It’s that time of year again when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo battle against each other under the pretence of it being anything other than a two-horse race for the end of season awards.
With France Football and FIFA ending their partnership last year there are now two awards to be won – the former’s traditional Ballon d’Or and the latter’s Best Men’s’ Player award.
On Thursday, FIFA released the 24-man shortlist of their 2017 award voted on by legends of the game such as Cafu, Carles Puyol and Diego Maradona, and it will surprise nobody to learn that Champions League winners Real Madrid feature heavily.
Of the current Spanish and European champions, seven players feature in all – namely Ronaldo, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Keylor Navas and Sergio Ramos.
Beaten Champions League finalists Juventus are represented with three players – Leonardo Bonucci (now at AC Milan), Gianluigi Buffon and Paulo Dybala – while Bayern Munich also have three on the nominees’ list (Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer and Arturo Vidal).
Barcelona, despite exiting the competition at the quarter-final stage have four players on the list (although Neymar has since departed) – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta the other names chosen.
Premier League representation is not particularly high, with just Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Harry Kane, Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante worthy of merit.
Atletico Madrid’s Antonie Griemann and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang round out the full list of 24, to be cut down after a vote next month before the final award is given out at the end of the calendar year.
Here are the 2⃣4⃣ candidates for #TheBest FIFA Men’s Player 2017 ? pic.twitter.com/cJIfVGocCw
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) August 17, 2017
The initial nominees for Best Coach have also been released with Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane surely the early favourite to land the award. Beaten finalist Max Allegri is also in the running, as is Germany manager Joachim Low after a successful Confederations Cup campaign.
Here are the 1⃣2⃣ candidates for #TheBest FIFA Men’s Coach 2017 ? pic.twitter.com/eHAYON2Kkg
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) August 17, 2017
The proportion of Premier League nominees is much higher in this category with Chelsea boss Antonio Conte joined by Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino and Manchester-based managers Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola in the running.
Carlo Ancelotti, Luis Enrique, Diego Simeone, Tite and Leandro Jardim round out the list that will also be cut to three before being decided later this year.
Read More About: Alexis Sanchez, andres iniesta, antoine griezmann, arturo vidal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Cristiano Ronaldo, eden hazard, harry kane, jose mourinho, Juventus, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, luka modric, manuel neuer, marcelo, N'Golo Kante, Neymar, pep guardiola, pierre-emerick aubameyang, psg, Real Madrid, robert lewandowski, sergio ramos, tite, toni kroos, zlatan ibrahimovic
