Ronaldo shares the nomination with Thiago Alcântara (Bayern Munich / Liverpool), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk (all from Liverpool), Kylian Mbappé and Neymar (both Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) and Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid).
Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Jan Oblak (Atlético de Madrid) and Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona)are all nominated for the best goalkeeper award.
The award to distinguish the best coach will be decided between the candidates Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich) - who won the Champions League -, Julen Lopetegui (Seville) - winner of the Europa League -, Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United), Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) and Zinédine Zidane (Real Madrid).
The ‘The Best’ awards ceremony, which was initially scheduled for September, but was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic, will take place on 17 December, in an exclusively virtual event, FIFA announced.
The 11 categories of ‘The Best’ awards, male and female, will be elected by ‘captains’ and coaches from all over the world, alongside supporters and media representatives from countries around the globe.
Voting will take place until 9 December.
Argentine Lionel Messi and American Megan Rapinoe were awarded in 2019 as the best players in the world, while German Jurgen Klopp and Englishwoman Jill Ellis were elected the best coaches.
Messi won the sixth trophy for the best footballer in the world (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019), surpassing Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a total of five (2008, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2016/17) and who last year saw him being voted in to third place, behind the Argentine and Dutchman Virgil van Dijk.