Mbappe, Modric in FIFA award list but no Neymar
ELITE GROUP France have 3 names in world body’s 10man best player shortlist
ZURICH: World Cup stars Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric will lead the challenge against a decade-long dominance of FIFA’S best player award by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Mbappe, the teenage star of France’s World Cup-winning team, and Modric, the Croatia captain who was named the tournament’s best player, joined fivetime winners Ronaldo and Messi among 10 candidates announced by FIFA on Tuesday.
Neymar and Paul Pogba have not made the shortlist. The former finished third in the voting last year but, despite winning four domestic trophies with Paris Saint-germain after leaving Barcelona, an underwhelming World Cup on his return from a fractured foot saw the Brazil superstar omitted.
Pogba shone at Russia 2018 as France won the World Cup for the first time in 20 years, but the Manchester United midfielder did not follow international team-mates Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Raphael Varane on to the list.
Varane is the only defender selected by a FIFA expert panel which did not pick Brazil star Neymar. The 13-man panel included three Brazilians - former FIFA award winners Ronaldo and Kaka, and 1994 World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Belgium, which lost to France in the semifinals, has Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard on the shortlist. It is completed by World Cup golden boot winner Harry Kane of England and Mohamed Salah, the Egypt forward who was inspirational in Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final.
WOMEN’S LIST
Three candidates who play in the National Women’s Soccer League are United States international Megan Rapinoe, five- time FIFA winner Marta of Brazil, and Australia forward Sam Kerr. Four women and six men are competing to be the best coach in women’s football. ZURICH: France coach Didier Deschamps and former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane head the shortlist for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach award, world football’s governing body announced on Tuesday.
Deschamps’s France lifted the World Cup in Russia, and his 1998 world title winning team mate Zidane helped Real Madrid claim a third consecutive Champions League.
England’s Gareth Southgate was also named on the shortlist after guiding the national team to a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years. Four women and six men are part of the 10-candidate list for the women’s coach of the year award.
The nominations include Asako Takakura, who guided Japan to the Women’s Asian Cup title and Reynald Pedros, whose Olympique Lyonnais won a third consecutive Champions League and the French league title.
The three finalists for each award will be revealed at a later date, with the winners to be announced in a ceremony in London on September 24.