Awards season is starting early this year, with FIFA releasing their list of nominees for the 2017 FIFA Football Awards, which are still awkwardly called “The Best FIFA” awards. So, Antonio Conte was nominated for “The Best FIFA Men’s Coach” while N’Golo Kanté and Eden Hazard were both nominated for “The Best FIFA Men’s Player”. It’s easy to forget amid the shambles of the current season so far that all three of these guys were tremendous last season. There will be a public component to this thing (starting August 21), so be sure to vote when that opens.
The full list of nominees who are set to lose the “The Best FIFA Men’s Coach” to Zinedine Zidane are:
Massimiliano ALLEGRI (ITA - Juventus)
Carlo ANCELOTTI (ITA - FC Bayern Munich)
Antonio CONTE (ITA - Chelsea)
LUIS ENRIQUE (ESP - FC Barcelona)
Pep GUARDIOLA (ESP - Manchester City)
Leonardo JARDIM (POR - AS Monaco)
Joachim LÖW (GER - German national team)
Jose MOURINHO (POR - Manchester United)
Mauricio POCHETTINO (ARG - Tottenham Hotspur)
Diego SIMEONE (ARG - Atlético Madrid)
TITE (BRA - Brazilian national team)
Zinedine ZIDANE (FRA - Real Madrid)
The full list of nominees who will bow down to N’Golo Kanté for “The BEST FIFA Men’s Player” award are:
Pierre-Emerick AUBAMEYANG (BVB)
Leonardo BONUCCI (Juventus/AC Milan)
Gianluigi BUFFON (Juventus)
Dani CARVAJAL (Real Madrid)
CRISTIANO RONALDO (Real Madrid)
Paulo DYBALA (Juventus)
Antoine GRIEZMANN (Atlético Madrid)
Eden HAZARD (Chelsea)
Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC (Manchester United)
Andres INIESTA (Barcelona),
Harry KANE (Tottenham Hotspur)
N’Golo KANTÉ (Chelsea)
Toni KROOS (Real Marid)
Robert LEWANDOWSKI (Bayern Munich)
MARCELO (Real Madrid),
Lionel MESSI (Barcelona)
Luka MODRIĆ (Real Madrid)
Keylor NAVAS (Real Madrid)
Manuel NEUER (Bayern Munich)
NEYMAR (Barcelona/PSG)
Sergio RAMOS (Real Madrid)
Alexis SÁNCHEZ (Arsenal)
Luis SUÁREZ (Barcelona)
Arturo VIDAL (Bayern Munich)
Sadly, no Chelsea players were nominated for “The Best FIFA Women’s Player” award despite Chelsea winning the spring series in the FAWSL. Chelsea Ladies head coach Emma Hayes did however get the nod for “The Best FIFA Women’s Coach” shortlist. She is one of just three women of the ten total nominees.
Olivier Echouafni (FRA - French national team)
Emma Hayes (ENG - Chelsea Ladies)
Ralf Kellermann (GER - VfL Wolfsburg)
Xavi Llorens (ESP - FC Barcelona Femeni)
Nils Nielsen (DEN - Danish national team)
Florence Omagbemi (NGA - Nigerian national team)
Gerard Precheur (FRA - Olympique Lyonnais Feminin)
Dominik Thalhammer (AUT - Austrian national team)
Sarina Wiegman (NED - Netherlands national team)
Hwang Yong-Bong (PRK - Korea DPR / Korea DPR U-20 national teams)
The nominees for the annual Puskás Award (best goal) and the newly created “The Best FIFA Goalkeeper” will be announced in a couple months, on October 23.