo."

Zsori is the first Hungarian to win the award named in honour of fellow countryman and footballing great Ferenc Puskas.

His powerful overhead strike topped Messi's delicate chip for Barcelona against Real Betis in March, and Quintero's stunning free-kick for River Plate against Racing Club a month earlier.

"I always pictured myself scoring goals but I never dared to dream of scoring one like that," he added.

Zsori, who turns 19 next month, joined fellow Hungarian top flight side Fehervar this summer but is yet to play a game for his new side.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49815036

 

[Extra_Cover]

Excellent decision. This Van Dijk drama needs to end. Hopefully he will miss out on the Ballon d’Or as well.

All the fawning over Van Dijk is getting a little tiresome now. Yes he is great and had a brilliant season, but the never ending adulation would make you think that he has invented defending.

Premier League has witnessed better defenders who actually helped their teams win the league.

Go ahead and give him the Ballon d’Or as well and a 99 rating on FIFA 20.

Are you a hater? Your posts certainly sounds like one.

I don't understand your logic here. How can Terry of 2012, Vidic of 2009/2011 or Ferdinand of 2006-8 bear have any bearing on how awards should be given in 2019!

No doubt premier league had seen better defenders than Van Dijk but here we are comparing the performance of 2018 against 2018 and not against historical legends.

You seem like the type of person who would question something like how can Gary Oldman win an oscar for Darkest Hours in 2018 when Leonardo was better in Blood Diamond in 2006 or Daniel Day-Lewis was better in GoNY in 2004. The point is competition is with 2018 candidates and not the ones before.

 

[pillionrider]

I actually had to google whether he won the real thing or some Champions Trophy kind of thing

Turns out Ballon D'or has again gone separate.

 

[MenInG]

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has written to Fifa for an explanation of its missing votes for the Best Fifa Men's Player award.

The EFA says that Pharaohs' acting coach Shawky Gharib and captain Ahmed Elmohamady placed votes for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah that were not counted.

Neither are included on the voting breakdown on Fifa's website.

Since the awards ceremony Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has removed 'Egypt' from his Twitter profile.

His profile now simply reads: "Footballer for Liverpool FC."

He also posted a Tweet which translates as: "Whatever they do to try to change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed."

Barcelona's Lionel Messi won the Best Fifa Men's Player award on Monday night ahead of Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Salah's Liverpool team-mate Virgil van Dijk.

In 2018, Salah came third in the men's award and also took the Puskas Award for goal of the season.

Each nation has three voters: the national team coach, the national team captain and a media representative.

The EFA say that both Gharib and Elmohamady had Salah as their first choices in their votes.

The media representative Hany Danial's choices were Sadio Mane followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, with Salah in third place.

It is not the first time that Salah has been upset with the EFA, following a row last year over his image rights that saw him threaten to quit the national team.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49824424

 

[PakLFC]

Massive injustice. FIFA did not want to disappoint the big Spanish two so gave it to Messi. They never choose a winner from the EPL, a biased organisation. It was VVD all the way.

 

[MenInG]

Massive injustice. FIFA did not want to disappoint the big Spanish two so gave it to Messi. They never choose a winner from the EPL, a biased organisation. It was VVD all the way.

would be a very serious breach of trust if this is true

 

[MenInG]

Two votes for Mohamed Salah in the Best Fifa men's player award were not counted because signatures were in capital letters, says Fifa.

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said acting Egypt coach Shawky Gharib and captain Ahmed Elmohamady voted for Liverpool forward Salah.

Fifa said: "The signatures on the voting forms were in capital letters and thus seemed not valid."

The forms also lacked a mandatory signature by the EFA general secretary.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi won the award on Monday ahead of Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.

Football's world governing body Fifa said voting was supervised and monitored by independent observer PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland.

It said it contacted the EFA twice on 19 August to submit properly signed voting forms but did not receive a response in time for the votes to be counted.

Fifa also said the Egyptian FA had "undergone a few structural changes" after the voting period opened.

Since the awards ceremony Salah has removed "Egypt" from his Twitter profile, which now reads: "Footballer for Liverpool FC."

He also posted a tweet which translates as: "Whatever they do to try to change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed."

Egyptian Football Association president Amr El-Ganainy said he talked with Salah. He said: "I talked with Salah explained to him it was an administrative mistake."

In 2018, Salah came third in the men's award and also took the Puskas award for goal of the season.

Each nation has three voters - the national team coach, the national team captain and a media representative - who each select their top three players in the world.

The EFA said Gharib and Elmohamady picked Salah as their first choice.

The media representative Hany Danial's choices were Sadio Mane followed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Salah.

Salah threatened to quit the national team last year following a row over his image rights.

Nicaragua controversy
Nicaragua captain Juan Barrera called into question the authenticity of his country's votes in the awards as he said he did not submit any votes.

Fifa's records show that Barrera voted for Lionel Messi as best player and Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp as best manager.

"I did not vote in the awards #TheBest2019 any information about my vote is false," 30-year-old midfielder Barrera tweeted.

Fifa said it has asked the Nicaraguan Football Federation to investigate the matter after receiving "votes signed by the player".

The Nicaraguan federation have been approached for comment.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49824424