The second edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™ is steadily taking shape, leading up to the celebration of football’s greatest performers in London on 23 October

World football’s official individual accolades will honour the top performers of the 2016-2017 season, including one new category — The Best FIFA Goalkeeper Award, the winner of which will be decided by a group of FIFA Legends, goalkeepers and strikers alike.

“The role that goalkeepers play in football is as important as it is specific, even if they often fail to get the recognition they deserve. This is why we are proud to introduce this accolade. We will honour those who score the goals, but also those who play an equally important role in preventing them,” says FIFA Deputy Secretary General Zvonimir Boban.

In total, nine trophies will be presented at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony:

* The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017

* The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2017

* The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2017

* The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2017

* The Best FIFA Goalkeeper Award 2017

* The FIFA Puskás Award 2017

* The FIFA Fair Play Award 2017

* The FIFA Fan Award 2017

* FIFA FIFPro World11

The Best FIFA Football Awards came forth as a celebration of elite footballers and coaches, but also of those who love the game. Now, football fans will again play a decisive and active role in deciding the player and coach of the year in both men’s and women’s football.

The winners will be chosen through a process in which different stakeholders from the world of football will have their say:

·         25% of the result based on the choices of the captains of all of the world’s national teams

·         25% of the result based on the choices of the head coaches of all of the world’s national teams

·         25% of the result based on a public ballot with football fans on FIFA.com

·         25% of the result based on submissions from a selected group of more than 200 mediarepresentatives from around the world

Complete information about the voting process for each of the awards are available in all Rules of Allocation.

The process of selecting The Best of the season will get underway on 17 August, with the unveiling of the shortlists for four awards:

·         ten candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2017

·         ten candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2017

·         23 candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017

·         ten candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2017

The voting process for the four categories above will then be launched on 21 August and will remain open until 7 September. The three finalists of these awards will be announced in September.

For the launch of its new section, FIFA.com spoke to Brazilian legend Ronaldinho about his expectations for The Best FIFA Football Awards 2017 and the significance of London as the host city. The interview is available here.

To keep up with all of the news on the awards, visit FIFA.com, the official Facebook page or FIFA on Youtube