Started in 2008, the Puskas Award has been given to the player who scored the best goal of the past year. To win the award, you have to be nominated, and then fans and FIFA vote on it 50/50. As long as a player is from a top tier league and scored a noteworthy goal, they can be nominated. This award is named after Ferenc Puskas, and started after Ronaldo’s astonishing goal against FC Porto. Starting with Cristiano Ronaldo, there have been many different people to win the Puskas, and nobody has won the award twice. This year, it will be awarded in January of 2026, and there are a lot of amazing goals that have been nominated this time around.

According to the official Puskas site, these are the players nominated:

Alerrandro

Alessandro Deiola

Pedro de la Vega

Santiago Montiel

Amr Nasser

Carlos Orrantia

Lucas Ribeiro

Declain Rice

Rizky Ridho

Kevin Rodrigues

Lamine Yamal

Some world class players to previously win this award are James Rodrigues, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Heung Min Son, Mo Salah, Christiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Giroud.

The goals nominated are amazing but many question why some other great goals aren’t being considered. One example is Omar Marmoush’s rocket shot against Bournemouth in the Premier League.

Freshman Gabriel Muir gave his insight on who he thinks should win the award. He said, “Kevin Rodrigues should win it because his goal was insane.” Although he admires Rodrigues, he believes every player should be recognized for their contributions, “Even though he should win it, every goal deserved to be nominated.”