FIFA's The Best awards cancelled for 2020

FIFA have decided to cancel their The Best awards this year.

The ceremony was due to take place in Milan in September, but that will no longer happen because of the coronavirus pandemic.





That means the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won't be up for the coveted The Best Men's Player award, which will be left vacant.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been clear from the very start of this pandemic that matters will be dealt with using common sense and maximum precaution.


FIFA have already suspended the Under-20 and Under-17 Women's World Cups until February 2021, as well as the Futsal World Cup until 2021.

The only competition of FIFA's that hasn't been suspended yet is the Club World Cup, which is set to take place in Abu Dhabi in December.
A logical decision

Given that football seasons across the globe has been suspended and, in some cases, cancelled altogether, there wasn't reason to hold an awards ceremony this year.

As well as the sporting reasons for cancelling the ceremony, Infantino didn't think an evening of celebration was the right thing to do during the pandemic.

As for the European Golden Boot, that isn't up to FIFA and there are doubts over whether it will be handed out this season.

Players like Kylian Mbappe won't be able to improve their tallies because their domestic seasons have already been cancelled.

Meanwhile, France Football still haven't decided what they're going to do with the Ballon d'Or ceremony, which has been held every year since 1956.

UEFA's award ceremony is due to be held in Monaco at the end of August, along with the draw for the Champions League group stage.

Without a definite start date for the Champions League next season, these awards will have to wait until a draw takes place.

The idea is to start next season's group stages in October.