Here is the reason why Messi and Ronaldo will not attend FIFA Best

This is the first time in more than a decade that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel messi will not be in attendance for the FIFA Player of the Year award.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his rival Lionel Messi have both boycotted the 2018 the Best FIFA awards gala in London.

Cristiano Ronaldo has indicated that he is not travelling to London because he wants to get enough rest for Juventus clash against Bologna at home on Wednesday.

Messi, meanwhile, was initially thought to be attending the awards despite not being nominated for Best Men's Player, but will now not be attending due to family reasons according to a report from Mundo Deportivo .

The pair have regularly battled it out on the podium for all of the individual awards in recent years, and can boast five Ballons d'Or each.

Ronaldo carried home the award from the London Palladium last October, but won't be in attendance at the Royal Festival Hall, where he is one of the three nominees for the Best Men's Player award alongside his former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric and Liverpool's Mo Salah .

A selection panel including Fabio Capello, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard will decide on the winner, with Modric the favourite after he also carried home UEFA's Player of the Year award last month.

Ronaldo snubbed that awards ceremony in an apparent dig at not being given the top prize, but the reason for his absence in London is far more straightforward.