England hero Kane vies with Ronaldo and Messi for best player award
Usual suspects Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been joined on The Best Fifa Men’s Players 2018 award shortlist by England captain Harry Kane.
England boss Gareth Southgate is also on the list for the best coach award.
The period covered by the awards is 3 July 2017 to 15 July this year and the ten nominees in each category were selected by a panel of football experts.
Fans from around the world will now be able to cast their vote until 10 August, with the winners of all the categories announced at Fifa’s official awards ceremony in London on 24 September.
Southgate’s side were unbeaten in qualifying for the World Cup in Russia before reaching the semi-finals and eventually finishing fourth.
Tottenham forward Kane won the Golden Boot with his six goals as England produced their best World Cup finish since 1990 – on the back of the 30 he scored during the Premier League season.
Other Premier League players to be included are Belgium Men’s player shortlist:
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid and France), Eden Hazard (Chelsea and Belgium), Harry Kane (Tottenham and England), Kylian Mbappé (Paris St-germain and France), Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina), Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid and France).
duo Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard, of Manchester City and Chelsea, and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who enjoyed a superb club campaign as the Reds reached the Champions League final.
Manchester City manager Men’s coach shortlist:
Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Stanislav Cherchesov (Russia), Zlatko Dalic (Croatia), Didier Deschamps (France), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool), Roberto Martínez (Belgium), Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid), Gareth Southgate (England), Ernesto Valverde (Barcelona), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid). Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp join Southgate on the shortlist for the coach award.
Spaniard Guardiola masterminded City’s dominant Premier League campaign, while German Klopp won many plaudits for the approach of his side on their European run, which ended with defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev.
World Cup winner Didier Deschamps of France also makes the ten-man coach shortlist, along with Croatia’s Zlatko Dalic, whose side knocked England out before finishing runners-up in Russia.
Ronaldo collected the 2017 Fifa player accolade ahead of Messi, who went on to help Barcelona to a domestic double last season.
Neymar was third in the 2017 voting, but the Paris St Germain and Brazil forward, the world’s most expensive player, does not make the shortlist this year.
Portugal international Ronaldo scored 15 goals as Real won the Champions League for a third successive campaign and, following the World Cup, he joined Juventus in an unexpected £99 million move.
France’s victorious World Cup team is well represented, with forwards Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann and defender Raphael Varane all included, as is Croatia captain Luka Modric, who won the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup.