Dubai: Bayern Munich’s treble-winning Robert Lewandowski joined regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the shortlist for The Best Fifa Men’s Player award, world soccer’s governing body announced on Wednesday.
Lewandowski was top scorer for Bayern in the Champions League (15 goals), as well as the Bundesliga (34), and was a firm favourite for the Ballon d’Or award before it was scrapped this year for the first time in its 64-year history because of the novel coronavirus.
However, the Polish striker can still lay claim to being the best player if he picks up the FIFA award, which will be presented at a ceremony on December 17. His former teammate and current Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara was also nominated.
Joining them on the shortlist are Champions League runners-up Paris St Germain’s forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappe while Liverpool’s Premier League winning trio of Mohammad Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane also made the cut.
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, the Premier League’s player of the year last season, also made the shortlist as did Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. Year Award for firing Bayern Munich to Champions League glory in 2019-20.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich)
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool)
Kylian Mbappe (France/Paris St-Germain)
Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
Neymar (Brazil/Paris St-Germain)
Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool)
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool)
The list of nominees for Best Fifa Women’s Player Award includes Lucy Bronze, Delphine Cascarino, Caroline Graham Hansen, Pernille Harder, Jennifer Hermoso, Ji So-yun, Sam Kerr, Saki Kumagai, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Vivianne Miedema and Wendie Renard.
For Best Fifa Women’s Goalkeeper Award, the nominees are Ann-Katrin Berger, Sarah Bouhaddi, Christiane Endler, Hedvig Lindahl, Alyssa Naeher and Ellie Roebuck.
In the men’s category, the shortlisted candidates are Alisson Becker, Thibaut Courtois, Keylor Navas, Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
For Best Fifa Women’s Coach Award, Lluis Cortes, Rita Guarino, Emma Hayes, Stephan Lerch, Hege Riise, Jean-Luc Vasseur and Sarina Wiegman are among the shortlisted candidates.
In the men’s category, Marcelo Bielsa, Hansi Flick, Jurgen Klopp, Julen Lopetegui and Zinedine Zidane are among the nominees.