The FIFA World Player Gala has been a fixture on the footballing calendar for 18 years now. The 2009 event, which you can follow live at FIFA.com, takes place in Zurich on Monday 21 December and promises to be one of the most exciting yet.

Among the many surprises in store is the FIFA Puskas Award, presented for the best goal of the 2008/09 season. You, the users of FIFA.com, have had the opportunity to peruse ten top strikes selected by a panel of FIFA experts. And your votes have now been counted, with the results being announced at the Kongresshaus on Monday evening.

Also on the agenda is the inaugural selection of the FIFA/FIFPro World XI, the best 11 players of the year as chosen by over 50,000 professional football players from all over the world. The line-up will be unveiled as part of a special presentation that you can follow at FIFA.com.

Live coverage
The Gala starts at 20.00 CET and as usual we will be streaming all the action live. The high points of a packed programme will be the presentations of the 2009 FIFA World Player and FIFA Women’s World Player awards, with the recipients of the FIFA Fair Play, the FIFA Presidential and the FIFA Development awards also being revealed. And helping the party go with a swing will be Italian singer Laura Pausini.

To set the tone for the evening FIFA.com is also broadcasting the press conferences of the five FIFA Women’s World Player nominees and their five male counterparts, which begin at 15.00 CET and 16.00 CET respectively.

During the course of the evening we will also be bringing you a host of articles, interviews, photos and videos, and giving you the opportunity to add your comments and exchange views with fellow FIFA.com users from all over the world. It promises to be quite a night, so make sure you tune in and follow all the action with us.