Cristiano Ronaldo won the world’s best player award at the inaugural Best FIFA Football Awards in Zurich on Monday. Carli Lloyd of United States won the same award in the female category. “It was my best year so far. 2016 was the best year of my career, the trophy shows that people aren’t blind and watch the games,” said Ronaldo who pipped Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann to bag the prestigious honour.
The other award winner of the night were Leicester’s Claudio Ranieri (Best Men’s Coach), Silvia Neid (Best Women’s Coach) and Penang’s Mohd Faiz Subri who got the Puskas award for the Best Goal of 2016. The Fan Award went to supporters of Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, who sang You’ll Never Walk Alone before a Europa League quarterfinal. Atletico Nacional won the Fair Play Award for their “spirit of peace and understanding” that they displayed after 19 Chapecoense players and staff were killed in an plane crash on November 29.
The winners were selected on a voting basis. National team captains, managers, journalists and fans voted for each category. Each group had 25% of the points, according to BBC.
This is the second coveted award for Ronaldo for his last year’s performance. On December 12, the Real Madrid and Portugal forward had won the Ballon d’Or award for the fourth time. For the first time in the last six years, Ballon d’Or award was handed out by Paris-based France Football magazine, separately from FIFA. Ronaldo had, last year, steered Portugal to win the European Championship title. Real Madrid also picked up the Champions League trophy, thanks to his crucial role.
Besides, Ronaldo and Messi were named for the FIFPro World 11 Team. However, Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, who was one of the top players last year, did not make it to the list. The team has five players from Real Madrid, four from Barcelona, one each from Juventus and Bayern Munich. “It’s no accident that I was included in the best team of the world, this says everything about my sacrifice and fighting spirit,” said Ronaldo, according to ESPN.
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