The Best FIFA Football Awards 2024 have recognised the performances of six Premier League stars, including Manchester United forward Alejandro Garnacho – the winner of the FIFA Puskas Award for his incredible goal against Everton.
His acrobatic overhead kick at Goodison Park was declared the most spectacular goal scored in men’s football between 21 August 2023 and 10 August 2024. After being nominated with 10 other strikes, it received the highest number of voting points from both fans and a panel of experts.
The award is named in honour of legendary Hungary and Real Madrid forward Ferenc Puskas, who was famed for his collection of outstanding individual goals.
Garnacho is the second Man Utd player to receive it, following Cristiano Ronaldo’s success in 2009 with a strike in the UEFA Champions League.
Five Premier League goals have now won the award, with the previous four being scored by Olivier Giroud (Arsenal, 2017), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, 2018), Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur, 2020) and Erik Lamela (Spurs, 2021).
“I had tried this technique so many times in training,” said Garnacho, recalling his award-winning goal.
“I thought ‘This is the time to do it, to see what happens’ and I scored, so it was perfect.
“After the goal, my team-mates had their hands on their heads. They were like, ‘How did you do this?'”
Garnacho’s fellow Argentinian, Emiliano Martinez, was also honoured at the awards ceremony in Qatar, as he won The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper award, for the second time.
The 32-year-old first received it in 2022, following his heroics as Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
This time around, he had an impressive year with Aston Villa – helping them to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time – as well as excelling on the international stage again, winning the 2024 Copa America.
The goalkeeper award was decided by votes from fans, the captains and coaches of every national team, and media representatives, who were again assessing players for the 12 months from August 2023 to August 2024.
Fans also had their say in the full team for The Best FIFA Men’s XI, with their selections from a list of 77 nominated players being given the same weighting as the votes from a panel of experts.
Manchester City trio Ruben Dias, Rodri and Erling Haaland were selected, while defender William Saliba was recognised for his performances for Arsenal. They all joined Martinez in the line-up shown below.
#TheBest FIFA Men’s 11 in 2024. 🌟
Haaland and Rodri were named in the separate 2024 FIFPRO Men’s World 11, announced last week, as were their Man City team-mates Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne, and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.
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