Less than a month after the FIFA Women’s World Cup final, the nominations have been announced for The Best FIFA Football Awards.
The nominees were shortlisted by a panel of football experts who reviewed longer lists compiled by FIFA based on the candidates’ achievements during the respective award eligibility periods. Voting is now open across the various categories, with the international jury being comprised of national team captains and coaches, journalists, and fans from all over the world.
Performances at the World Cup are reflected in The Best FIFA Women’s Player nominees. Adidas Golden Ball winner Aitana Bonmatí leads a quartet of Spanish nominees. Four players from tournament runners-up England and a trio of Matildas – who were a victory away from reaching the final on home soil – are also part of a 16-player shortlist.
The FIFA Puskás Award is guaranteed to generate hundreds of thousands of votes each year, with the prize recognising the player ‘judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant goal, regardless of championship, gender or nationality and scored without the result of luck or a mistake and in support of fair play.’ The nominees will be announced on 21 September.
The winners of The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Women’s Coach and The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper will be selected by an international jury comprising the current coaches of all women’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans from all over the world registered on FIFA.com.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player Nominees
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain); Linda Caicedo (Colombia); Rachel Daly (England); Kadidiatou Diani (France); Caitlin Foord (Australia); Mary Fowler (Australia); Alex Greenwood (England); Jennifer Hermoso (Spain); Lindsey Horan (USA); Amanda Ilestedt (Sweden); Lauren James (England); Sam Kerr (Australia); Mapi León (Spain); Hinata Miyazawa (Japan); Salma Paralluelo (Spain); Keira Walsh (England).
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach Nominees
Peter Gerhardsson (Sweden): Jonatan Giráldez (Spain); Tony Gustavsson (Sweden); Emma Hayes (England); Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands).
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper Nominees
Mackenzie Arnold (Australia); Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany); Catalina Coll (Spain); Mary Earps (England); Christiane Endler (Chile); Zećira Mušović (Sweden); Sandra Paños García-Villamil (Spain).
The FIFA Fan Award Nominees
Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe fan (Argentina); Fran Hurndall (England); Miguel Ángel, Millonarios fan (Colombia).
Fan voting in all the above categories is now open until midnight CET on Friday 6 October, for the FIFA Puskás Award the deadline ix exactly four days later.
