The Puskas Award: FIFA releases Top 10 goals of 2012

Created in 2009 in honour of Ferenc Puskas, captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, the FIFA Puskas Award bestows upon the player from either the men’s or women’s game judged to have scored the best goal of the year. For its third edition, Neymar had won the trophy thanks to a goal scored for Santos against Flamengo (polling 1.3 million votes!)

The final decision will be down to you, the users of FIFA.com, with your votes counting towards selecting a winner from ten videos as chosen by the FIFA Football Committee. In making their decision, the FIFA Football Committee members will apply the following criteria:1) aesthetics (a subjective criterion – long-range shots, team moves, acrobatic goals etc)2) the importance of the match (an objective criterion – in descending order: national teams, continental tournaments, domestic first divisions)3) the absence of luck or an opposition mistake as a factor making the goal possible4) fair play: the player must not have conducted himself poorly during the game or, for example, have been found guilty of doping5) the date: goals scored between November 2011 and October 2012

Accordingly, the nominees for the 2011 Puskas Award are as follows:

1. Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle) v Bolton

2. Gaston Maella (Nacional Potosi) v The Strongest

3. Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid) v America de Cali

4. Olivia Jimenez (Mexico) v Switzerland

5. Lionel Messi (Argentina) v Brazil

6. Moussa Sow (Fenerbahce) v Galatasaray

7. Miroslav Stoch (Fenerbahce) v Genclerbirligi

8. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Ghana) v Guinea

9. Eric Hassli (Vancouver) v Toronto

10. Neymar (Santos) v Internacional