Every year, FIFA presents its prestigious “The Best” awards, recognizing outstanding performances in world football. Last year, PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé won the Ballon d’Or, narrowly beating Barcelona’s young talent Lamine Yamal. This year, both players are again in contention, among 11 nominees for the FIFA Men’s Best Player award.
FIFA announced the full list of nominees for various categories on Thursday, covering men’s and women’s football, including players, goalkeepers, coaches, and fan awards. Seventeen female players are competing for the Women’s Best Player honor this year.
“𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔,” 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Men’s and Women’s Nominees Revealed
The men’s nominees for FIFA The Best are:
Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Nuno Mendes, Cole Palmer, Pedri, Rafinha, Mohamed Salah, Vitinha, Lamine Yamal.
The women’s nominees include:
Sandy Baltimore, Nathalie Bourne, Aitana Bonmati, Lucy Bronze, Mariona Caldenti, Temwa Chawinga, Kadidiatu Diani, Melcy Dumron, Patri Guizarro, Lindsay Hips, Lauren James, Chloe Kelly, Eva Pajr, Claudio Pina, Alexia Puteaux, Alessia Russo, and Leah Williamson.
Despite their legendary status, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not among the individual player nominees, likely due to their recent moves away from European clubs. However, both feature in the Best XI of the Year, with voting conducted by 88 footballers, where Messi and Ronaldo are listed among 22 forwards.
Coaches and Goalkeepers Also in Contention
Luis Enrique (men) and Sarina Wiegman (women) were honored on the Ballon d’Or stage and are nominated for FIFA’s Best Coach of the Year. Under Enrique, PSG captured a treble including the Champions League, while Wiegman led England to the Women’s Euro Championship. Other nominees for men’s coach include Javier Aguirre, Mikel Arteta, Hansi Flick, Enzo Maresca, Roberto Martinez, and Arne Slott. Women’s coach contenders include Sonia Bompastor, Jonathan Giraldez, Seb Hines, Rene Slagers, and Sarina Wiegman.
Goalkeepers in the running for Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Alisson Becker, Thibaut Courtois, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Emiliano Martinez, Manuel Neuer, David Raya, Yann Sommer, and Wojciech Szymany.
Women’s Goalkeeper nominees: Anne-Katrina Berger, Kata Cole, Kristian Endler, Hannah Hampton, Anna Moorhouse, Chiamaka Nnadoji, and Fallon Tullis-Joyce.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔,” 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅.
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