FIFA Best Women's Player 2019 goes to... Megan Rapinoe!!!

FIFA Best Women's Player 2019 goes to... Megan Rapinoe!!!

The American star was expected to win this award because of her individual performance, but her role as captain and outspoken activist makes her the perfect winner too.

FIFA Best Player 2019 goes to... Lionel Messi!!!

This was always going to be quite controversial whether Lionel Messi won or not. Virgil van Dijk was the bookies' slight favourite but Messi had a stunning season for Barcelona, racking up half a century of goals, and of course, he is quite literally the best player, and reaches his 6th award individual top award of the kind.

FIFPro Men's World XI announced!

Ramos is on his 10th award here! What a line-up.

Alisson Becker (BRA) - Liverpool
Matthijs de Ligt (NED) - Ajax / Juventus
Sergio Ramos (ESP) - Real Madrid
Virgil van Dijk (NED) - Liverpool
Marcelo (BRA) - Real Madrid
Luka Modric (CRO) - Real Madrid
Frenkie de Jong (NED) - Ajax/Barcelona
Eden Hazard (BEL) - Chelsea/ Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) - Juventus
Kylian Mbappe (FRA) - Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi (ARG) - Barcelona

Jill Ellis wins the women's Best coach!

The only coach to ever win back-to-back World Cups. Enough said.

Alisson Becker wins best Goalkeeper!

No surprises here. The Champions League and Copa America winner gets rewarded for his efforts and active, enganged style of goalkeeping, which has often been dubbed as the goalkeeping of the future.

FIFPro Women's World XI announced

What a line-up this is! The USA understandably dominates the line-up, but Women's The Best nominee Lucy Bronze is also present.

Sari van Veenendaal (NED) - Arsenal / Atletico Madrid
Lucy Bronze (ENG) - Olympique Lyonnais
Wendie Renard (FRA) - Olympique Lyonnais
Nilla Fischer (SWE) - VfL Wolfsburg / Linkopings
Kelley O'Hara (USA) - Utah Royals
Amandine Henry (FRA) - Olympique Lyonnais
Julie Ertz (USA) - Chicago Red Stars
Rose Lavelle (USA) - Washington Spirit
Megan Rapinoe (USA) - Reign FC
Marta (BRA) - Orlando Pride
Alex Morgan (USA) - Orlando Pride

Fair Play Award is given to Marcelo Bielsa for his exemplary action against Aston Villa!

For that moment against Aston Villa when Leeds allowed their opponents to score a goal in reply to a controversial goal of their own.

Sari Van Veenendaal wins the first ever Best Female goalkeeper!

Samuel Eto'o announces the award! Sari van Veenendaal, the Dutch goalkeeper who now plays for Atletico Madrid's women's team, has won the first-ever best female goalkeeper. A big step for women's football here, and both the winner and the crowd know it, "there's always a first", she says! In her acceptance speech, Sari van Veenendaal said that from a young age she wanted to be one of the world's best footballers. Now she has the hardware to prove it.

FIFA fan award up next!

This a new one, but a very important one. A great reminder that football fans are those who make it all possible. The award, given by Andrea Pirlo nonetheless, is awarded to Silvia Grecco, the mother who narrates all of Palmeiras' matches to her son. Emotional moment as the winner's speech brings out a few tears.

Best coach announced!

Jurgen Klopp wins the best coach award for 2019. Well deserved, and a great speech. He thanks the owners for buying good players, and the team for winning the Champions League, and uses his speech to announce he has joined Common Goal, which is a great cause. Very good.

Puskas award announced!

Dániel Zsóri takes the first award of the night! It's a surprising one here, as Messi or Quintero had been expected to win it tonight.

FIFPro Women's and Men's World XI

The award will also give us the best starting XI in the world... A lot to look forward to.

The Puskas award for the best goal is also being awarded tonight...

Lionel Messi (ARG) - Real Betis v FC Barcelona [La Liga] (17 March 2019)

Lionel Messi is a regular name among the nominees and was picked for his chip against Real Betis in March.

Having found Rakitic in space on the right, Messi recieved the return pass and hit a first-time chip from just inside the penalty area over Pau Lopez and in off the underside of the crossbar

Juan Fernando Quintero (COL) - River Plate v Racing Club [Argentinian Superliga] (10 February 2019)

Juan Fernando Quintero scored a remarkable free kick in February while playing for River Plate, scoring from fully 35 yards as his left-footed effort from the right flank swung inside the top corner.

Dániel Zsóri (HUN) - Debrecen FC v Ferencváros TC [Nemzeti Bajnoskag I] (16 February 2019)

Daniel Zsori announced himself to the world in some style in February. The forward, on his debut, scoref an overhead kick inside the penalty area to win the game in stoppage time. Not bad for an 18-year-old.

Quite the grand event tonight...

The event has started and we are now watching a beautiful ballet performance. Not exactly what you'd expect from a football event, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Show about to start!

The star power is strong tonight! The show should be about to start, but while we wait, here's Messi with his family, which is always a tender sight.

And if you're not a huge fan of Messi, here's an equally cute image.

The nominees for the Best player 2019

Arguably the biggest award of the night. Virgil can Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. Again, as they also did about a month ago, these three stars will see each other again in a gala in which the winner of 'The Best' will be announced, last season it was won by Luka Modric. The Dutch central defender, after taking the prize for the best player of the 2018-19 season by UEFA, starts with an advantage.

Virgil Van Dijk

Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo

The nominees for Best women's coach 2019

The strongest contender is Jill Ellis, who managed to bring the United States a back to back World Cup win in a stellar World Cup in France, but the two other contenders have their own impressive track record, with Sarina Wiegman achieving yet another final for the Netherlands and Phil Neville impressively bringing his Lionesses to a fourth-place finish.

Jill Ellis

Phil Neville

Sarina Wiegman

The nominees for Best men's coach 2019

An all Premier League dominated line-up here. Two of the nominees got to the Champions League final, no less, with Jurgen Klopp also excelling in the Premier League, but Guardiola's individual achievements - a first-ever domestic treble - should also make him a strong contender.

Jurgen Klopp

Pep Guardiola

Mauricio Pochettino

The nominees for Best Goalkeeper 2019

Alisson is expected to take this one, but stellar performances from fellow country man Ederson and Barcelona's keeper Ter Stegen could complicate things for the currently injured player.

Alisson

Ederson

Ter Stegen

The nominees for Best Female Player 2019

With USA winning the World Cup this year, it was to be expected that the two captains would get their nominations here. The third is none other than Lucy Bronze, who also had a fantastic campaign with Neville's Lionesses.

Megan Rapinoe

Lucy Bronze

Alex Morgan

Let's take a looks at all the nominees, shall we?

The biggest prize of the night is known to be the award for the Best male player, but there are loads of other equally important awards being handed in tonight. Let's take a look, shall we?

The star power has come out in force!

Although Cristiano Ronaldo decided to skip the awards (even though they're happening in Italy?), Lionel Messi, Van Dijk and football's biggest stars are all in attendance tonight.

Hello and welcome!

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of this evening's The Best FIFA Awards from Milan! We will be bringing you all the action from the awards as the winners are announced.