Summary
The Puskas award celebrates the best goals over the last 12 months.
Alejandro Garnacho is the defending champion thanks to his overhead kick against Everton.
The 10 frontrunners for the 2025 edition have been ranked.
There are many top individual awards that are handed out every season. Naturally, the most talked about are the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA Best awards, symbolising the greatest player on the planet. However, there are other incredibly important honours to receive too, such as the Yashin and the Kopa Trophy for the best goalkeeper and young player.
The most eye-catching, though, has to be the Puskas Award, given to the player who has scored the best goal over the previous 12 months. After all, goals are the reason why we watch football in the first place. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Alejandro Garnacho have all won the award in the past, and these are the current frontrunners to become the 2025 recipient.
Ranking Factors
Technique and skill involved in the goal.
How different they are to other candidates.
Accuracy of the attempt (did it go in the middle of the goal or in the top corner?)
Importance in the game.
Puskas Award Power Rankings
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10 Lyndon Dykes
Birmingham City 2-1 Lincoln City
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Kicking things off with Scotland international, Lyndon Dykes, who scored what was voted as the goal of the FA Cup third round with this cracking effort. The Birmingham City man showed incredible skill to bring a long ball down on his chest, before flicking it over the oncoming defender. Then, from 20 yards out, the striker produced a delicate volley that looped over the goalkeeper to send his side through to the next round.
While it is a wonderful piece of magic from Dykes, he finds himself at the bottom of the power rankings purely because his effort didn't nestle in the corner like some others did. No taking away from the unbelievable technique, though.
9 Harry Wilson
Fulham 2-1 Brentford
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Keeping things in English football with our only entry from the Premier League, courtesy of Fulham's Harry Wilson. There have been previous winners of this award who managed to score a backheel volley, so that may give the Welshman more confidence that he could come out on top.
His delicious flick over Mark Flekken was not only a beautiful finish but was incredibly important in the context of the game, as it was a 92nd-minute equaliser. The former Liverpool youngster would then go on to score the winner five minutes later to give his side all three points against London rivals Brentford.
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8 Josh Windass
Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 Derby County
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Great goals just run in the Windass family. After all, Josh's dad, Dean, produced one of the best finishes in play-off final history. Not to be undermined, the junior made sure to prove he was just as capable with this unbelievable effort.
There have been a plethora of stunning goals from the halfway line, with David Beckham's and Wayne Rooney's immediately springing to mind. Windass gives them both a run for their money, though, as he looks up, spots the goalkeeper off his line, and drills an audacious attempt into the back of the net from beyond the centre circle as he helped Sheffield Wednesday to a 4-2 victory over Derby County.
7 Toral Bayramov
Bodo/Glimt 1-2 Qarabag
What a way to open your European account for the season. Toral Bayramov is not someone who scores too many goals. In fact, the Qarabag man has scored just one other in his Europa League history. He certainly made sure that this strike lives long in the memory, though.
A loose pass from the Bodo/Glimt goalkeeper allows the 24-year-old to run up to the ball and control it on his chest. With his second touch, he unleashes an outrageous volley that flies into the back of the net in what is the definition of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, caught with such venom.
6 Angel Di Maria
Benfica 7-0 Estrela Amadora
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One of the greatest wingers of the modern era, Angel Di Maria is still proving he has the goods even in the twilight of his career. Back at Benfica, where his journey into European football started, the Argentine rolled back the years with a wonderful bicycle kick in a 7-0 thrashing of Estrela Amadora.
As you can imagine, there were several acrobatic efforts in contention that missed out on this list, and those who have managed to jump above the former Champions League winner are either slightly more spectacular for one reason or another, or have more importance in the context of the game.
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5 Elicley Soares
Portuguesa-RJ 2-1Madureira
Depending on personal preference, the order of the next couple in particular may move around. However, Elicley Soares enters the top five over Di Maria for his overhead kick for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the close control to tee up the volley with a defender right on his back takes incredible skill that should not be overlooked, and the looping effort over the goalkeeper is slightly more aesthetically pleasing.
The other factor is that the goal came in the 95th minute to win the game for Portuguesa-RJ. You can't ask for a much better stoppage-time winner.
4 Alerrandro
Vitoria 2-2 Cruzeiro
Remaining in Brazil for fourth place, and it is yet another overhead kick, this time from former Vitória man Alerrandro. Currently playing for Russian giants CSKA Moscow, the 25-year-old showed all the hallmarks of a world-class striker with this one.
After a defender's clearance looped up into the air, Alerrandro turned his back to goal and waited patiently for the ball to come back down to earth. When it did, he managed to pull off an acrobatic effort from the edge of the area that found its way into the top corner. To get the technique that perfect after waiting for what felt like an eternity for the ball to get to the right spot is what makes this all the more special.
3 Erik Lamela
PAOK Thessaloniki 1-2 AEK Athens
Erik Lamela knows a thing or two about special goals, considering he scored two high-profile rabonas during his time at Tottenham. One of the best Argentines to grace the Premier League, he was at it again in Greece, this time scoring a volley that Paul Scholes would have been proud of.
Standing on the edge of the box, a corner was flighted over to the winger, who met it on the full and directed his effort straight into the top corner.
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2 Irakli Yegoian
De Graafschap 3-1 Vitesse
The only thing Lamela was missing was that his volley wasn’t a bicycle kick from the edge of the box. Luckily, Irakli Yegoian has him covered. The 20-year-old is still early on in his career, but he will likely never score a better goal, as he fired in his acrobatic effort, with it smashing the underside of the bar for added bonus points.
For a while, whilst compiling this list, this was actually in the top spot. However, the fact that the goal only proved to be a consolation in a 3-1 defeat for Vitesse is what has cost it from finishing at the top of the podium.
1 Ezequiel Cerutti
Central Cordoba 0-1 San Lorenzo
A goal worthy of winning any game, and one that could very well earn the Puskas Award too. While this is closer to the goal than, say, Windass' halfway line strike, the difference with 'Pocho' Cerutti's thunderbolt for San Lorenzo is that there was no hit-and-hope about this.
The 33-year-old received the lay-off from his teammate, and with no defenders willing to close him down, he picked his spot and rifled the ball into the top corner from all of 40 yards and then some. The goalkeeper did his best but could get nowhere near it.