Zurich, Jan 12, 2014: The FIFA World Player Gala has been in existence since 1991. During the last decade, it has undergone some significant changes, not least of which took place in 2010, when it merged with France Football’s Ballon d’Or award to form the new “FIFA Ballon d’Or“.
Event: FIFA Ballon d’Or
Venue: Kongresshaus, Zurich (Switzerland)
Date: 13 January 2014, 18h30 CET
Format: 90 minutes live show with specific theme of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. The show will be broadcasted in 193 countries.
Awards presented (order in which they will be presented during the ceremony):
FIFA/FIFPro World XI
FIFA Presidential Award
FIFA Women’s Football Coach of the Year
FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year
FIFA Fair Play Award
FIFA Puskas Award
Special Award
FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year
FIFA Ballon d’Or
Awards
FIFA/FIFPro World XI
52,000 FIFPro professional players vote for the FIFA FIFpro World XI 2013.
Presidential Award
Ever since 2001, the Presidential Award has been bestowed upon a person or institution that has made a superlative contribution to football without seeking to monopolise the limelight. The Presidential Award may be conferred in honour of one special event or a lifetime of service, or for an exemplary attitude.
FIFA Women’s Football Coach of the Year / FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year
A shortlist of ten candidates for the FIFA Women’s Football Coach of the Year was compiled by experts from the FIFA’s Football Committee, the FIFA’s Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA WoMen’s World Cup and a group of experts from France Football. It was revealed on 24 October. Journalists, national coaches and captains have voted for the winner of FIFA WoMen’s Coach of the Year from this list and a shortlist of three coaches from this was revealed on 9 December.
A list of ten male candidates for the FIFA Coach of the Year award was also revealed on 28 October. These were drawn up by FIFA’s Committee for WoMen’s Football and FIFA WoMen’s World Cup and by the FIFA Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France Football.
The voting process followed that of their counterparts in the women’s game and a shortlist of three was also revealed on 9 December.
FIFA Women’s Football Coach of the Year nominees: Ralf Kellermann / Silvia Neid / Pia Sundhage
FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year nominees: Alex Ferguson / Jupp Heynckes / Jürgen Klopp
Fair Play Award
Each year FIFA also commends other persons or institutions for their fair play, an issue that has always been of crucial significance to world football’s governing body. FIFA aims to promote the principles of fair play through projects and campaigns.
The first FIFA Fair Play Award was presented in 1987, four years before the first FIFA World Player Award. Since then, the award has been bestowed upon fans of clubs and national teams, as well as upon associations and individual players. The Uzbekistan FA won the FIFA Fair Play Award 2012.
The FIFA Puskás Award
The race to determine the winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for the “best goal of the year” started on 11 November 2013, on FIFA.com and francefootball.fr. Fans from across the world could decide which of the ten goals selected by FIFA’s football experts will be the winner of this award. Users of FIFA.com and francefootball.fr were able to choose from ten goals until 9 December, when the three goals with the most votes were disclosed on FIFA.com and Youtube/fifatv.
Immediately after the announcement on 9 December, FIFA.com and francefootball.fr users were able to vote again for their favourite from the three remaining goals.
The winner will be revealed on 13 January 2014 at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala. Voting will close during the show.
The FIFA Puskás Award, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, will be presented for the fifth year in a row.
FIFA Puskás Award nominees: Zlatan Ibrahimovic / Namanja Matic / Neymar
Special Award
A special award will be presented.
FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year / FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013
A ten-player shortlist was unveiled on Friday, 25 October for the FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year, which was chosen by experts from FIFA’s Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup and a group of experts from France Football.
A 23-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d’Or was compiled by the FIFA Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football. It was announced on 29 October.
The national coaches and captains of the 209 member associations as well as media from around the world were invited to vote for the FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year and the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013.
The entire voting process was supervised and audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The voting concluded on 29 November 2013.
Ballon d’Or nominees: Cristiano Ronaldo / Lionel Messi / Franck Ribéry
FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year nominees: Nadine Angerer / Marta / Abby Wambach.
12:00 Opening of Media Centre (Zurich Kongresshaus)
14:00 Media Conference with nominees for Women’s World Player of the Year and World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football (media centre)
14:40 (TBC) FIFA Interactive World Cup presentation (15 min.)
15:00 Media Conference with nominees for the FIFA Ballon d’Or and World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football (media centre)
From 17:00 Arrival of guests, Red Carpet activities
18:15 Welcome by the hosts
18:30 Start of live TV show
20:00 End of live TV show
20:00 Mixed zone and interviews with winners/nominees
From 20:00 Dinner
23:00 Closing of Media Centre. —- Stuart Franklin – FIFA/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.