The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 - The Best FIFA Men's Player - FIFA.com

CRISTIANO RONALDO

CRISTIANO RONALDO
Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo will remember 2016 for reaching the pinnacle on three fronts: for club, for country and individually. He was crowned a European champion for both Real Madrid and Portugal - with victory in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA EURO 2016 - and the legendary No7 further rubberstamped his place in the annals of footballing history by being named the world’s best player for the fourth time. Cristiano clinched the Champions League crown by defeating city rivals Atleti before lifting his country’s first major trophy in France as Portugal’s captain. With his irrepressible thirst for goals, power and speed, Ronaldo continues to amass silverware and records in abundance – and is the inaugural The Best FIFA Men’s Player.

Antoine GRIEZMANN

Antoine GRIEZMANN
France
Having been named the best player both in the Spanish league, in which he helped Atletico Madrid finish third, and at the UEFA EURO, 2016 will go down as the year in which Antoine Griezmann truly came into his own. With 40 goals over the course of the 2015/16 campaign, he spearheaded Atletico and France's respective charges to the finals of the UEFA Champions League and EURO 2016, although both ended in heart-wrenching defeats. A skilful, unselfish attacker, the 5'9 (1.76m) schemer can quite simply do the lot. As Griezmann himself recently told FIFA.com, he is a "more complete player now" than ever before and has "improved in every way in the last two years". One person who would certainly echo this view is his coach Diego Simeone, who is on record as saying that the man they now call Grizou has raised his game to such an extent that he is currently "among the top three players in the world".

Lionel MESSI

Lionel MESSI
Argentina
Lionel Messi shows no signs of letting up. After rounding off 2015 by collecting the adidas Silver Ball at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, he continued to figure large for club and country in 2016. In winning his eighth La Liga winner’s medal with Barcelona, he chipped in with 20 goals (putting him third in the scoring charts) and an impressive 16 assists, and also won the Copa del Rey for a fourth time with Los Blaugrana and the Spanish Super Cup for the seventh time. La Pulga also starred for Argentina on their run to the final of Copa America Centenario, serving up more assists in the tournament than any other player and ending it as the second highest scorer. In the process, Messi also became La Albiceleste’s leading all-time goalscorer.

Sergio AGUERO
Argentina

Gareth BALE
Wales

Gianluigi BUFFON
Italy

Kevin DE BRUYNE
Belgium

Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC
Sweden

Andres INIESTA
Spain

N Golo KANTE
France

Toni KROOS
Germany

Robert LEWANDOWSKI
Poland

Riyad MAHREZ
Algeria

Luka MODRIC
Croatia

Manuel NEUER
Germany

NEYMAR
Brazil

Mesut OEZIL
Germany

Dimitri PAYET
France

Paul POGBA
France

Sergio RAMOS
Spain

Alexis SANCHEZ
Chile

Luis SUAREZ
Uruguay

Jamie VARDY
England