On the evening of the 23rd October, the 2017 FIFA Awards took place at the London Palladium.  All of the best players in the world attended with the hope of receiving one of the many fantastic awards being presented.  Many of those who had previously won an award had returned to present to the 2017 winners.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky few that were given a ticket to attend the event. I sat just rows behind many international players from both the present and the past who together were worth millions of pounds and that was quite an experience. Before this though fans and guests had the excitement of watching all of the players and managers arrive in their luxury cars and walk down the green (not red) carpet signing autographs of the awaiting fans on the sides, desperate to get their hero to sign a ball or shirt.  The atmosphere was as exciting outside the Palladium as it was inside.

Every small detail about the event was organised to perfection. Many of the famous players had travelled from all over the world and many didn’t leave empty-handed such as the winner of the Best Goal and the FIFA World Coach of the Year.

Among the winners was Cristiano Ronaldo winning Player of the Year for the second time who said “thank you a lot to the guys for voting for me.”.  For me though the highlight of the evening was the World XI which was the nominated best eleven players at this moment in time put together to make the best team possible. I watched as the delighted team went up onto the stage and received their award from Frank Lampard. Some took the chance to give a speech saying how much of an honour it was to receive their award and how they were so grateful.

It was as you would expect a great and memorable evening with an incredible atmosphere with fans and players and coaches from all over the world, coming together to celebrate the beautiful game.

George Clarke, Hampton School