Messi, Lewandowski and Salah will fight for the male award
Guardiola and Lluís Cortés, nominated for best coach
MADRID, 16 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish internationals and FC Barcelona players Alexia Putellas and Jenni Hermoso are opting for the FIFA The Best award this Monday, the award that recognizes the best soccer players and coaches of the year and for which they will fight, in the men’s category, the Argentine Leo Messi, the Pole Robert Lewandowski and Egyptian Mohamed Salah, all at a gala to be held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich (Switzerland).
Putellas, who received the first women’s Ballon d’Or in the history of Spanish football on November 29, will seek to win a treble of awards, after having also been chosen as UEFA Player of the Year.
The one from Mollet del Vallès and Hermoso, who was also a finalist for the Ballon d’Or, have once again seen their work rewarded last year, in which Barça won the Primera Iberdrola, the ‘Champions’ and the Copa de la Reina; Four of the 13 nominees were Barça players. Thus, they will fight with the Australian Sam Kerr (Chelsea FC), who completes the podium of finalists
In the men’s section, the Argentine Leo Messi will seek to join another wounded to the seventh Ballon d’Or he received in November and raise his second The Best, after the one achieved in 2019. His rivals will be the Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, who won it in 2020 and will try to revalidate it, and Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, third in 2018.
The Spanish Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), the Italian Roberto Mancini (Italy national team) and the German Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea FC) will compete for The Best for the best men’s football coach, while between the former Barça women’s coach, Lluís Cortés, the English Emma Hayes (Chelsea FC) and the Dutch Sarina Wiegman (national team of the Netherlands and England) will be chosen as the best in the women’s football category.
In addition, the German Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea), the Chilean Christiane Endler (Paris Saint-Germain/Olympique de Lyon) and the Canadian Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbé (FC Rosengard/Paris Saint-Germain) are the finalists for the best goalkeeper and the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan/Paris Saint-Germain), the Senegalese Édouard Mendy (Chelsea) and the German Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), for the best goalkeeper.
The Puskas Award for the best goal of the year will also be awarded at the gala – between those of the Argentine Érik Lamela in an Arsenal-Tottenham Premier, the Czech Patrik Schick in a Czech Republic-Scotland of the European Championship and the Iranian Mehdi Taremi in a Chelsea-Porto in the Champions League-, the Fan Award and the Fair Play Award.
The awards are granted after the votes cast by two international juries, made up of the current coaches of the women’s/men’s teams (one per team), the captains and the current captains of the women’s/men’s teams (one per team), a journalist dedicated to representing each national team and fans registered on FIFA.com.
–CANDIDATES FOR THE BEST AWARDS.
BEST PLAYER: Leo Messi (ARG/FC Barcelona and PSG), Robert Lewandowski (POL/Bayern Munich) and Mohamed Salah (EGI/Liverpool).
BEST PLAYER: Alexia Putellas (ESP/FC Barcelona), Jenni Hermoso (ESP/FC Barcelona) and Sam Kerr (AUS/Chelsea).
BEST MALE COACH: Pep Guardiola (ESP/Manchester City), Roberto Mancini (ITA/Italy national team) and Thomas Tuchel (ALE/Chelsea).
BEST FEMALE COACH: Lluís Cortés (ESP/FC Barcelona), Emma Hayes (ING/Chelsea) and Sarina Wiegman (NED/Netherlands team and England team).
BEST GOALKEEPER: Gianluigi Donnarumma (ITA/AC Milan and PSG), Édouard Mendy (SEN/Chelsea) and Manuel Neuer (ALE/Bayern Munich).
MEJOR WEAR: Ann-Katrin Berger (ALE/Chelsea), Christiane Endler (CHL/PSG/Olympique de Lyon) y Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbé (CAN/Rosengard y PSG).
PREMIOUS RUSKAS: Érik Lamela (ARG), Patrik Schick (CZE) y Mehdi Taremi (IRN).
FAN AWARD: Danish and Finnish fans, German fans and Imogen Papworth-Heidel.
FAIR PLAY AWARD: The Danish national team, medical team and coaching staff, Claudio Ranieri and Scott Brown.