Ballon d'Or vs Fifa Best Player award: What's the difference and what happened to the former?

With the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo running out of space for awards, it can be difficult to tell the difference between what they are lifting every year, and why.

The Best Fifa Football Awards ceremony will be held in London tonight at the London Palladium, and is the second since the Fifa award split from France Football's Ballon d'Or prize.

Cristiano Ronaldo - the current Ballon d'Or holder - is defending his Fifa Men's World Player of the Year award tonight against Lionel Messi and Neymar.

The Fifa World Player of the Year award was merged in a partnership with France Football's Ballon d'Or in 2010 to become the Fifa Ballon d'Or for the next six years.

Fifa agreed to pay £13million to merge the two awards, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo the big winners as the two La Liga stars dominated throughout the six-year deal.

Fifa decided not to renew the deal in 2016, meaning the Ballon d'Or lost its 'Fifa' tag and reverted back to being voted for by journalists as a separate award as Fifa's The Best awards were created.

The Best Fifa Men's Player award is voted for by a collection of journalists, national team coaches, national team captains and the general public - each with a 25 per cent weighting towards the overall vote.

The Ballon d'Or winner will be announced towards the end of the year.