FIFA Puskás Award
FIFA award
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".
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