Jamie Carragher has urged Mohamed Salah to remain at Liverpool for the remainder of the season, while accepting that the forward’s long-term future may already be decided beyond 2025–26. The former defender, who spent part of last week heavily critical of Salah, adopted a more conciliatory public tone on Monday Night Football.

Carragher acknowledged his earlier criticism of the player’s conduct during a poor run of form, describing that assessment as a “vicious dismantling” of what he called the player’s “disgraceful” behaviour. One week later, he advised patience and participation for the months still to come.

“Last week, I was giving advice to Mo Salah and his agent, and I’m going to do it again,” the former England international smiled on this week’s MNF. “Because what we saw at the end of the game against Brighton was Mo Salah, a lack of appreciation, if you like. A little bit emotional, you know, with the Kop. He’s probably not sure himself whether that’s his last time at Anfield.

“But, if he’s thinking about moving on, I would urge him to think again.

“And the reason I would say that is, if Mo Salah is to move on from Liverpool now, the talk is he would go to the Saudi league , which is talked about over there, but probably nowhere else—except when the transfer window’s open. Mo Salah’s not going to move and leave Liverpool to go to Barcelona or Real Madrid.

“Now, Liverpool, in the second half of the season, they could get to an FA Cup final. They could get to a Champions League final. Can you imagine Mo Salah, in Saudi playing for whatever team he’s playing for, watching Liverpool come out in Budapest in their Champions League final?

“You come back at the end of January, you’ve got three months. O.K., you might not get on with the manager. You’ll start some games. You’ll be subbed some games.”

Carragher was blunt about what he expects after those months. “I don’t see Mo Salah playing for Liverpool next season,” he declared.

Reflecting on Salah’s emotional celebration with the Kop after the Brighton win, Carragher said: “Does Mo Salah deserve more than that, as a Liverpool player?” Yes was his conclusion. “He deserves a guard of honour,” the former defender proclaimed. “He deserves a mosaic in the Kop. He deserves to be able to bring his family, his wife and his kids on the pitch in his last game and actually be celebrated for what he’s done as a Liverpool player.

Since the first ceremony in January 2017, the Best FIFA Football Awards have recognised individual excellence across the calendar year. The ceremony covers players, coaches, goalkeepers and goals, with honours handed out to men’s and women’s game figures based on their performances.

In the men’s player category Cristiano Ronaldo secured the early prizes for 2016 and 2017, while Lionel Messi has won most often with victories in 2019, 2022 and 2023 for his contributions at Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and Argentina. Robert Lewandowski has two titles, tying with Ronaldo, and other winners include Luka Modrić and Vinicius Junior. The most recent winner in the men’s player category listed is Vinicius Junior in 2024 for Real Madrid.

The men’s goalkeeper award was first presented in 2017 to Gianluigi Buffon. Thibaut Courtois won in 2018 representing Chelsea and Real Madrid. Alisson and Manuel Neuer followed, with Premier League goalkeepers dominating later years: Édouard Mendy won in 2021 with Chelsea, Emiliano Martínez took the trophy in 2022 and again in 2024 for Aston Villa, and Ederson was the 2023 winner for Manchester City.

Among coaches Jürgen Klopp is the only multiple winner, lifting the prize in 2019 and 2020 after Champions League and Premier League success. Claudio Ranieri won the inaugural award for 2016, followed by Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Thomas Tuchel, Lionel Scaloni, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti in subsequent years.

The Puskás Award for the best goal has gone to a mix of lesser-known scorers and high-profile names. Recipients include Mohd Faiz Subri, Olivier Giroud, Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min, Erik Lamela and Alejandro Garnacho, with other winners such as Dániel Zsóri, Marcin Oleksy and Guilherme Madruga.

On the women’s side Carli Lloyd won the first women’s player prize, with Lieke Martens, Marta, Megan Rapinoe and Lucy Bronze also honoured. Alexia Putellas won in 2021 and 2022 and Aitana Bonmatí in 2023 and 2024 for Barcelona. The women’s goalkeeper award began in 2019 with Sari van Veenendaal; Mary Earps won consecutive trophies in 2022 and 2023 for Manchester United, and Alyssa Naeher was the 2024 winner. Sarina Wiegman has collected the women’s coach award four times across her spells with the Netherlands and England, with Emma Hayes, Silvia Neid, Reynald Pedros and Jill Ellis also among past winners. The 2024 Marta Award was won by Marta.

The 2025 Best FIFA Football Awards will be decided at a ceremony in Qatar on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at Fairmont Katara Hall. A long list of nominees will be reduced to a handful of winners that evening, with the selection process shared between national team representatives, media and registered fans.

Four major parties vote for each award: managers, captains, journalists and fans. Each sector comprises 25% of the total tally that will determine which players end the night with a new piece of silverware. The managers and captains of all 211 FIFA Member Associations’ men’s national teams will vote for their outstanding three candidates for each of the three men’s awards: Best FIFA Men’s Player, Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper. Similarly, the managers and captains of all 211 FIFA Member Associations’ women’s national teams will cast their votes for their top three candidates for each of the three women’s awards: Best FIFA Women’s Player, Best FIFA Women’s Coach and Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper.

The other 50% of the votes come from various media representatives and the general public. FIFA allows a select number of journalists who cover the men’s and women’s games to have their say in choosing the ceremony’s award winners. Unlike the Ballon d’Or voting, fans who registered at FIFA.com before the deadline were able to cast their votes for each award.

Players receive a set number of points based on where each voter ranks them in their top three. The nominee with the most points across all four voting groups will be crowned the winner of each respective award.

Nominees highlighted among the frontrunners include Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé and Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal for the men’s prize, with Dembélé said to hold a slight edge after helping deliver PSG’s first-ever Champions League trophy in 2024–25. In the women’s race, Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey — the winner and runner-up of the 2025 Ballon d’Or Féminin respectively — lead the field. If Bonmatí wins, she would break her tie with teammate Putellas to become the first player in history to win the Best FIFA Women’s Player award three times.

Captains and managers may vote for nominees from their own countries, but nominated captains and managers are not allowed to vote for themselves.