Cristiano Ronaldo wins Fifa Best Player 2017 award

Cristiano Ronaldo retained his crown as Fifa men's player of the year in London on Monday night.

The Real Madrid and Portugal superstar was up against Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar for the award he won last year.

The ceremony, which took place at the London Palladium, is the second since the Fifa award once again split from France Football's Ballon d'Or prize.

Ronaldo has scored 44 goals in 48 appearances for club and country so far in 2017 and scored twice in the Champions League final in June as Real won the competition for a record-extending 12th time.

Winners were decided by a jury of international captains and coaches, media representatives and fans.

Neither Ronaldo nor Messi included each other in their top three nominations.

Asked how many times he could win the accolade, Ronaldo said: "I want seven. Five is good but seven is my lucky number so seven would be great."

He added: "Thank you a lot to the guys for voting for me

"(I want) to give a mention to Leo and Neymar to be here, Real Madrid supporters, my team-mates, my coach, my president - they support me all the year so I have to say thank you to them."

Ronaldo's manager Zinedine Zidane was named best men's coach and Netherlands' Sarina Wiegman the best female coach.

Meanwhile, Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud won the Fifa Puskas Award for his 'scorpion kick' goal against Crystal Palace in January, and Gianluigi Buffon scooped the goalkeeper prize.

Buffon also took his place in the FifPro World XI after helping Juventus to the Serie A title and the Champions League Final.

The Italian was named alongside Paris Saint-Germain's Dani Alves and AC Milan star Leonardo Bonucci, while Real pair Sergio Ramos and Marcelo also took defensive spots.

Madrid's Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were included in midfield, together with Barcelona playmaker Andres Iniesta. Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar took the three attacking spots.