Rizki Ridho Almost Nominated, the Winner of the 2025 Puskas Award Goes to Santiago Montiel

JAKARTA - The winner of the 2025 Puskas Award was officially announced at the FIFA Celebration Dinner in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, WIB evening.

Persija Jakarta player Rizky Ridho was nominated for the Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal. However, his name was not included in the final top three list.

In the end, the three players who entered the top three nominations for the 2025 Puskas Award were Santiago Montiel from the Argentine club Independiente, Declan Rice from Arsenal, and Lamine Yamal from Barcelona.

The Puskas Award 2025 was finally won by Santiago Montiel. The 25-year-old player got a total of 21 points, namely 13 from the panel and eight points from the fans.

Montiel beat Declan Rice who got a total of 17 points, six points from the panelists and 11 points from the fans. Meanwhile, Lamine Yamal was in third place with a collection of 17 points, eight from the panelists and nine from the fans.

Santiago Montiel won the Puskas Award thanks to his goal for Independiente against Independiente Rivadavia.

The goal was created during the Argentine Professional Football League match on May 11, 2025. The right-back player took a salto kick with his left foot from outside the penalty box.

The determination of the FIFA Puskas Award winner is assessed in several stages. First selected by fans through a net poll and FIFA Legends panel.

Each individual is asked to rank their top one to three goals from the 10 available nominations. The first choice can be worth 10, the second choice can be worth three, and one for the third choice.

The points from this election are then summed and calculated as 50 percent of the total votes. Then from the election entered the list of the final three nominations. Well, Montiel got the highest score from the assessment system.

The Puskas Award is named in honor of Ferenc Puskas, a Hungarian football legend known for his spectacular goals and incredible productivity.

The award, which has been around since 2009, is given for the most beautiful goal scored in a calendar year of competition.

Meanwhile, Santiago Montiel is the second consecutive Puskas Award winner from Argentina, previously won by Alejandro Garnacho in 2024.

"I didn't think about it, I just kicked it," Montiel said after his super kick.