6 August 2019 – Voting has begun for The Best FIFA Men’s and Women’s Player and Coach awards, and it’s your turn to have your say.

Choose your top three for each award now to join the other key voices of the beautiful game in deciding The Best. National team captains and coaches, and select members of the media will also vote for their top trio in each category.

But how does the voting system work? Luckily for you, we’ve got all the info right here.

Who decides the shortlists?

Two panels of experts – one for men’s football and one for women’s football – determine the nominees based on their on-field performance and overall behaviour on and off the pitch.

The time periods taken into account for the awards are between 16 July 2018 to 19 July 2019 inclusive for the men’s awards and between 25 May 2018 and 7 July 2019 inclusive for the women’s awards.

Who gets to vote?

The following four categories of voters have to select their top three from the list of nominees, and each category is given an equal weighting in the final decision.

  • National team captains
  • National team coaches
  • Selected members of the media
  • Fans voting on FIFA.com (who are members of the FIFA.com Club)

When each voter’s top three are selected, the first choice is attributed five points, second choice is awarded three points and third choice is given one point.

VOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Men's PlayerVOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Men’s Player

How are the votes counted?

For each category of voters (captains, coaches, fans and media), all the above points per vote are tallied for each candidate in each award (five-, three-, and one-point votes).

That total then sees each nominee ranked, earning them a final score from that category of voters.

First – 12 points
Second – 10 points
Third – 8 points
Fourth – 7 points
Fifth – 6 points
Sixth – 5 points
Seventh – 4 points
Eighth – 3 points
Ninth – 2 points
Tenth – 1 point

These ranking points for each voter category are then added together, to give an overall total and determine the winner. This means that equal weighting is given to each category of voter, and the ranking of each nominee, in spite of the total number of votes cast by fans in the public vote.

If there are more than ten nominees in a shortlist (as with this year’s dozen candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Player award), the top ten will receive points as above with any nominees ranked below that (in this year’s case, the 11th- and 12th-ranked candidates) receiving no points.

Note: Tie-breakers outlined in the rules of allocation (article 8)

VOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Women's PlayerVOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Women’s Player

How long is the voting open for?

Voting is open until midnight CET on Monday 19 August 2019. But don’t delay and cast your vote now!

VOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Men's CoachVOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Men’s Coach

After I’ve voted, what happens next?

We will announce the three finalists for each award at a later date, with the winner to be revealed at The Best FIFA Football Awards in Milan on Monday 23 September.

VOTE NOW: The Best FIFA Women's Coach

(source: FIFA.com)