According to FIFA’s own definition, the Puskas Award is handed out every year by world football’s governing body to the scorer of “the best goal scored … regardless of championship, gender or nationality.” The only stipulation being that it must be captured on film.
However, it must be said that many of the world’s foremost competitions — English Premier League, Champions League, World Cup — have still tended to dominate the shortlist. Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the inaugural award in 2009 and many big names such as Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud, Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-Min have since been added to the honour roll.
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The three finalists for the 2023 Puskas Award (with the winner to be announced on Jan. 15, 2024) all come from elite professional leagues — the top flights of men’s football in Brazil, England and Portugal — while there were three goals from the 2023 Women’s World Cup on the initial 11-strong shortlist. The most obscure competitions to be shortlisted were the AFC Under-20 Asian Cup (an official FIFA-sanctioned youth tournament taking place over an entire continent) and the second tier of the Brazilian professional league pyramid.
