REAL MADRID STAR Cristiano Ronaldo has been named Best Fifa Men’s Player of 2016-17.
The Portuguese attacker takes home the award for the second year in a row, as he managed to defeat competition from fellow finalists Neymar and Lionel Messi at the awards ceremony in London.
Barcelona and Holland midfielder Lieke Martens was crowned the Best Fifa Women’s Player.
Ronaldo, 32, turned in another stunning campaign for Madrid in 2016-17 as he led Los Blancos to a La Liga and Champions League double, including a brace in the Champions League final against Juventus.
Ronaldo netted 25 times in La Liga last term and added 12 goals in the Champions League to round off another sensational goalscoring season.
“[I want to thank] Real Madrid supporters, my teammates, my coach, I have to say thank you to them,” Ronaldo said after recieving the prize.
“This is a great moment for me. Thank you a lot for the support. It’s great to be around such amazing players and I’m so happy.”
The Best Fifa Men’s Player award was initially pared down to a shortlist of 24, which was named in August. From there, Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar were named the three finalists in September.
The winner of the award was selected by the current coaches from every Fifa men’s national team, the current captains of every Fifa men’s national team, one journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans from all over the world registered on FIFA.com.
Ronaldo also took home the inagural Best Fifa Men’s Player award in 2016. Fifa formerly awarded the Ballon d’Or in conjunction with the magazine France Football, but the two sides split apart last year.
France Football still awards the Ballon d’Or, and it is expected the Ronaldo will equal Messi with his fifth such prize when the award is announced in December.
