Football
Top players to win Best FIFA Men’s Player Award
Join us as we take a look at the greatest players to win the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award.
Image Credits: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images
The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award is an individual associated award presented by football’s governing body FIFA annually since 2016. The award is presented to the best player of the previous calendar year.
The award was previously known as the FIFA World Player of the Year. In 2010, this was later merged with France Football’s Ballon d’Or award to create the FIFA Ballon d’Or in a six-year standing partnership.
FIFA had reportedly paid France Football £13m for the merger of the prestigious award. The award was dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during this time. But in 2016, the merger ended and the Ballon d’Or would be exclusively voted by journalists. The FIFA World Player of the Year award was reintroduced under the new name of “The Best FIFA Men’s Player”.
Here we take a look at the best players to win the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award:
Top players to win Best FIFA Men’s Player Award
| Rank | Name |
| 1 | Lionel Messi |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| 3 | Robert Lewandowski |
| 4 | Luka Modric |
4. Luka Modric
Real Madrid’s Luka Modric won the award in 2018. This year was groundbreaking for the Croatian midfielder as he also won the Ballon d’Or award the same year. After enjoying a great year with Real Madrid on club level, winning the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. The Croatian midfielder also excelled on the international level, leading his side to the FIFA World Cup 2018 final and winning the Golden Ball award in the same tournament.
3. Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski won The Best FIFA Men’s Player award in two successive years (2020, and 2021), both times while playing for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. Many fans may argue that Lewandowski deserved the Ballon d’Or award in 2020 that was cancelled. But nonetheless, he was awarded this award by FIFA.
He broke two incredible records during the 2020-21 season, firstly most goals in a single Bundesliga season (41) and the most Bundesliga goals in a single calendar year (43). The Polish striker now features for FC Barcelona and is still going strong in goal-scoring numbers in 2024.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
Just like many of the lists in football history, this list is also headlined by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Ronaldo won the inaugural FIFA Best award after it was reintroduced with the new branding in 2016. He then won the award in the successive year also in 2017.
Ronaldo in 2016 said: "Collectively and individually, it was probably my best year so far,”. After collecting the award, Ronaldo once again reiterated that "2016 was the best year of my career, the trophy shows that people aren't blind and watch the games”.
This is true up to a very big extent as the Portuguese superstar won the UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup with Real Madrid, while captaining his national side Portugal to the UEFA Euros title also. He scored an impressive 42 goals for Madrid, in addition to 13 for Portugal.
2016 was such a great year for Ronaldo, that he finished with more trophies (4) than games lost (3). He once again helped Real Madrid to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2017 and won the Best FIFA Men’s Player award once again.
1. Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, who is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, is leading the list. The Argentine great completed his destiny by winning the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Now he is the also most decorated player in football history, with an incredible 45 trophies to his name. He has also won majorly all individual trophies available on the table, winning the Ballon d’Or a record eight times and alongside the FIFA Best award.
He has won the award a record three times, winning it in 2019 while featuring for LaLiga side FC Barcelona. He also won the award in successive years in 2022 and 2023, while featuring for PSG. Now at the tail end of his career, Messi now features for MLS side Inter Miami.
With over a decade of experience in sports writing, Hardik Malhotra has built a distinguished career in the internet industry. His expertise spans across various domains including Art Direction, Web Content Writing, and Content Management, all underscored by a high degree of initiative. Hardik’s passion for sports is reflected in his professional journey and personal interests.