FIFA anounce launch of 'The Best' to rival Ballon d'Or
There are now two awards for the world's best players to target at the end of each calendar year
FIFA have announced the launch of ‘The Best’ awards which will rival the Ballon d’Or after their split from France Football.
Magazine France Football and world football’s governing body had previously handed out the FIFA Ballon d’Or every January to the world's best player from the previous calendar year.
However, there will now be, like there was before, two different awards to crown the best player in the game.
The Ballon d’Or will be handed out in December, with FIFA’s ‘The Best’ gala announced on Monday for January.
"This event will be about football and its most passionate participants – players, coaches and fans," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
"It is a new event with new approaches to celebrating the game we all love."
Explaining how the winners will be decided, a FIFA statement said: "The winners will be chosen via a process in which 50% of the result is based on the choices of captains and head coaches of all of the world’s national teams.
"The other 50% will be split between the result of an online public ballot and the submissions from a selected group of more than 200 media representatives from around the world."
The awards up for grabs are:
The Best Fifa Men's Player 2016
The Best Fifa Women's Player 2016
The Best Fifa Men's Coach 2016
The Best Fifa Women's Coach 2016
The Fifa Puskas Award 2016 (for goal of the year)
The Fifa Fair Play Award 2016
The Fifa Fan Award 2016
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