Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo on FIFA best player shortlist

Neymar was named alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the three-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award, which was announced in London yesterday.
Brazil superstar Neymar, 25, won the Copa del Rey with Barcelona last season before joining Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster 222mn euros ($266mn) move that smashed the world transfer record. Ronaldo, 32, is the overwhelming favourite to win the award, having led Real Madrid to the La Liga title and a third Champions League success in four years last season.
He won last year’s award after winning the Champions League with Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal. Ronaldo previously won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2008 and is a four-time winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Messi, 30, scored 54 goals last season as Barcelona won the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. The Argentina great, a record five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, has made a superb start to the current campaign, scoring 12 goals in his first eight appearances in all competitions. Ronaldo won the inaugural Best FIFA Men’s Player Award last year after a six-year merger between the FIFA honour and the Ballon d’Or.
The shortlist for the Best FIFA Women’s Player award comprises Venezeula’s Deyna Castellanos, Carli Lloyd of the United States and Dutch player Lieke Martens. Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane goes head to head with Chelsea’s Antonio Conte and Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri for the top coach award.
Veteran Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is shortlisted for the Best FIFA Goalkeeper prize alongside Keylor Navas of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud’s ‘scorpion kick’ volley against Crystal Palace in January and then Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic’s fierce long-range effort in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham in May are nominated for the Puskas Award for the year’s best goal. The intricate team goal that rounded off Celtic’s 5-2 win over St Johnstone and Moussa Dembele’s hat-trick in February is also in the running.
The Puskas Award — named after legendary Real Madrid and Hungary striker Ferenc Puskas — has also shined a light on some lesser-known players, though, with Mohd Faiz Subri of Malaysian club Penang the reigning champion. For the 2017 award, the period of eligibility is goals scored between October 1, 2016 to July 2, 2017.
The award is supposed to reward the best goal scored “regardless of championship, gender or nationality” and the initial shortlist of 10 goals is decided by a group of experts — which this year comprises of Alan Shearer, Celia Sasic, Abby Wambach, Henrik Larsson and Predrag Mijatovic.
The public then votes on that list of 10 to decide a winner. The first part of the voting process is open now and fans can cast their votes on FIFA’s official website.
At some point over the next month — FIFA has not specified exactly when — a top three will be announced based on the votes that have been submitted up to that point.  A second vote will then begin once that three-goal shortlist has been revealed to decide the winner.
The winner of the 2017 awards will be announced during a ceremony at the London Palladium on October 23. The voting for the award, equally weighted between national team captains, national team coaches, media and fans, closed earlier this month.