FIFA Puskás Award
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The FIFA Puskás Award [ˈpuʃkaːʃ] is an award established on 20 October 2009 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), at the behest of then-president Sepp Blatter, to be awarded to the player judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or "most beautiful", goal of the calendar year. The Puskás Award is announced yearly and is considered by voting. From 2024, only male players are eligible to win, with the FIFA Marta Award established for female players instead.
The award is in honour of Ferenc Puskás, the striker of Real Madrid during the late 1950s to the late 1960s, and central member of the highly successful Hungarian side of the same era. Puskás is widely considered by many to be the most powerful and prolific forward Europe produced in first-division football and was honoured by IFFHS in 1997 as the best top-tier goalscorer of the 20th century. Puskás scored 806 goals in 793 games and his 86 national team goals in 90 outings was a world record at the time.
The annual award was presented for the first time during the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year Gala on 21 December in Switzerland, with Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo as the first prize winner. There have been 17 award winners since 2009. As of July 2026, no player has won the award twice.
Award criteria and procedure
Criteria
The criteria for the award are:
- The goal should be "aesthetically beautiful".
- The goal should be scored without the result of luck or a mistake.
- The goal should be in support of fair play.
- The goal should be judged without distinction of championship or nationality.
Procedure
FIFA nominates eleven goals each year for voting. Voting is done by two groups: registered users on FIFA's website, and a panel of experts appointed by FIFA. Each individual in both groups selects their top three goals, assigning five points to the first, three points to the second, and one point to the third. Following the first vote, the totals from fans and Legends are used to rank the eleven goals individually inside their respective categories. Based on these rankings, each group assigns “scoring points” to the goals, with the first-ranked goal receiving thirteen points, the second getting eleven, the third nine, and so on down to one point for the eleventh. For each goal, the scoring points from the fan group and the FIFA Legends group are added together, and the goal with the highest combined score is awarded the Puskás Award.
Winners and nominees
Scores and results list the player's club goal tally first.
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
The following list includes the nominees for the 2013 award. Voting was possible through the FIFA.com website until 9 December 2013, after a second voting round was held between the top three goals from the first round. The award to the winning goal from the second round was presented on 13 January 2014.
2014
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 12 November 2014.
2015
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 12 November 2015.
2016
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 21 November 2016.
2017
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 22 September 2017.
2018
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 3 September 2018.
2019
FIFA announced the list of 10 nominees on 19 August 2019.
2020
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 25 November 2020.
2021
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 17 January 2022.
2022
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 12 January 2023.
2023
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 22 September 2023.
2024
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 28 November 2024.
Beginning this year, FIFA also established the FIFA Marta Award as a separate category for female players, named after the Brazil women's forward and captain for over two decades from 2002 until 2024.
2025
FIFA announced the list of 11 nominees on 13 November 2025.
Statistics
Awards won by nationality
| Country | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 3 | 2011, 2015, 2023 |
| Argentina | 3 | 2021, 2024, 2025 |
| Portugal | 1 | 2009 |
| Turkey | 1 | 2010 |
| Slovakia | 1 | 2012 |
| Sweden | 1 | 2013 |
| Colombia | 1 | 2014 |
| Malaysia | 1 | 2016 |
| France | 1 | 2017 |
| Egypt | 1 | 2018 |
| Hungary | 1 | 2019 |
| South Korea | 1 | 2020 |
| Poland | 1 | 2022 |
Most nominations received
| Player | Nominations | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina Lionel Messi | 7 | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 |
| Brazil Neymar | 5 | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 |
| Sweden Zlatan Ibrahimović | 4 | 2011, 2013, 2014, 2019 |
| Serbia Nemanja Matić | 2 | 2013, 2017 |
| Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo | 2 | 2009, 2018 |
| Uruguay Giorgian de Arrascaeta | 2 | 2018, 2020 |
| South Africa Hlompho Kekana | 2 | 2016, 2020 |
| Scotland Caroline Weir | 2 | 2020, 2021 |