FIFA's The Best awards 2021: When, where, how to watch and who can win

FIFA's The Best awards recognise the greatest individual talents across football, with the Best Men's Player and Best Women's Players set to be honoured.

The players nominated are similar to those who were recognised at the Ballon d'Or award ceremony and the Globe Soccer Awards.

The controversy surrounding those previous award ceremonies and the eventual winners will certainly fuel interest in the official FIFA awards.

Last year's winners of the Best awards included Robert Lewandowski and Lucy Bronze, and attention will turn to which players will be celebrated this year. The field this year is wide open, with a number of world-class players putting up arguments to take home the awards.

When will The Best 2021 award ceremony take place?

The Best awards will take place on Monday January 17, 2022. 

This iteration of the ceremony will be a little late, as it is usually held in October, September and December.

Last year, the awards ceremony took place on Thursday December 17, 2020, with proceedings getting started at 6pm BST (4am AEDT). It was a virtual event due to public health restrictions in place across the world.

This will be the sixth iteration of the awards, with the first being held in 2016. It is usually held at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, although last year's edition took place via remote video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How to watch The Best 2021 awards

FIFA will stream The Best awards 2021 on its various media channels, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as its official website.

Date: Monday, January 17, 2022
TV Channels: None
Streaming: FIFA social media channels, FIFA.com

Voting for The Best 2021 awards

Fans could vote for their The Best choices on FIFA.com, but voting has now closed.

Voting began in late November and ran until 1am GMT on December 11, 2021.

The Best Men's Player of the Year 2021 nominees

Nominees for this year's ceremony were announced on November 22, 2021.

Players such as Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho are favourites for the award, with N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema and Romelu Lukaku also likely to be in the mix.

Messi won the 2021 Ballon d'Or despite calls for Lewandowski to take home the crown. Kylian Mbappe won the Globe Soccer Award for Player of the Year, leaving Lewandowski missing out again.

The Best Women's Player of the Year 2021 nominees

Barcelona stars Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso are considered strong contenders after a stellar season with the Catalan side. Putellas has 12 goals and assisted 10 others in 14 league games this season, while Hermoso, the Spain and Barcelona career top scorer, has 10 goals to her name this league season.

Matildas star Sam Kerr has made the list and finished third in voting for last year's Ballon d'Or. 

The Best FIFA Men's Coach 2021 nominees

Roberto Mancini and Thomas Tuchel are strong contenders for the award, after winning Euro 2020 with Italy and the 2021 Champions League with Chelsea, respectively.

Mancini, however, has seen Italy on the precipice of missing out on World Cup qualification, as the nation's status hangs in the balance. Tuchel, meanwhile, just recently successfully navigated a spat with striker Romelu Lukaku and has Chelsea challenging for the Premier League title, although those prospects have been recently dashed.

The Best FIFA Women's Coach 2021 nominees

Emma Hayes is a favourite as Chelsea Women's manager, alongside Barcelona Women's Lluis Cortes.

At Chelsea, Hayes led the Blues to a domestic trophy sweep in England, winning the FA Women's Super League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Community Shield, and reached the women's Champions League title game. The Blues fell in the Champions League final to Cortes and Barcelona, who won its first trophy in the European competition.

#WomensFACup winners, one month ago today! 🏆

What a day! 😍 pic.twitter.com/bYBc9TmQpI

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) January 5, 2022

The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper 2021 nominees

Chelsea's Edouard Mendy, Bayern Munich stalwart Manuel Neuer and Italy shotstopper Gianluigi Donnarumma make up the final three nominees.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson and Leicester City legend Kasper Schmeichel were cut from the shortlist.

🧤 @Manuel_Neuer has once again been named as one of three finalists for The Best FIFA men's Goalkeeper award! 🙌#MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/gmrn33q10s

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) January 5, 2022

The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper 2021 nominees

Ann-Katrin Berger from Chelsea is in the running for the Women's Goalkeeper award alongside Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbe and Christiane Endler.

FIFA Puskas Award

The Puskas Award, named after the fourth-top men's goalscorer of all-time Ferenc Puskas, is the award for the best goal of the season.

This year, there are three nominees. Tottenham's Erik Lamela delivered a rabona goal against Arsenal in March, Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick scored from almost the midfield stripe while on international duty with Czech Republic at the European Championship, and Porto striker Medhi Taremi stunned Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in April with an acrobatic effort.

Goals by Luis Diaz, Riyad Mahrez, and Caroline Weir among many others were cut from the list as the three finalists were announced.

FIFPro World 11 2021

At each The Best awards ceremony, the FIFPro World 11 is also announced, confirming the best 'dream team' of the season.

The award, which is voted for by professional footballers across the world, takes into account performances between October 8, 2020 and August 7, 2021.

Players from Chelsea and Manchester City have a strong claim for inclusion, as do individuals from the Italy and Argentina national teams following their respective continental successes.