Ceremony to be held on Monday 15 January in London
Extensive and democratic process implemented to determine award winners
Voting procedure supervised, monitored and reviewed by independent observers
The Best FIFA Football Awards™ 2023 ceremony takes place in London on Monday night, concluding a thorough and democratic process facilitated by FIFA to recognise world football’s top players, coaches, goalkeepers, fans, goals and acts of fair play. One of the world’s most passionate football cities will play host to a glittering ceremony that will honour the outstanding members of the most popular sport on the planet in this, the eighth edition of the awards. The main accolades will recognise the leading women’s and men’s players, coaches and goalkeepers. In a feature unique to The Best FIFA Football Awards, the winners of these honours are decided by four equally weighted jury groups, with global football fans, specialist journalists and national-team players and coaches uniting to determine those crowned in each category.
When were the award periods?
The award period for the women’s accolades – The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach and The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper – was between 1 August 2022 and 20 August 2023 (the date of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ final) inclusive. The award period for the men’s prizes – The Best FIFA Men’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach and The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper – was between 19 December 2022 and 20 August 2023 inclusive.
How were the shortlists drawn up?
Nominations for the awards were compiled by FIFA in collaboration with football stakeholders. Later, shortlists were determined by two separate panels of experts in men's and women's football. These panels comprised respected former players and coaches.
Who featured on the expert panels?
Women’s awards: Mercy Akide (Nigeria), Shirley Cruz (Costa Rica), Amy Duggan (Australia), Isabella Echeverri (Colombia), Mia Hamm (USA), Jessica Houara (France), Mana Iwabuchi (Japan), Manon Melis (Netherlands), Patrizia Panico (Italy), Clémentine Touré (Côte d’Ivoire) and Kirsty Yallop (New Zealand). Men’s awards: Petr Čech (Czechia), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Brett Emerton (Australia), Rio Ferdinand (England), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Kaká (Brazil), Mario Kempes (Argentina), Alexi Lalas (USA), Jon Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Park Ji-sung (Korea Republic) and Ivan Vicelich (New Zealand).
Which players, coaches and goalkeepers were shortlisted?
FIFA published the shortlists for the respective award categories, on Thursday, 14 September 2023.
When did fan voting for the shortlisted nominees open?
Fan voting for the above-mentioned award categories opened on FIFA’s digital platforms on Thursday, 14 September 2023 and closed at 23:59 CET on Friday, 6 October 2023. Over one million fan votes were received from across the globe.
How does the voting work?
The winners of The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Player, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach, The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper and The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper awards are selected by an international jury comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans from all over the world registered on FIFA.com. Each jury member was requested to nominate, in decreasing order of merit, the three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers whom they considered to be most deserving of the respective award. The three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers nominated by each jury member will receive five points, three points, or one points respectively, depending on whether the jury member places the player, coach, or goalkeeper first (five points), second (three points) or third (one point). The award is bestowed upon the player, coach or goalkeeper in each particular award category who received the most scoring points. For the avoidance of doubt, women’s national-team coaches and captains voted for women’s awards, while men’s national-team coaches and captains voted for men’s awards.
What happens in the event of a tie?
In the event of a tie for first place after the above procedure has been applied, the nominee with the most “five point” scores amongst the votes cast by their own group of voters wins the award. In the event this also leads to a tie, the nominee with the most “three point” scores wins. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie, the above process is repeated across the collective votes cast by the captains, coaches, and media. Full details of this thorough tie-break process are detailed in article 12 of the Rules of Allocation.
How did the national-team coaches and captains, and the specialist journalists submit their votes?
These voters could cast their votes in three ways:
The FIFA Events Official App: Voters had to validate their choices with their signature and a selfie.
An online form: Voters had to sign electronically in order for their vote to be valid.
Paper votes: Votes had to feature the voter’s signature and a stamp from the relevant member association.
The voting procedure for each of the awards was supervised, monitored and reviewed by independent observers.
Can nominated national-team captains and coaches vote for themselves or players from the national team they represent?
National-team captains may vote for coaches from the national team they represent, while national-team captains and coaches may vote for players from the national team they represent. However, nominated national-team captains and coaches are not permitted to vote for themselves.
Will the votes cast by the national-team coaches and captains, and the specialist journalists be made public?
Yes. The votes cast by these groups will be published on FIFA.com shortly after the awards ceremony.
Is the same awarding procedure in operation for the FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World11 and FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World11?
No. While the award periods are the same, the FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World11 and the FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World11 are voted for exclusively by professional players from around the world. The full rules of allocation for these honours can be found here.