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Dániel Zsóri makes history by winning Puskás Award!
22 Oct. 2019.
The 18-year-old forward, formerly of Debrecen and now of Fehérvár, beat Lionel Messi and Juan Fernando Quintero to the Goal of the Year award at FIFA's The Best Gala on Monday night.
The player, who hails from the former Hungarian territory of Nagyvárad in current-day Western Romania, scored his overhead kick for Debrecen VSC to secure three points against prospective league champions Ferencváros last season.
This year, for the first time since the award was established in 2009, a Hungarian footballer is the recipient of the FIFA Puskás Award. Dániel Zsóri travelled to Milan for FIFA's The Best Gala after being nominated for his goal on 16th February this year, which not only impressed fans around the world - who voted for the goal to be among the final three candidates - but also a panel of FIFA legends, who eventually selected Zsóri's last-minute strike to be the goal of the year.
The legendary former footballers among the latter group of decision-makers include Ronaldo of Brazil, Miroslav Klose of Germany and Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast.
Eighteen-year-old Zsóri was named on the bench by his head coach András Herczeg for the DVSC-Ferencváros OTP Bank League fixture in the 21st round of the most recent campaign. Zsóri, who was born in Nagyvárad (Oradea in Romanian), was given a late opportunity to make his top-flight debut and he certainly did it in style. It was the 93rd minute when a deep cross came in from Ádám Bódi and Zsóri jumped in the air with his back to goal and, in his own words, 'detonated' the Nagyerdei Stadium with a scissors-kick that he'd practised since childhood, 'Loki' therefore defeating the champions-elect 2-1.
Zsóri has since moved clubs and now plays for MOL Fehérvár FC, also of Hungary's OTP Bank Liga. On Monday night, every Hungarian fan would have been cheering for him at FIFA's The Best Gala and at the award ceremony, Daniel Zsóri thanked his family, teammates and coach for their support: "I'm very happy to be the first Hungarian to win this title, which bears the name of the greatest Hungarian footballer ever. I'm just at the very beginning of my journey though and I will continue to work hard", the attacker said modestly.
Congratulations to Daniel Zsóri on winning the Puskás Award!
FIFA GALA AWARDS:
Best Male Player of the Year: Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona)
Best Female Player of the Year: Megan Rapinoe (USA, Reign FC)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Alisson Becker (Brazil, Liverpool)
Female Goalkeeper of the Year: Sari van Veenendaal (Netherlands, Atlético Madrid)
Men's Coach of the Year: Jürgen Klopp (Germany, Liverpool)
Women's Coach of the Year: Jill Ellis (USA national team)
FIFA Puskás Award (goal of the year): DÁNIEL ZSÓRI (for Debrecen vs Ferencváros)
FIFA Fair Play Award: Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United
Fan of the Year: Silvia Grecco
Men's Team of the Year:
Alisson Becker (Brazil, Liverpool) - Mathijs de Ligt (Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam/Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands, Liverpool), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid) - Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam/FC Barcelona), Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea/Real Madrid) - Kylian Mbappé (France, Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus)
Women's Team of the Year:
Sari van Veenendaal (Netherlands, Atlético Madrid) - Wendie Renard (France, Olympique Lyon), Lucy Bronze (England, Olympique Lyon), Kelley O'Hara (USA, Utah Royals), Nilla Fischer (Sweden, VfL Wolfsburg/Linköpings FC) - Amandine Henry (France, Olympique Lyon), Rose Lavelle (USA, Washington Spirit), Julie Ertz (USA, Chicago Red Stars) - Alex Morgan (USA, Orlando Pride), Megan Rapinoe (USA, Reign FC), Marta (Brazil, Orlando Pride)
