On Wednesday (31st July), FIFA has released the nominations of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 in four categories. FIFA will announce the names of the award winners on 23rd September 2019.
The four categories are The Best FIFA Men’s Player nominees, The Best FIFA Women’s Player nominees, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach nominees and The Best FIFA Women’s Coach nominees. A total of 42 names have been nominated. Apart from nominating 12 names for The Best FIFA Women’s Player award, all other categories have ten nominations.
The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 is the fourth edition, which has been started since 2016. After releasing the nominees for the 2019 edition, FIFA has opened the voting. To decide the winner, FIFA has equally split the voting rights between the four categories – the players, the coaches, the fans and the media.
The national team captains and the national team coaches represent the players and the coaches respectively. The fans can vote through the official website of FIFA while the selected media will represent the media.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah are in the Best FIFA Men’s Player nominees
The first two-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo is in the list of the Best FIFA Men’s Player nominees along with Lionel Messi. Messi hasn’t won this trophy yet. While Ronaldo’s Portugal recently won the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League, Messi’s Argentina finished as the third-placed team in the 2019 Copa America. However, Messi was the leading goal-scorer in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League (12 goals). Meanwhile, the previous Best FIFA Men’s Player award (2018) winner Luka Modric is not in this latest nominees.
In the Best FIFA Men’s Player 2019 nominees, three players are from the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League-winning side Liverpool. These players are Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
On the other hand, among the 12 nominees of The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2019, 11 players featured in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. In this list, four players are from the latest World Cup-winning side the USA. These players are Julie Ertz, Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. All the leading goal-scorers of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 are in this list as they are Ellen White (England), Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2018 award winner Marta is not in the latest nominees list.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player nominees
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – Juventus
Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands) – Ajax / FC Barcelona
Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands) – Ajax / Juventus
Eden Hazard (Belgium) – Chelsea / Real Madrid
Harry Kane (England) – Tottenham Hotspur
Sadio Mane (Senegal) – Liverpool
Kylian Mbappe (France) – Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi (Argentina) – FC Barcelona
Mohamed Salah (Egypt) – Liverpool
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands) – Liverpool
The Best FIFA Women’s Player nominees
Lucy Bronze (England) – Olympique Lyonnais
Julie Ertz (USA) – Chicago Red Stars
Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway) – Wolfsburg / FC Barcelona
Ada Hegerberg (Norway) – Olympique Lyonnais
Amandine Henry (France) – Olympique Lyonnais
Sam Kerr (Australia) – Chicago Red Stars / Perth Glory
Rose Lavelle (USA) – Washington Spirit
Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands) – Arsenal
Alex Morgan (USA) – Orlando Pride
Megan Rapinoe (USA) – Reign FC
Wendie Renard (France) – Olympique Lyonnais
Ellen White (England) – Birmingham City / Manchester City
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach nominees
Djamel Belmadi (Algeria) – Algeria national team
Didier Deschamps (France) – France national team
Marcelo Gallardo (Argentina) – River Plate
Ricardo Gareca (Argentina) – Peru national team
Pep Guardiola (Spain) – Manchester City
Jurgen Klopp (Germany) – Liverpool
Mauricio Pochettino (Argentina) – Tottenham Hotspur
Fernando Santos (Portugal) – Portugal national team
Erik ten Hag (Netherlands) – Ajax
Tite (Brazil) – Brazil national team
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach nominees
Milena Bertolini (Italy) – Italy national team
Jill Ellis (USA) – USA national team
Peter Gerhardsson (Sweden) – Sweden national team
Futoshi Ikeda (Japan) – Japan U-20 national team
Antonia Is (Spain) – Spain U-17 national team
Joe Montemurro (Australia) – Arsenal
Phil Neville (England) – England national team
Reynald Pedros (France) – Olympique Lyonnais
Paul Riley (England) – North Carolina Courage
Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands) – Netherlands national team