Germany dominated the FIFA Player of the Year shortlist, with six nominees among the 23 candidates announced yesterday, while the 10-man coaching shortlist was full of anomalies and controversy.
Jurgen Klinsmann was included among the coaches after leading the US to the last-16 of the World Cup in Brazil, but Jorge Luis Pinto and Jose Pekerman, who respectively took Costa Rica and Colombia to the quarter-finals, were overlooked.
Jorge Sampaoli, whose hugely entertaining Chile side knocked out defending champions Spain on their way to the last-16, and Vahid Halilhodzic, who took an inspirational Algeria to the knockout stages, were also ignored.
Photo: Reuters
On the other hand, there was room for Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola, even though his team’s most important match of the year, a UEFA Champions League semi-final at home to Real Madrid, ended in a 4-0 defeat.
Almost inevitably, Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho also sneaked in despite failing to land a trophy on his return to Stamford Bridge.
The players’ list showed similar anomalies and appeared to be based more on European club soccer than FIFA’s flagship tournament.
Photo: Reuters
Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were six players from world champions Germany to be included, while beaten finalists Argentina had three: Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano.
Last year’s winner, Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, was duly named, along with Real Madrid teammates Gareth Bale (Wales), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Sergio Ramos (Spain) and Karim Benzema (France).
Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure was the only African player short-listed, while Neymar was Brazil’s sole representative and there were none at all from CONCACAF region or Asia.
Notable absentees included US ’keeper Tim Howard and Costa Rica stopper Keylor Navas — both outstanding in Brazil — and Costa Rica defender Giancarlo Gonzalez, who many critics saw as one of the tournament’s most influential players.
FIFA, which organizes the award jointly with France Football magazine, said the final three candidates for both awards, officially known as the Ballon d’Or, would be announced on Dec. 1 and the award ceremony would be held in Zurich on Jan. 12 next year.
“The list of 23 male candidates has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France Football,” FIFA said.
“The list of 10 coaches has been drawn up by the committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s World Cup and by the FIFA Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France Football,” it added.
The Player of the Year shortlist also includes: Andres Iniesta and Diego Costa — both from Spain — Paul Pogba (France), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) and Arjen Robben (The Netherlands).
The candidates for Coach of the Year were rounded out by: Carlo Ancelotti (Real), Antonio Conte (Italy and Juventus), Joachim Loew (Germany), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina), Diego Simeone (Argentina), Louis van Gaal (The Netherlands).
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