Chapter 645 A New Era

After an opening performance, the awards ceremony officially began. The host Elba took the stage first. He first made a joke about the VAR technology that was first used in the World Cup this summer, and then a video clip brought the world back to the World Cup in Russia in the summer.

This video is a wonderful clip of the entire World Cup, from the group stage to each knockout round, until the final World Cup final when Portugal defeated France to win the cup.

This clip also shows the difference of this awards ceremony.

The selection period of this awards ceremony is the 2017-2018 season, which is completely different from the previous year.

To be precise, the selection period for men's football is from August 2017 to the World Cup final on July 15 this year. And for women's football, it is from August 2017 to August 2018.

Because of the World Cup, the performance of the players during the World Cup still has a great impact on the selection results.

When the awards ceremony officially began, the various awards were gradually selected.

The first award was the Puskas Award, or the Best Goal Award.

There are 10 candidates for the 2018 Puskas Award, including Bale, Ronaldo, Cheryshev, Pavard, Christodoulopoulos, Alasketa, McGregor, Yosi, Quaresma and Salah.

Before the award was announced, the female host Bonner interviewed many players and guests at the scene, asking everyone about their views on the best goal.

Finally, the male host Elba invited two award presenters, former Blues legendary striker Drogba and actor Gallagher, to announce the award. Bruno's friend, Liverpool striker Salah's goal won 38% of the votes and was successfully elected as the 2018 FIFA Puskas Award.

Salah walked up to the podium, made a few brief speeches, and then walked down the podium.

It is worth mentioning that with his outstanding performance in Liverpool last season, Salah was also selected in the top ten of this season's World Footballer of the Year, but the specific ranking has not yet been announced, but it should be ranked between third and fifth.

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The next award was the Coach of the Season Award.

The Portuguese became the biggest winner of this award, because two of the top three finalists were Portuguese, and both of them were the most popular candidates for the award.

Santos, the head coach of the Portuguese national team and the World Cup champion, was undoubtedly selected, and Mourinho led Manchester United to win the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, European Super Cup and Community Shield in the 2017-2018 season. He created the first record of unbeaten seasons in the history of world football. It can be said that there is no precedent, and it may be difficult to have a successor.

The most amazing thing is that this record is still continuing. Before today's FIFA awards ceremony, Manchester United has extended this unbeaten record to 78 games.

Under this premise, Mourinho is naturally recognized by the world, and his status as the world's top coach can be said to be as stable as Mount Tai.

The two Portuguese head coaches, one is a World Cup champion, and the other is the undisputed world's top coach in today's world football. Whoever wins the award in the end is fully convincing.

But it is precisely because of this that no one can know who will win before the final result is announced.

The third person selected is the World Cup runner-up and French coach Didier Deschamps.

Compared with the two Portuguese, Deschamps looks more like a runner-up. Whether it is Santos or Mourinho, the advantage over Deschamps is too obvious.

And tonight, it is time to announce the final result.

At the invitation of the host, the award presenter, former Arsenal legendary coach Arsene Wenger, took the stage and announced the final result. Fernando Santos, the head coach of the Portuguese national team, defeated his compatriot Jose Mourinho and was elected the 2018 FIFA Best Coach.

In the World Cup year, the impact of the World Cup on various awards is really too great!

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After the Best Men's Football Coach Award was announced, the Best Goalkeeper of Men's Football was also produced. World Cup Golden Glove Award winner Courtois, World Cup champion goalkeeper Patricio, and Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea were shortlisted in the top three.

The award presenter, former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, announced the final winner. Last season's Premier League Golden Glove Award winner and six-time champion David De Gea defeated rivals Thibaut Courtois and Patricio to win the award.

In the 2017-2018 season, De Gea had an amazing performance at Manchester United. He made 21 clean sheets in 34 Premier League appearances, tying the record of clean sheets in a single season in Manchester United's Premier League history created by Edwin van der Sar in the 2008-2009 season. Even in the entire Premier League history, De Gea's performance is second only to the record of 24 clean sheets in a single season created by Czech goalkeeper Cech in the 2004-2005 season.

When Edwin van der Sar handed the trophy for the best goalkeeper to De Gea, the audience applauded.

In a sense, this is also the real handover between the two Manchester United goalkeepers.

Then, the best women's football coach of the year was won by Lyon women's football coach Pedros, who defeated Japanese women's football coach Takakura Mako and Dutch women's football coach Wegman. Last season, he led Lyon women's football to win the Women's Football Champions League.

With the Best Fan Award, Best Newcomer Award, Fair Play Award, World Footballer of the Year and other awards coming out one by one, the climax of the game is about to come.

The Best Fan Award was won by Peruvian fans, the Fair Play Award went to Renateti, and the Best Newcomer Award was no surprise. Bruno's Manchester United teammate Kylian Mbappe was elected without suspense. The World Footballer of the Year was won by Brazilian star Marta, which was the sixth time in her career.

Manchester United was undoubtedly the big winner tonight. De Gea was naturally shortlisted for the best team after being elected as the best goalkeeper; on the back line, the English defender combination of Luke Shaw and Maguire were both shortlisted for the best defender, forming a four-man defense with Pepe and Alves. In the midfield, Bruno and Kante occupied two of the three midfielders, and the remaining one was Modric. On the forward line, Harry Kane and Ronaldo were selected, and the remaining one was not Yosi as everyone imagined, but Liverpool striker Salah.

Such a result disappointed Yosi fans all over the world. They did not expect that Yosi was not shortlisted for the top three of the World Footballer of the Year, and was not even selected for the best 11-man lineup.

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After Mata was elected as the World Footballer of the Year, the only suspense left in tonight's awards ceremony was who would eventually become the World Footballer of the Year.

According to the final three-person list announced earlier, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, Portugal national team captain Cristiano Ronaldo, and Manchester United striker Harry Kane were selected.

In fact, although the result has not been announced, everyone already knows it.

Sure enough, when Infantino called out Bruno's name, the whole theater was filled with warm applause.