FIFA’s The Best Awards have been annually held since 2017, and sees football’s governing body recognise some of the past year’s outstanding performances in the sport.
The Best Player awards are regarded as the highlights of the night, which will also reveal the winners of 2025’s best coach, goalkeeper and goals scored in both the men’s and women’s categories.
Ousmane Dembélé and Lamine Yamal lead the 11 nominees for the men’s award, where there could be another close vote between the pair — who finished first and second at September’s Ballon d’Or ceremony respectively.
PSG are the best represented team in this category, with Dembélé joined on the shortlist by his teammates Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes and Vitinha.
The women’s award will be picked from a larger group of 17 nominees, including Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí — who scooped the Ballon d’Or three months ago — and will be as a frontrunner to win out again in Qatar. She’s one of five players from the Catalan club to be nominated.
WSL players are well represented on the list, with Arsenal and Chelsea providing eight nominees, including Ballon d’Or runner-up Mariona Caldentey, Chloe Kelly and Lucy Bronze.
Mikel Arteta and Renée Slegers of Arsenal, Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor and England’s Sarina Wiegman are all included in the coaches’ categories.
Key details
Date: Dec. 16, Tuesday
Time: 5pm GMT (12pm ET, 10.30pm IST)
Venue: Fairmont Katara Hall, Doha, Qatar
Where to watch The Best Awards 2025 ceremony
The ceremony can be watched worldwide for free on FIFA’s website. The stream will begin at 5pm GMT.
How are The Best Awards 2025 decided?
Voting for the awards were split into four sources. Each FIFA-registered national team’s captain and one nominated coach per team were eligible, as were one nominated journalist per country, and an online fan vote.
Each group had to choose their top three from each category, which would award them five, three or one point.
The nominee with the most points from across all four voting groups will win.
Who are the nominees for the The Best Awards 2025 men’s prize?
Who are the nominees for the The Best Awards 2025 women’s prize?
Which other awards will be handed out?
Tuesday night’s ceremony will see announcements of the Puskas and Marta awards, given out to the best men’s and women’s goal of the year respectively.
Goalkeepers will be separately recognised with an award, as will team head coaches.
There is also a FIFA Fair Play award, which will be decided by a separate jury.
FIFA Puskás award nominees
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Alessandro Deiola, Cagliari v. Venezia, May 18 2025
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Pedro de la Vega, Cruz Azul v. Seattle Sounders, July 31 2025
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Santiago Montiel, Independiente v. Independiente Rivadavia, May 11 2025
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Amr Nasser, Al Ahly v. Pharco, April 17 2025
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Carlos Orrantía, Querétaro v. Atlas, April 16 2025
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Lucas Ribeiro, Mamelodi Sundowns v. Borussia Dortmund, June 21 2025
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Declan Rice, Arsenal v. Real Madrid, April 8 2025
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Rizky Ridho, Persija Jakarta v. Arema, March 9 2025
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Kévin Rodrigues, Kasımpaşa v. Rizespor, Feb. 9 2025
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Lamine Yamal, Espanyol v. Barcelona, 15 May 2025
FIFA Marta Award nominees
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Jordyn Bugg, North Carolina Courage v. Seattle Reign, March 22 2025
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Mariona Caldentey, OL Lyonnes v. Arsenal, April 27 2025
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Ashley Cheatley, Brentford v. Ascot United, Nov. 3 2024
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Kyra Cooney-Cross, Germany v. Australia, Oct. 28 2024
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Jon Ryong-jong, Korea DPR v. Argentina, Sep. 2 2024
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Marta, Orlando Pride v. Kansas City Current, Nov. 17 2024
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Vivianne Miedema, Wales v. Netherlands, July 5 2025
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Kishi Núñez, Argentina v. Costa Rica, Sep. 8 2024
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Lizbeth Ovalle, Tigres v. Guadalajara, March 3 2025
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Ally Sentnor, USA v. Colombia, Feb. 20 2025
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Khadija Shaw, Hammarby v. Manchester City, Nov. 21 2024
The Best Men’s Coach Award nominees
The Best Women’s Coach Award nominees
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Sonia Bompastor (Chelsea)
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Jonatan Giráldez (OL Lyonnes)
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Seb Hines (Orlando Pride)
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Renée Slegers (Arsenal)
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Sarina Wiegman (England)
