Leeds’ Marcelo Bielsa makes Fifa shortlist for men’s manager of the year
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The Leeds manager, Marcelo Bielsa, has surprisingly been named on the five-man shortlist for Fifa men’s coach of the year.
World football’s governing body has released the shortlist for its seven individual awards to be presented at The Best Fifa Football Awards on 17 December.
Bielsa was an eye-catching inclusion on the five-strong men’s coach shortlist, with the Championship-winning manager named alongside Hansi Flick (Bayern Munich), Julen Lopetegui (Sevilla), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) and Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool).
The future England manager Sarina Wiegman has been shortlisted for the women’s coach award along with Emma Hayes, who has three of her Chelsea players shortlisted for women’s player of the year.
Ji So-yun, Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder are joined on the shortlist by Manchester City’s England international Lucy Bronze and the Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema.
Chelsea’s Sam Kerr (left) and Ji So-yun, here celebrating after winning the Continental League Cup, are in the running for women’s player of the year. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Manchester City’s Ellie Roebuck and Ann-Katrin Berger of Chelsea are nominated for The Best Fifa Women’s Goalkeeper; Alisson is the only Premier League keeper to be shortlisted for the men’s equivalent.
There are four Liverpool players in the running for The Best Fifa Men’s Player award, with Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk joined by the summer signing Thiago Alcântara. Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne is also shortlisted along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Sergio Ramos.
The Puskas Award for 2020’s best goal includes the Tottenham forward Son Heung-min’s superb solo strike against Burnley last December. Jordan Flores’s outrageous volley for Dundalk against Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland is also shortlisted, along with Sophie Ingle’s effort for Chelsea against Arsenal and a fine goal for Manchester City’s Caroline Weir against Manchester United.