🏆 The Best Fifa awards as they happened | OneFootball

Good evening everyone and welcome to the live blog for the annual The Best Fifa awards.

Tonight football’s governing body will be unveiling Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year the Best XI of the year and a number of other awards.

20.25 – And that’s all from us tonight. A few surprises in the awards but the main thing is it only took one hour and 25 minutes. A great result all round.

20.22 – The Manchester United and Portugal man became international football’s leading men’s goalscorer of all-time this year.

20.21 – The final award of the night is going to Cristiano Ronaldo, who is getting a special recognition awards from Fifa.

20.20 – Lewandowski looks genuinely delighted to be the winner here, and now is talking about breaking Gerd Müller’s Bundesliga record this year.

20.18 – The Bayern Munich and Poland striker is officially The Best.

20.17 – And the winner is … Robert Lewandowski.

20.16 – Now we’re down to the Men’s award with Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah.

20.13 – Gianni Infantino is back on stage to announce the winner, who is … Alexia Putellas of Barcelona and Spain.

20.12 – A few technical hiccoughs with Jennifer Hermoso there so we’re talking to Alexia Putellas.

20.11 – The Women’s nominees are Jennifer Hermoso, Sam Kerr and Alexia Putellas.

20.10 – Now it’s the big one … Women’s and Men’s Player of the Year.

20.08 – We’re now hearing a few words from Leonardo Bonucci and Erling Haaland, with a few japes about the lack of defenders in this World XI. Can’t see the 3-3-4 catching on myself.

20.04 – The Men’s team: Donnarumma; Alaba, Dias, Bonucci; Jorginho, Kante, De Bruyne; Ronaldo, Haaland, Lewandowski, Messi.

20.02 – Now it’s the Men’s turn with Lothar Matthaus joining Arsene Wenger on stage.

20.01 – Now we’re hearing from Carli Lloyd and Lucy Bronze about being included in this XI – and what an XI it is by the way.

19.57 – The Women’s team: Endler; Bronze, Renard, Bright, Eriksson; Banini, Lloyd, Bonansea; Miedema, Marta, Morgan.

19.56 – Lotta Schelin of Sweden is now on stage and is ready to reveal who will be in the Best XI of the Year.

19.54 – Some beautiful tributes there from both the Danish and Finnish supporters. Let’s hope it won’t be long before these fans can celebrate in person soon.

19.51 – And the winners are … Denmark and Finland fans!

19.50 – The nominees are: Denmark and Finland fans, German fans after flooding over the summer and Imogen Papworth-Heidel for raising money for British key workers.

19.48 – Another minute, another trophy – this time it’s the Fifa Fan Award.

19.46 – A Chelsea one-two there has come as a bit of a surprise. Tuchel seems delighted mainly to be talking to Arsene Wenger.

19.44 – And the winner is … Thomas Tuchel!

19.43 – And now it’s the Men’s award with Thomas Tuchel, Roberto Mancini and Pep Guardiola the nominees.

19.42 – I think the Chelsea manager might have had to stop herself from swearing there, she was properly shocked to have won the award.

19.40 – And the winner is … Emma Hayes.

19.38 – The nominees here are Lluís Cortés, Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman.

19.37 – We’re rattling through this now and next up is the Women’s Coach of the Year nominees.

19.35 – Some beautiful words from the head of the Danish medical staff there about Christian Eriksen and his recent recovery,

19.34 – And of course the winners just had to be the Danish squad and their medical staff.

19.33 –The nominees are the Denmark players and squad, Celtic captain Scott Brown and Claudio Ranieri.

19.32 – The next award of the night will be the Fifa Fair Play award.

19.31 – Now we’re reflecting on the legacy of Germany and Bayern Munich legend Gerd Müller, who sadly passed away in 2021.

19.28 – And the winner is … Erik Lamela!

19.26 – Now we’re going through the finalists and there’s some pearlers in there. Has to Lamela for me though.

19.24 – Now we go to the other end of the pitch with the Puskas Award for best goal being announced. Yaya Toure, no stranger to a great strike himself, is there to hand out the trophy.

19.23 – There’s been a technical error with Mendy’s connection to the ceremony, so Schmeichel is regaling us with just why he’s been the best in the world. No arguments from us.

19.21 – And the winner is … Edouard Mendy of Chelsea!

19.20 – The nominees are Gianluigi Donnarumma, Edouard Mendy and Manuel Neuer.

19.19 – Now Peter Schmeichel is on stage to announce the winner of the Men’s award.

19.18 – After being nominated three times, Endler has finally picked up a deserved Goalkeeper of the Year award.

19.17 – And the winner is Christiane Endler of Olympique Lyon!

19.16 – Ann-Kartin Berger, Christiane Endler and Stephanie Labbé are the three nominees.

19.14 – Former England midfielder Fara Williams now takes the stage to announce who is going to win the Goalkeeper of the Year award.

19.12 – We’ve now got fellow Canadian and NBA legend. Steve Nash congratulating Sinclair for her special recognition award.

19.08 – Now we’re having an incredibly awkward, time-delayed interview. Christine seems happy though. She’s thanking Fifa and also saying how she wants to be at the forefront of change for the women’s game.

19.07 – Now we’re celebrating Canadian forward Christine Sinclair, who remarkably scored her 185th international goal this year.

19.04 – Fifa chief Gianni Infantino is now taking the stage ahead of the first award, commenting on 2021’s remarkable year of football.

“The ball is rolling but health comes first,” Infantino says with the first tortured metaphor of the night.

19.03 – We’ve got an opening montage celebrating the return of fans to stadiums … and lovely it is too.

19.01 – We’re off and underway here.

18.45 – Hello everyone and welcome from Fifa HQ in Zurich where tonight we’ll be learning who was officially ‘The Best’ in football last year.

Our hosts for tonight, Reshmin Chowdhury and Jermaine Jenas, will be handing out awards for …

It should be a cracking evening and you can follow it all here from 19.00 CET.