Of the three nominees for the 2015 FIFA Puskas Award, Wendell Lira is the one we least-expected to win. Nothing against him, it's just one of the other two nominees is the most popular player in the world and the other scored his goal in the Champions League.
Then again, maybe it's not that surprising, because this is the goal he scored:
Luis Enrique has won the award for FIFA Coach Of The Year For Men’s Football 2015. Enrique won the treble with FC Barcelona in 2015 as he guided his team to titles in La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League.
Enrique beat out two other finalists for the award, Pep Guardiola of FC Bayern Munich and Jorge Sampaoli of the Chilean national team.
Jill Ellis is starting 2016 on a high note, thanks to what she did in 2015.
Ellis was named the 2015 FIFA Women's Coach of the Year for guiding her USWNT squad to the 2015 World Cup totle in Canada. She was quick to shift the credit to ther USWNT players.
"I truly believe this team won the award," Ellis said at the FIFA Ballon d'Or gala.
Ellis's USWNT team started out slowly at the World Cup, but found their stride in the knockout stage and obliterated Japan in the final, 5-2.
The FIFA FIFPro World XI has just been announced, and as expected it is full of Real Madrid and Barcelona players.
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Paul Pogba (Juventus)
Neymar (Barcelona)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
The FIFA Ballon d’Or is the biggest award a soccer player can win based on an individual performance. Every year, the best players and coaches around the world gather together to find out who is the best player, the best female player, best coach and the FIFpro World XI — the best starting line-up in the world.
A few months ago, FIFA released a 50-players list of nominees for the award so, how do we get from there to the final three nominees that traveled to the Gala in Zurich?
Yaya Touré blasted the African confederation for not awarding him the African Player of the Year award, the Ivory Coast starlet finishing second to Gabon and Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
In a startling outburst, Touré reportedly labelled the decision as “pathetic”, “indecent” and one that “brings shame” to Africa.
EA Sports has released its “FIFA 16 - Best Goals of 2015” video and the final cut is outrageous. Scorpion kicks, rambonas, 35-yard volleys and overhead kicks from the top of the 18, every goal in this collection would certainly win the FIFA Puskás award if it were accomplished in reality.
While online opponents might be yelling “sweaty goal!” and heading for the menu’s exit, you can imagine the delirium the goal scorers must have felt. Mastering the controls and executing with this kind of precision certainly takes a huge amount of skill...and time.
And then there were five. Reports surfaced Thursday that Michel Platini, previously considered the frontrunner for the vacant FIFA presidency, is dropping out of the race.
Platini is facing an eight-year ban from soccer activity from the FIFA ethics committee, and has reportedy dropped out of the presidential race to concentrate on fighting it.
Dutch journalist Michel Abbink has apparently got ahold of the results for the 2015 Ballon d'Or award, given to the best player in the world, and the reported winner will surprise approximately nobody: Lionel Messi.
This would be Messi's fourth Ballon d'Or win in the six years the award in its current form has been given out. Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo are also finalists.
Abbink tweeted a photo that shows Messi as the male Ballon d'Or winner, and German Celia Sasic as the female winner.
Players like Bryan Ruiz, Clint Dempsey, Javier Hernandez and Dwayne De Rosario (recently retired) have been leading their respective countries attacks for years now. With the 2018 World Cup qualifiers underway, these young forwards, aged 24 and under, will be looking to make massive contributions on the road to Russia.
So, how do the forwards stack up against each other? Which CONCACAF nation has the most promising goal scorer? Don't let your allegiance and bias cloud your judgement...or do. We won't stop you.