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The Puskas Award has long been one of the most intriguing and coveted awards given out each year, recognising the most exceptional goals scored around the world of football.
Named for legendary Hungarian goal scorer Ferenc Puskas, the award is given to the individual who scores the best goal over the past year (August 11, 2024 to August 2, 2025).
Because the designation of “best goal” is so open-ended, the Puskas Award selection has brought a wide variety of goals to the public eye each year when the nominees are announced, and significant debate over whose effort is the most impressive.
Prior to 2024, goals from the men’s and women’s game were both included in the Puskas Award nominations, but since 2024 the Puskas Award is given only to men, while the new Marta Award is handed out to the best goal from women’s football.
The Sporting News brings you a look at who the nominees for both awards are in 2024 as well as a look back at the winners from past years.
Who won the Puskas Award 2025?
The winner of the 2025 Puskas Award was Santiago Montiel of Independiente whose incredible overhead kick against Independiente Rivadavia in the Argentine top flight put his side 1-0 up in the match.
Montiel is the cousin of Gonzalo Montiel, the River Plate full-back who scored the decisive penalty in Argentina’s shootout win over France in the 2022 World Cup final.
Independiente 1 – Ind. Rivadavia 0
⚽️ Puskas, here we go…#Golazo pic.twitter.com/DgiPbV2aqs
— Argentina Football Shirts 🇦🇷 (@ARGshirts) May 11, 2025
2025 Puskas Award nominees
You can watch all 11 nominated goals for the 2025 Puskas Award here.
| Nominee | Team | Competition | Match |
| Alerrandro | Vitoria | Brasileiro Serie A | vs. Cruzeiro; Aug. 19, 2024 |
| Alessandro Deiola | Cagliari | Serie A | vs. Venezia; May 18 |
| Pedro de la Vega | Cruz Azul | CONCACAF Leagues Cup | vs. Seattle Sounders; July 31 |
| Santiago Montiel | Independiente | Argentine Primera Division | vs. Independiente Rivadavia; July 31 |
| Amr Nasser | Pharco | Egypt Capital Cup | vs. Al Ahly; April 17 |
| Carlos Orrantia | Atlas | Liga MX | vs. Queretaro; April 16 |
| Lucas Ribeiro | Mamelodi Sundowns | FIFA Club World Cup | vs. Borussia Dortmund; June 21 |
| Declan Rice | Arsenal | UEFA Champions League | vs. Real Madrid; April 8 |
| Rizky Ridho | Persija Jakarta | Indonesian Liga 1 | vs. Arema; March 9 |
| Kevin Rodrigues | Kasimpasa | Turkish Super Liga | vs. Rizespor; February 9 |
| Lamine Yamal | Barcelona | La Liga | vs. Espanyol; May 15 |
All-time winners of Puskas Award
The Puskas Award is given to the male player who scored the best goal of the qualifying period (for the latest prize, that period ran from August 11, 2024 to August 2, 2025). Unlike the other Best awards, the Puskas Award has been handed out since 2009, originally created as its own standalone award given out each year by FIFA before being absorbed into The Best proceedings.
The award is named after Ferenc Puskas, a legendary Hungarian forward who is regarded as one of the greatest goal scorers of all time.
The first winner was none other than Cristiano Ronaldo, with the likes of Neymar, James Rodriguez, and Mohamed Salah some of the other recognizable names on the list of previous award winners.
| Year | Player | Team | Match (Goal) |
| 2025 | Santiago Montiel | Independiente | vs. Independiente Rivadavia |
| 2024 | Alejandro Garnacho | Man United | vs. Everton (1-0) |
| 2023 | Guilherme Madruga | Botafogo | vs. Novorizontino (1-0) |
| 2022 | Marcin Oleksy | Warta Poznan | vs. Stal Rzeszow |
| 2021 | Erik Lamela | Tottenham | vs. Arsenal (1-0) |
| 2020 | Son Heung-Min | Tottenham | vs. Burnley (3-0) |
| 2019 | Daniel Zsori | Debrecen | vs. Ferencvaros (2-1) |
| 2018 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | vs. Everton (1-0) |
| 2017 | Oliver Giroud | Arsenal | vs. Crystal Palace (1-0) |
| 2016 | Mohd Faiz Subri | Penang | vs. Pahang (4-1) |
| 2015 | Wendell Lira | Goianesia | vs. Atletico Goianiense (1-0) |
| 2014 | James Rodriguez | Colombia | vs. Uruguay (1-0) |
| 2013 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Sweden | vs. England (4-2) |
| 2012 | Miroslav Stoch | Fenerbahce | vs. Genclerbirligi (6-1) |
| 2011 | Neymar | Santos | vs. Flamengo (4-5) |
| 2010 | Hamit Altintop | Turkey | vs. Kazakhstan (2-0) |
| 2009 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Man United | vs. Porto (1-0) |
Who won the Marta Award 2025?
The 2025 Marta Award was given to Lizbeth Ovalle, the Mexico star who signed for Orlando Pride from Tigres UANL in a world-record fee in August.
The winning goal saw Ovalle produce a remarkable scorpion-kick finish from Jenni Hermoso’s cross against Guadalajara in a Liga MX Femenil match in March.
La locura de gol de @lizbethovalle7.
Hey @fifacom_es te tenemos una nominada al premio Puskás. pic.twitter.com/TQIcKXK499
— Club Tigres Femenil 🐯 (@TigresFemenil) March 4, 2025
2025 Marta Award nominees
You can watch all 11 nominated goals for the 2025 Marta Award here.
| Nominee | Team | Competition | Match |
| Jordyn Bugg | Seattle Reign | NWSL | vs. NC Courage; March 22 |
| Mariona Caldentey | Arsenal | UEFA Women’s Champions League | vs. Lyon; April 27 |
| Ashley Cheatley | Brentford | Women’s FA Cup | vs. Ascot United; November 3 |
| Kyra Cooney-Cross | Australia | International Friendly | vs. Germany; October 28, 2024 |
| Jon Ryong-jong | North Korea | FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup | vs. Argentina; September 2, 2024 |
| Marta | Orlando Pride | NWSL | vs. KC Current; November 17 |
| Vivianne Miedema | Netherlands | UEFA Women’s European Championship | vs. Wales; July 5 |
| Kishi Nunez | Argentina | FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup | vs. Costa Rica; September 8 |
| Lizbeth Ovalle | Tigres | Liga MX Femenil | vs. Guadalajara; March 3 |
| Ally Sentnor | USA | SheBelieves Cup | vs. Colombia; February 20 |
| Khadija Shaw | Man City | UEFA Women’s Champions League | vs. Hammarby; November 2 |
All-time winners of Marta Award
The Marta Award was created in 2024 to honour female players with a separate prize for the best goal scored over the 12-month qualifying period (for the latest prize, that period ran from August 11, 2024 to August 2, 2025).
The prize is named after Brazil great Marta, who won the inaugural prize for a goal scored against Jamaica in 2024.
| Year | Player | Team | Match (Goal) |
| 2025 | Lizbeth Ovalle | Tigres | vs. Guadalajara (2-0) |
| 2024 | Marta | Brazil | vs. Jamaica (4-0) |