The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), based out of Bonn, Germany is an organisation that has over the years built a reputation for itself as the premier organisation that collects and chronicles history and records associated with association football. The organisation, over the last 2 decades has released their rankings of best playmaker, goalkeeper, manager and team based on statistical analysis of players and teams.
Recently, the organisation announced the 21st edition of the coveted awards to honour players and managers who were in phenomenal form over the course of the last 12 months. With the editorial staff of the IFFHS as well as numerous experts coming together to vote for players/clubs/managers, the award is held in high esteem by footballers and critics alike.
In this segment, we take a look at the list of awards that were handed out by the organisation recently.
Best Goal Keeper award
German and Bayern Munich superstar and shot-stopper Manuel Neuer won his fourth consecutive IFFHS crown of the World’s best goalkeeper. While there were noteworthy performances from numerous shot-stoppers across the globe, few of them managed to be as consistent and effective as the former Bayern custodian and he deservedly won the award.
Also Read: #JustNeuerThings: 10 outrageous things that only Manuel Neuer can do
However, he had to beat off competition from numerous superstars in the form of Gianluigi Buffon, Rui Patricio, Claudio Bravo and David de Gea amongst others.
Here is the list of the top 10 goalkeepers in the world as per IFFHS in the final order, along with the points given to them.
| S No. | Player | Points |
| 1. | Manuel Neuer | 156 |
| 2. | Gianluigi Buffon | 91 |
| 3. | Rui Patricio | 50 |
| 4. | Claudio Bravo | 45 |
| 5. | David De Gea | 37 |
| 6. | Jan Oblak | 31 |
| 7. | Hugo Lloris | 29 |
| 8. | Keylor Navas | 18 |
| 9. | Thibaut Courtois | 13 |
| 10. | Denis Onyango | 5 |
| 11. | Petr Cech | 4 |
| 12 . | Samir Handanovic | 2 |
| 13. | Marc-Andre Ter Stegen | 1 |
Best Manager Award
In what can be termed as a battle of the managers from Madrid, Diego Simeone pipped Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane by a mere 5 points to take home the best manager award for 2016. The Argentine has taken Atletico Madrid to the next level and has been pivotal to their success over recent years and it comes as no surprise that the manager was given the award.
Apart from his cross-town rival, the Argentine beat off stiff competition from who’s who of the footballing world that included the likes of Claudio Ranieri, Pep Guardiola, Unai Emery and Luis Enrique. Perhaps, the most low-profile, yet deserving inclusion in the list was Pitso Mosimane who manages South African club Mamelodi Sundowns.
Here is the list of the top 12 managers in the world as per IFFHS in descending order along with the number of points they received.
| S No. | Player | Points |
| 1. | Diego Simeone | 113 |
| 2. | Zinedine Zidane | 108 |
| 3. | Claudio Ranieri | 86 |
| 4. | Pep Guardiola | 62 |
| 5. | Unai Emery | 38 |
| 6. | Luis Enrique | 24 |
| 7. | Jurgen Klopp | 16 |
| 8. | Mauricio Pochettino | 15 |
| 9. | Massimiliano Allegri | 6 |
| 10. | Pitso Mosimane | 5 |
| 11. | Arsene Wenger | 4 |
| 12 . | Leonardo Jardim | 3 |
| 13. | Olivier Blanc | 3 |
