Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi among nominees for Best FIFA Football Awards 2020
Cristiano Ronaldo currently plays for Juventus and has won the Serie A title for the past two seasons, besides finishing as their highest goal-scorer of the season. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi finished as the top goal-scorer for La Liga last season.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is all set to host the Best FIFA Football Awards on December 17, which would also be the fifth edition of the prestigious awards ceremony. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the governing body announced the nominees for the different categories.
As for the Best FIFA Men’s Player category, it has 11 nominations, which included the top likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Besides, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Mohamed Salah and Sergio Ramos are also among the prominent ones in the list. Messi won the award last year, while Ronaldo had won it in the previous two editions.
The award was initially called the FIFA World Player of the Year award, which has been won on record six occasions by Messi, while Ronaldo has won it on five instances. It has later merged with Ballon d’Or, only to be separated again, as FIFA has changed the name of the award.
Among other categories, the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper has the prominent likes of Alisson Becker and Manuel Neuer. Also, the Best FIFA Men’s Coach possesses top names like Jürgen Klopp and Zinedine Zidane.
Below is the complete list of the nominations:
Best FIFA Women’s Player:
Lucy Bronze (England / Olympique Lyonnais / Manchester City WFC), Delphine Cascarino (France / Olympique Lyonnais), Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway / FC Barcelona), Pernille Harder (Denmark / VfL Wolfsburg / Chelsea FC Women), Jennifer Hermoso (Spain / FC Barcelona), Ji So-yun (Korea Republic / Chelsea FC Women), Sam Kerr (Australia / Chelsea FC Women), Saki Kumagai (Japan / Olympique Lyonnais), Dzsenifer Marozsán (Germany / Olympique Lyonnais), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands / Arsenal WFC), Wendie Renard (France / Olympique Lyonnais)
Best FIFA Men’s Player:
Thiago Alcântara (Spain / FC Bayern München / Liverpool FC), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal / Juventus FC), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium / Manchester City FC), Robert Lewandowski (Poland / FC Bayern München), Sadio Mané (Senegal / Liverpool FC), Kylian Mbappé (France / Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Argentina / FC Barcelona), Neymar (Brazil / Paris Saint-Germain), Sergio Ramos (Spain / Real Madrid CF), Mohamed Salah (Egypt / Liverpool FC), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands / Liverpool FC)
Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper:
Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany / Chelsea FC Women), Sarah Bouhaddi (France / Olympique Lyonnais), Christiane Endler (Chile / Paris Saint-Germain), Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden / VfL Wolfsburg / Atlético de Madrid Femenino), Alyssa Naeher (USA / Chicago Red Stars), Ellie Roebuck (England / Manchester City WFC)
Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper:
Alisson Becker (Brazil / Liverpool FC), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium / Real Madrid CF), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica / Paris Saint-Germain), Manuel Neuer (Germany / FC Bayern München), Jan Oblak (Slovenia / Atlético de Madrid), Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany / FC Barcelona)
Best FIFA Women’s Coach:
Lluís Cortés (Spain / FC Barcelona), Rita Guarino (Italy / Juventus Women), Emma Hayes (England / Chelsea FC Women), Stephan Lerch (Germany / VfL Wolfsburg), Hege Riise (Norway / LSK Kvinner), Jean-Luc Vasseur (France / Olympique Lyonnais), Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands / Dutch national team)
Best FIFA Men’s Coach:
Marcelo Bielsa (Argentina / Leeds United FC), Hans-Dieter Flick (Germany / FC Bayern München), Jürgen Klopp (Germany / Liverpool FC), Julen Lopetegui (Spain / Sevilla FC), Zinedine Zidane (France / Real Madrid CF)
FIFA Puskas Award
Shirley Cruz (CRC) – Costa Rica v. Panama [Concacaf Women’s Olympic qualifying] (January 28 2020)
Giorgian De Arrascaeta (URU) – Ceará SC v. CR Flamengo [Brasileirão - Brazil] (25 August 2019)
Jordan Flores (ENG) – Shamrock Rovers FC v. Dundalk FC [League of Ireland] (February 28 2020)
André-Pierre Gignac (FRA) – UANL Tigres v. Pumas UNAM [Liga MX - Mexico] (1 March 2020)
Sophie Ingle (WAL) – Arsenal WFC v. Chelsea FC Women [FA Women’s Super League - England] (January 19 2020)
Zlatko Junuzović (AUT) – SK Rapid Wien v. FC Red Bull Salzburg [Bundesliga - Austria] (24 June 2020)
Hlompho Kekana (RSA) – Mamelodi Sundowns FC v. Cape Town City FC [South African Premier Soccer League] (August 20 2019)
Son Heung min (KOR) – Tottenham Hotspur FC v. Burnley FC [Premier League - England] (December 7 2019)
Leonel Quiñónez (ECU) – Universidad Católica v. CSD Macará [Serie A - Ecuador] (19 August 2019)
Luis Suárez (URU) – FC Barcelona v. Real Mallorca [LaLiga - Spain] (7 December 2019)
Caroline Weir (SCO) – Manchester City WFC v. Manchester United WFC [FA Women’s Super League - England] (September 7 2019)
