Cristiano Ronaldo birthday special coverage: Check Cristiano Ronaldo age, stats, total goals, career records, trophies and net worth details.
Luka Modric has played almost 600 games for Real and won nearly 30 trophies including a record six Champions League titles and four LaLiga trophies.
Messi, who won the Spanish La Liga title with Barcelona last season as well as the European golden boot having scored 54 goals in 58 games in all competitions, last won the award in 2015.
The Indian football team achieved their best FIFA ranking in over six years when the side leaped 11 places to be 137th in the list released on Thursday.
Voting for the eighth annual awards opened on Thursday on FIFA.com and closes in mid-October. National team coaches, captains, journalists and fans make up the list of voters.
Messi named FIFA player of 2022, England women rewarded for Euro campaign
The Indian men's football team on Thursday achieved sub-100 FIFA ranking for the first time since 2018 as it moved up one spot to 99th after its SAFF Championship triumph.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, who won the 2022 Ballon d'Or award, is also in the shortlist.
India's Charanjot Singh secured the top-seeding in South Asia at next month's Asian Games in Hangzhou after producing overwhelming performances against Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in seeding event for FIFA e-sport.
Emma Hayes, who led Chelsea to the 2021 Champions League final, is joined on The Best FIFA Women's Coach shortlist by England manager Sarina Wiegman and Canada coach Beverly Priestman.
Yokohama beat Shandong to book Asian Champions League last 16 berth
But how much has the national team actually improved?
Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski was named The Best FIFA Men's Player 2020 on Thursday, beating off competition from last year's winner Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Liverpool's Champions League winning trio of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane joined regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the shortlist for The Best FIFA Men's player award
Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to a second consecutive Champions League title and finished as the tournament's top scorer with 12 goals earlier this year.
The 19-year-old Mbappe followed up a domestic treble with Paris St Germain with a string of impressive performances in France's World Cup winning campaign.
The 2021 men's and women's U-17 European Championships have been cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, UEFA said on Friday.
The Modric family took refuge in a hotel near Zadar in 1991 when the war that followed the breakup of former Yugoslavia started and after Luka's grandfather was killed by Serb militia.
Former Real Madrid and England manager gives a clear explanation to the Messi vs Ronaldo debate
The USA striker also revealed that she was inspired by Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly after the pair stood up to incidents of racism.
Modric beats Djokovic to win Balkan athlete of year
'This award is not just mine.' 'It is my team mates' from Real Madrid and Croatia.' 'Without my coaches, I would not have won this and without my family I would not be the player I am today.'
AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic shed a few tears of pride as he returned to Sweden's national team after a four-year absence for their World Cup qualifiers and recounted how his son did not want him to leave home to join up with Janne Andersson's squad.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah have been nominated as finalists for The Best FIFA Men's Player Award, world soccer's governing body announced on Monday.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will again be duelling for the title of world's best footballer after their names once again headed the shortlist on Thursday for The Best FIFA Men's Player.
Indian national footbal team coach Stephen Constantine has been offered a one-year extension by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) keeping in mind preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Under the new system, half the votes would belong to the players and coaches of the world's 211 national teams and half to the public, who will take part via an online ballot, and selected media representatives.
World champions France had eight players, one less than former holders Spain, in international players' association FIFPro's 55-name shortlist for its World XI of 2018 award.
Zinedine Zidane has been reappointed as Real Madrid coach nine months after resigning, replacing Argentine Santiago Solari.
Real Madrid's Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best soccer player in the world for the second year running at FIFA's The Best awards gala on Monday.
The Indian National Football Team achieved its best-ever FIFA Ranking since February 1996 as they were ranked 96 in the July FIFA Rankings released on Thursday.
The group stage Asian Cup exit turning out to be one bitter pill that he found too hard to swallow.
Diego Maradona is delighted by plans to expand the World Cup to 48 teams and Argentina's former captain said on Monday that it would rekindle interest in the tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d'Or for world player of the year on Thursday for a joint-record fifth time, going level with eternal rival and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as the player to have won the prize the most times.
Some key facts about Zinedine Zidane, who stepped down as Real Madrid coach after leading the Spanish club to a third successive Champions League title.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The 24-year-old has scored three league goals already and Shevchenko, who never replicated his superb goalscoring record for AC Milan in three subsequent years at Chelsea, believes there is much more to come from the Spaniard.
In his first visit to India since being elected the FIFA President Gianni Infantino labelled India as the "passionate giant," of Football. Infantino was in Goa as the local organising committee of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 (LOC) unveiled the official emblem for what will be India's first international football event.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances