World Champions Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Manuel Neuer (Bayern München) and Mesut Özil (Arsenal) have all been nominated for this year’s World Player of the Year award. These three Germany national team players and 20 other stars from the world game have been nominated.
It’s the first time since 2008 that FIFA have organised the award independently, as between 2009 and 2015, the magazine France Football was also involved in the organisation of it.
Fans able to vote
Since the contract with the French magazine ran out in the middle of September, FIFA announced that there would be a new voting system. Along with the captains and coaches of each national team, and 200 chosen journalists, fans are also able to vote this year as well. The votes of the captains and coaches make up 50% of the final result, while the fans’ and journalists’ votes represent the remaining 50%.
The favourites this year are the same two players who’ve won the award since 2008 – Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid). While the Portuguese has had the honour of winning the title three times, the Argentine has been voted World Player of the Year on five occasions and is also the current holder of the award. However, after winning the Euros with his nation this summer and also triumphing in the Champions League last season, Ronaldo seems to have the upper hand this time round.
The voting began on Friday and will last until the 22nd of November. The lists of the three most-nominated candidates in each category will be published on December the 2nd and the trophies for the 2016 Men’s Player of the Year, Women’s Player of the Year, Men’s Coach of the Year and Women’s Coach of the Year will be awarded on the 9th of January, 2017.
The 23 nominated players
Manuel Neuer, Robert Lewandowski (both Bayern München), Toni Kroos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos (all Real Madrid), Mesut Özil, Alexis Sanchez (both Arsenal), Lionel Messi, Neymar, Andrés Iniesta, Luis Suarez (all Barcelona), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez (both Leicester City), N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United), Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Agüero (Manchester City), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus).