Who will be The Best? FIFA has today announced the names of the candidates competing for the title of The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016. The winner will be crowned at The Best FIFA Football Awards™ ceremony in Zurich on 9 January 2017.

A shortlist of 23 candidates has been drawn up by experts from the FIFA Football Committee.

The names, in alphabetical order, are:

* Sergio Agüero (Argentina/Manchester City)
* Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid)
* Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Juventus)
* Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
* Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City)
* Antoine Griezmann (France/Atlético Madrid)
* Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain/Manchester United)
* Andrés Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona)
* N’Golo Kanté (France/Leicester City/Chelsea)
* Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid)
* Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich)
* Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Leicester City)
* Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona)
* Luka Modrić (Croatia/Real Madrid)
* Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
* Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona)
* Mesut Özil (Germany/Arsenal)
* Dimitri Payet (France/West Ham United)
* Paul Pogba (France/Juventus/Manchester United)
* Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid)
* Alexis Sánchez (Chile/Arsenal)
* Luis Suárez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona)
* Jamie Vardy (England/Leicester City)

Voting for player and coach of the year in 2016, in both men’s and women’s football, starts today and closes on 22 November.

The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016 will be determined through a combined voting process, in which 50% of the decision will be based on the votes of captains and head coaches from national teams around the globe. The other 50% will be split between an online public ballot with football fans and submissions from a selected group of over 200 media representatives around the world.

On Tuesday (1 November), the ten candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016 were announced, followed by the ten shortlisted names for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016 on Wednesday. The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016 nominees were published yesterday. The final three nominees for both players’ and coaches’ categories – as well as for the FIFA Puskás Award and the brand new FIFA Fan Award – will be announced on Friday, 2 December.

The 55 nominees for the FIFA FIFPro World11 will be released in the near future, and the winners of awards across all categories, including the FIFA Fair Play Award 2016, will be presented at The Best FIFA Football Awards show on 9 January 2017.

(FIFA Press Release)