Cristiano Ronaldo started the year by winning the FIFA Men's Best Player Award. He edged rival Lionel Messi and young upstart Antoine Griezmann. Ronaldo also won the Ballon d'Or Award in December after helping Real Madrid and Portugal to Champions League and EURO 2016 glory, respectively.
But wait, some might get confused since the Ballon d'Or Awards was held late last year. According to World Soccer, FIFA ended its six-year association with France Football last year which means only journalists decide who wins Ballon d'Or.
Ronaldo won the award, which was his fourth overall, by defeating Messi and Griezmann. Now, the Best FIFA Football Awards are determined by players, coaches, selected journalists and fans. Each category is counted for25 percent of the total points, per BBC.
The 2016 best Men's player award was Ronaldo for all of his accomplishments last year. In 44 games, he scored a total of 42 goals and provided 14 assists. He received a total of 34.54 percent of votes compared to Messi (26.42 percent) and Griezmann (7.53 percent).
"It was my best year so far. The trophy for Portugal was amazing. I was so happy and of course I cannot forget the Champions League and the Club World Cup. We ended the year in the best way. I'm so glad to win a lot of trophies, collective and individual. I'm so, so proud," Ronaldo said after receiving the award, via MSN.com.
Ronaldo and Messi also made it into the FIFPro World XI along with Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves and Manuel Neuer. Surprisingly, Griezman who was a finalist in the men's best player award was not included.
On the other hand, American star Carli Lloyd won the best women's player award after edging out Marta of Brazil and Melanie Behringer of Germany. Leicester City's Claudio Ranieri came out as the best men's manager as he beat out Madrid's Zinedine Zidane and Portugal's Fernando Santos.
Germany's Silva Neid was named the best women's manager while Malaysian Super League star Mohd Faiz Subri won the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year. Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool fans won the Fan Award for their rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster.
Finally, Colombian club Atletico Nacional won the Fair Play Award for their gesture in the aftermath of the Chapecoense plane crash. They let CONMEBOL award the 2016 Sudamericana to the fallen club.
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