The Fairmont Katara Hall in Doha will be decked out for a party to honor the best in soccer at The Best 2025 awards, presented by FIFA, on Tuesday, December 16.
However, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo are among the eleven finalists for best soccer player, but they have had great careers and have won several times. Who has won more awards?
How many The Best awards did Messi and CR7 win?
Before it was called The Best, soccer stars were awarded the “FIFA World Player of the Year” award, which was presented for more than two decades. In 2016, the organization decided to change its name.
This award seeks to recognize the best soccer players, coaches, and goalkeepers. In addition, the Puskás and Marta awards are given for the best goals in men’s and women’s soccer, respectively, and a special award is given to fans.
However, this event will mark a milestone as, for the first time in the award’s history, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will be present.
For his part, the current Al Nassr captain was the winner of the award in the first two editions, in 2016 and 2017, when he was still playing for Real Madrid. However, after his two consecutive trophies, he did not win this award again. Although in 2021, a special honorary award was given to CR7 for becoming the all-time leading scorer for all national teams, surpassing Ali Daei’s 109 goals.
Leo is the top winner of this award with three trophies to his name. He won his first The Best award in 2019. The second came in 2022 after winning the World Cup with Argentina in December of that year in Qatar, and the third and last came in 2023. However, his absence from this edition ended a streak of 18 seasons in which Messi was among the nominees.
Meanwhile, Luka Modric won in 2018 and Robert Lewandowski took the award in 2020 and 2021. The latest winner was Vinícius Júnior (2024).
Thus, the captain of Argentina has one more award than the Portuguese star, but this is just one more comparison between the two legends. The truth is that, without a doubt, both laid the foundations and set the competitive standard for soccer as we know it today.
Meanwhile, the awards ceremony will take place at 8:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. CET) and will be broadcast live on FIFA.com from Doha, Qatar. Meet the nominees here.
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