On September 23rd, the award ceremony for the FIFA The Best awards to the best male and female soccer players in the world is hosted for the first time in Italy, in a city with a long football tradition like Milano, where the passion for beautiful games is rooted in everyday life, and in a special place like the Teatro alla Scala.

What was once the FIFA World Player presents itself in 2016 in a new guise, the FIFA The Best. In the last edition, the male prize was won by Croatian Luka Modric, while the Brazilian Marta was crowned best female player in the world.

The score of each player or coach is calculated by adding up the votes obtained by journalists representing the media, national technical commissioners, national team captains and finally supporters; each group with a weight of 25% in the final score of the votes.

The finalists of the two most important awards are:

The Best FIFA Men’s Player
Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) - Juventus
Lionel Messi (ARG) – FC Barcelona
Virgil van Dijk (NED) - Liverpool

The Best FIFA Women’s Player
Lucy Bronze (ENG) – Olympique Lyonnais
Alex Morgan (USA) – Orlando Pride
Megan Rapinoe (USA) – Reign FC

Complete nominations for the 11 prizes for the 2019 edition can be found here.