January 10 – In keeping with tradition, Lionel Messi is once again nominated in the final three of The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards. FIFA will probably keep nominating him when he retires.
Messi is up against Bayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and Liverpool and Egypt superstar Mo Salah. The difference between him and them is that they are scoring goals, lots of them.
FIFA’s awards for outstanding players in women’s and men’s football are voted for by an international jury comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com.
The final three women’s nominations see two Barcelona and Spain players – Jennifer Hermoso and Alexia Putellas – up against Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr.
While all the final six nominated players are at European clubs, they do represent four different confederations.
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