FIFA have announced the shortlisted individuals for the goalkeeper, player and coach awards ahead of the ceremony on December 17th.
At last year’s award ceremony, Lionel Messi won The Best FIFA Men’s Player, Allison was awarded The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper and his manager Jurgen Klopp won The Best FIFA Men’s Coach. Dániel Zsóri of Hungary took home the Puskas Award with this stunning effort.
This year, domestically, Premier League champions Liverpool have Thiago Alcântara, Virgil van Djik, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané on the list for The Best FIFA Men’s Player. Man City’s Kevin de Bruyne is the only non-Liverpool player in contention.
Rounding out the shortlist is defending winner Lionel Messi; Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo; PSG forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappe; Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos along with treble winning and Golden Boot runner-up Robert Lewandoski of Bayern Munich.
Some players have already encouraged votes for them, with Sergio Ramos among the players encouraging support.
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper is being contested by six nominees, with Liverpool’s Allison Becker the only representative from a UK team.
Becker is against the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jan Oblak, Keylor Navas and Champions League winner Manuek Neuer.
Meanwhile, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach has two representatives from the UK, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Leeds’ Marcelo Bielsa. Bielsa is a surprise inclusion to some, but has lead his side to a successful start to the Premier League season following their Championship title win.
They face stiff opposition in the form of Hans-Dieter Flick from Bayern Munich, as well as Julen Lopetegui and Zinedine Zidane from Sevilla and Real Madrid respectively.
In terms of the Puskas Award, given to the best goal scored in the season, it is being competed by two Brits, Englishman Jordan Flores for Shamrock Rovers against Dundalk, and Scot Caroline Weir for Manchester City against Manchester United.
The FIFA Fan Award nominees were also announced, with three nominees, one of whom being Scotsman James Anderson.
Public voting for each of these categories is now open on the FIFA website with the results from these being released on the 11th December.
This year’s event will be held in Zurich, Switzerland, where the FIFA headquarters are located, with the previous years event in Milan.
Each category will then have its shortlist of ten then reduced to three finalists ahead of the event on the 17th , with the results decided on a combination of votes from fans, journalists, national team coaches and captains.
