Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has today been named the The Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year 2016.
Collecting his award from the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, the enigmatic Italian has continued his fairy-tale year by overcoming the likes of Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane and Fernando Santos of the Portuguese national side by scooping 22.6% of the voting.
Claiming the first annual award since the governing body's separation from the Ballon d'Or, the former Chelsea boss has been named the best coach in world football having famously led the Foxes to the Premier League title in 2016.
Trophies Galore
Most will argue that the ex-Juventus boss more than deserves his award having masterminded Leicester City's miraculous charge towards their first-ever Premier League title. Only losing three games along the way, Ranieri's team took the world by storm with a bruising but also exhilarating style of play with Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy the spearheads.
As a result, the Italian has now managed to amass quite a collection of awards and trophies including the LMA Manager of the Year, Premier League Manager of the Season, La Gazzetta dello Sport Coach of the Year and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach award, to name but a few.
Having been met with some criticism following his arrival at the King Power Stadium in July 2016, the Italian now seems to be reaping his rewards and getting the recognition he deserves.
'Crazy'
Remaining typically humble as he collected his award from legendary Argentinian forward Diego Maradona, Ranieri said that he was 'crazy now'.
He continued by saying: 'Thank you so much for voting for me. I'm 65 now, I start now as a manager.'
Competition
Ranieri fought off some considerable competition to claim the gong. Fernando Santos was nominated for leading Portugal to the Euro 2016 in France and Zinedine Zidane earned his place for winning the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid.