For the first time since 2006, Argentina and Barcelona captain isn’t among the final three for the FIFA Football Awards. His arch-rival and reigning Best FIFA Men’s player Cristiano Ronaldo, Croatia skipper and 2018 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner Luka Modric and Egypt’s talisman Mohamed Salah are the finalist for this year’s award.
The winners will be announced at The Best FIFA Football Awards on 24 September with a trophy at an event in Royal Festival Hall in London.
In addition to the Men’s player awards, there are other categories which includes the FIFA Women’s Player award, FIFA Men’s Coach, FIFA Women’s coach, FIFA Best Goalkeeper, Puskas Award and Fan Award.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player award has Lyon duo Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Maroszan joined by Brazil’s captain Marta contending for the honour.
Zinedine Zidane and Sarina Wiegman are both in contention to retain their coach awards. Zidane will be joined by the two World Cup finalist coaches, France’s Didier Deschamps and Croatia’s Zlatko Dalic to complete the trio. Wiegman has to contest against Reynald Pedros and Asako Takakura.
The Goalkeeper award will be a tight contest between three of the best who were outstanding at the FIFA World Cup in Russia. FIFA World Cup Golden glove winner Thibuat Courtois, FIFA World Cup winning skipper Hugo Lloris and Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel.
Below is the full list of recipients for the 2018 BEST Awards.
Men’s Player
Cristiano Ronaldo (PORTUGAL/Juventus)
Luka Modric (CROATIA/Real Madrid)
Mohamed Salah (EGYPT/Liverpool)
Women’s Player
Ada Hegerberg (NORWAY/Olympique Lyon Feminin)
Dzsenifer Marozsan (GERMANY/Olympique Lyon Feminin)
Marta (BRAZIL/Orlando Pride)
Men’s Coach
Zlatko Dalic (CROATIA/Croatia national team)
Didier Deschamps (FRANCE/France national team)
Zinedine Zidane (FRANCE/formerly Real Madrid)
Women’s Coach
Reynald Pedros (FRANCE/Olympique Lyon Feminin)
Asako Takakura (JAPAN/Japan women’s national team)
Sarina Wiegman (NETHERLANDS/Netherlands women’s national team)
Goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois (BELGIUM/Real Madrid)
Hugo Lloris (FRANCE/Tottenham Hotspur)
Kasper Schmeichel (DENMARK/Leicester City)
Puskás Award
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid goal v Liverpool)
Denis Cheryshev (Russia goal v Croatia)
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (AEK Athens goal v Olympiacos)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid goal v Juventus)
Giorgian de Arrascaeta (Cruzeiro goal v America MG)
Riley McGree (Newcastle Jets goal v Mighty Jets)
Lionel Messi (Argentina goal v Nigeria)
Benjamin Pavard (France goal v Argentina)
Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal goal v Iran)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool goal v Everton)
Fan Award
Sebastián Carrera (CD Puerto Montt, Chile)
Japan and Senegal supporters
Peru supporters
The BEST FIFA FOOTBALL AWARDS is a recognition award for excellent and outstanding performers for the year in review. Congratulations to all the nominees for the award ceremony.
Please use the comment box beneath to select your BEST for each category.