How Faiz scored the wonder goal, who is Puskas?

It all started on Feb 16, this year at a Super League match against Pahang, when Penang's Mohd Faiz Subri's effort which appeared to have defied physics, left the goalkeeper rooted to the ground as the ball curled from an impossible angle into the right corner of the net.

The 62nd minute extraordinary goal by the then unknown 29-year-old player at City Stadium in Penang lifted Mohd Faiz's name onto the world stage and he is now very close to winning FIFA's Puskas Award 2015/2016, after his free-kick goal was shortlisted as one of the top three for the Puskas Award.

For the record, if he wins, Faiz will be the first Malaysian to win the coveted award.

Faiz, as attacking midfielder, also can play as a winger and striker, and his assets include speed, precise long-range shooting and his range of passing towards his teammates.

The video clip of his goal uploaded by FIFA onto its YouTube channel had recorded more than 1.3 million views.

The other two shortlisted candidates are Johnath Marlone from Brazil and Venezuelan Daniuska Rodriguez, from the first round of 10 shortlisted candidates.

The goal by Marlone was on April 21, 2016, when Corinthians met Cobresal in Brazil's Copa Libertadores League while Rodriguez's goal on March 14, 2016, was during the Venezuela vs Colombia match in the South American U-17 Women's Football Championship.

The annual Puskas Award recognises a player, male or female, judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant or "most beautiful" goal of the year.

In October 2009, FIFA or the Federation Internationale de Football Association announced the introduction of the FIFA Puskás Award, which is awarded to the player who had scored the "most beautiful goal" over the past year.

The award is in honour of Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás, the striker of Real Madrid in the late 1950s and 1960s, and central member of the highly successful Hungarian side of the same era.

Puskás is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary and 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues.

He became an Olympic champion in 1952 when Hungary clinched the title at the Helsinki Olympics in Finland and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup where he was named the tournament's best player, despite losing in the final to the then West Germany 2-3.

Puskas won three European Cups (1959, 1960, 1966), 10 national championships (5 Hungarian and 5 Spanish Primera División) and 8 top individual scoring honours.

The prolific player was born on April 1, 1927 in Budapest, Hungary and died on Nov 17, 2006 at the age of 79.

The annual award was presented for the first time during the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year Gala on Dec 21, in Switzerland, with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo being the first winner.

Since 2009, Turkey's Hamit Altintop (2010), Neymar from Brazil (2011), Turkey's Miroslav Stoch (2012), Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2013) and James Rodriguez from Colombia (2014) have won the award.

Last year, an unknown player from Brazil, Wendell Lira, from Club Goianesia beat world-renowned names like Lionel Messi of Argentina and Carlos Tevez, also from Argentina, to win the award.

Voting, which decides the best goal between Sept 30, 2015 and Sept 30, 2016, will close on Jan 9, with the winner announced and presented with the award later that day at a ceremony in Zurich.

The top three goals with the most votes will go through a second round of voting and the winner will be announced in Zurich, Switzerland on Jan 9. - BERNAMA