An award that recognised those unique individuals who don the gloves and stand between the sticks was long overdue before its inception, and Gianluigi Buffon and Thibaut Courtois were the first winners of The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Liverpool's Brazilian No1 Alisson then picked up The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper award last year amid a change of format to introduce a separate honour to recognise the position's top performers in women's football.

A panel of experts on women’s football, representing various FIFA and external football stakeholders, will compile a shortlist of six candidates for this year's award - based on sporting performance and the general behaviour in the period between 8 July 2019 and 7 October 2020. From that final shortlist, which will be revealed on 26 November 2020, key members of the footballing community - namely journalists, fans, national team coaches and captains - will vote for the winner, with the final three nominees to be announced at a later stage.