Choose your beauty — the most attractive goals of the year are here

In the middle of the final stretch of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, FIFA didn’t exactly pick the best moment to announce the list of candidates for the “Puskas” and “Marta” awards, which are given to male and female players who scored the most beautiful goal of the year.

Since last year, the award has been split into men’s and women’s categories, and it seems that FIFA slightly changed its criteria this time, overlooking goals from amateur competitions, which had regularly appeared among the nominees in previous years.

The list has been narrowed to 11 candidates; fans will vote to select the top three, and then an expert jury will choose the final winner from those three. They’ll have quite a difficult task, as it’s hard to decide at first glance which of these football masterpieces is truly the best.

Take a look and judge for yourself. The FIFA “Puskas” award has been handed out since 2009, and last year’s winner was Alejandro Garnacho for his goal for Manchester United against Everton. Among the big names who have lifted the trophy are Son Heung-min, Erik Lamela, Mohamed Salah, Olivier Giroud, James Rodriguez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo… Interestingly, Leo Messi has been nominated seven times but has never won.