Montiel clinches the 2025 Puskás Award with a jaw-dropping overhead strike
16 December 2025
Montiel wins the 2025 Puskás Award
FIFA, the international governing body for football, announced today the winner of the 2025 Puskás Award. Santiago Montiel, the Argentine forward for Independiente, claimed the prize for a spectacular goal.
Montiel earned the award for an overhead kick scored against Independiente Rivadavia in a Primera División match in May 2025.
The strike wowed spectators as he connected from outside the box with his left foot, sending the ball into the top corner and bending past the keeper.
Origins and notes on the award
The Puskás Award was officially launched by FIFA on October 20, 2009, under the presidency of Sepp Blatter, to honor the year's best goal.
It is named after Ferenc Puskás, Real Madrid's Hungarian legend who scored 806 goals in 793 matches and is celebrated as one of the century's greatest scorers by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
There is a notable record tied to the award: Lionel Messi, icon of Barcelona and now Inter Miami, has been nominated seven times—the most in the award's history—but has yet to win it.
