Governing football body FIFA announced Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann as the final three nominees shortlisted for the 2016 FIFA Best Men's Player award on Friday.
Mess, Ronaldo and Griezmann were the top three picks from the original list of twenty-three people, which included names such as Neymar, Gareth Bale, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez after voting by select journalists, captains and coaches and fans. The annual award has been rebranded from the previous FIFA Ballon D'or after FIFA and France Football magazine ended their six-year partnership. In 2010, the Ballon D'or merged with FIFA's World Player of the Year award when France Football partnered with FIFA. The award was rebranded by FIFA to "The Best", replacing the FIFA Ballon D'or.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo usually dominate the list, with Messi having won five times and Ronaldo three times already. Luis Suarez missed out of the final three nominees despite receiving the 2015 - 2016 Golden Shoe award and having scored 40 goals in La Liga. Meanwhile, Ronaldo had a stellar year after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and leading Portugal to Euro 2016 with their first major trophy. Messi has helped Barcelona to win another domestic league and cup double with 41 goals scored this year. For Griezmann, he helped the club to third place in La Liga and to the final of Champions League and was awarded as the top scorer of Euro 2016.
Voting for the award will be done by journalists, national team captains and coaches and for the first time, an online poll of fans will be included as well. The winner will be announced on January 9 in the annual FIFA awards at Zurich.
The Ballon D'or will be awarded separately instead in December by France Football, and only journalists will be voting in the award.
