Although the Ballon d'Or arguably remains the most prestigious individual award a footballer can win, FIFA are doing their utmost to further improve the profile of their 'The Best' awards.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Claudio Ranieri came away from the inaugural ceremony in Zurich back at the start of January as the big winners of 'The Best FIFA Men's Player' and 'The Best FIFA Men's coach' respectively.

Unlike the Ballon d'Or - which is now solely chosen by France Football - voting for FIFA's equivalent award is decided by the general public, media representatives, national team coaches and captains.

And that isn't the only way FIFA would like to distance its own glitzy accolade away from the Ballon d'Or.

Plans are already in place for a big shake up to proceedings for 2017's celebration.

According to Spanish publication Marca, football's world governing body would like to bring forward the voting process to the beginning of each season.

South America is the only continent where the domestic football campaign is aligned with the calendar year and FIFA would like their award to better reflect the achievements of the previous season.

It means te outcome of the Champions League final is likely to play a much bigger role in the outcome, with Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) both believed to be in contention on both fronts this season.

It had already been announced that London - rather than Zurich - will play host to the ceremony this year but we have only just learned it will now take place on October 23.

So what impact will the changes have?

Well, at the moment Ronaldo is still considered the heavy favourite to retain both 'The Best' and Ballon d'Or trophies but Buffon will certainly do his chances of causing an upset no harm if Juventus can beat Madrid in Cardiff.

The Champions League is the only trophy missing from Buffon's incredible collection and the fact he continues to be one of the best goalkeepers around aged 39 means his stature in the game has never been higher.

With the UCL final hopefully still fresh in the mind when the voting takes place there's still a possibility Juventus' veteran shot-stopper could be crowned the best in the world.