Thomas Tuchel, Emma Hayes named finalists for FIFA Best manager awards

Following the reveal of the three finalists for the best men’s and women’s goalkeeper award yesterday (congrats to Édouard Mendy and Ann-Katrin Berger), today it’s the managers’ turn. And, as one would’ve expected, both Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes have been named in the top three by FIFA.

Tuchel’s up against Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Italy manager Roberto Mancini, while Hayes is up against Barcelona’s Lluis Cortés and England manager Sarina Wiegman, who had been in charge of the Netherlands earlier this year.

While the women’s award is unlikely to go to anyone other than Cortés who’s been leading the awesome and all-conquering Barcelona to greater and greater heights (including the 4-0 trouncing of Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League final), Tuchel should have a pretty good shot at collecting the men’s award on the strength of our own Champions League victory against Guardiola’s City. As with the other awards, this one’s also decided by votes from national team coaches, captains, plus a few select journalists as well as a fan vote component.

Winners will be announced January 17.