Two African footballers – SADIO MANE of Senegal and MOHAMED SALAH of Egypt – have been named in a ten-man list for the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year Award.
MANE and SALAH are competing against the likes of CRISTIANO RONALDO, LIONEL MESSI, NEYMAR and KYLIAN MBAPPE.
Others are ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI from Poland, THIAGO ALCANTARA, and Dutchman VIRGIL VAN DIJK, as well as MBAPPE, NEYMAR, KEVIN DE BRUYNE and SERGIO RAMOS.
There is no African player in the women category, which includes LUCY BRONZE of England; CAROLINE GRAHAM HANSEN of Norway; PERNILLE HARDER of Denmark; and JENNIFER HERMOSO of Spain.
Others are SAM KERR of Australia; SAKI KUMAGAI of Japan; DZSENIFER MAROZSAN of Germany; VIVIANNE MIEDEMA of Netherland; while France has two nominees with WENDIE RENARD and DELPHINE CASCARINO.
Those in contention for FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year Award are MARCELO BIELSA of Argentina; HANS-DIETER FLICK of Bayern Munich; as well as Liverpool’s JURGEN KLOPP, Sevilla’s JULEN LOPETEGUI and Real Madrid’s ZINEDINE ZIDANE.
The list of nominees for each of the categories would be reduced to three on December 11, while the awards would be presented on December 17.