In the football arena, the award season has commenced with the coveted UEFA awards already being distributed. Coming up next are the Best FIFA awards in the build-up to Ballon d’Or 2019. The finalists for the Best FIFA awards have now been revealed and include both legendary players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Apart from the star duo, Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has been named as the finalist for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award. The trio was also nominated for the UEFA award earlier where Virgil van Dijk was adjudged the UEFA Player of the Year for 2018-19 season. Virgil has a Champions League win to his credit with Liverpool apart from finishing runners up in the Nations League prior to that.
Who will be #TheBest?
We now know the finalists 👇
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) September 2, 2019
Given the situation at hand, Van Dijk seems to be the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or 2019 ahead of both star players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. CR7 and Leo, who shared the Ballon d’Or between them for a decade, saw an end to their duopoly when Luka Modric clinched the esteemed honour.
Meanwhile, in the Men’s Coaches coaches category, Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, and Mauricio Pochettino have been nominated. Phil Neville, Jill Ellis, and Sarina Wiegman have been shortlisted in the Women’s category.
In The Best Women’s Players Award category, Lucy Bronze, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe have been nominated. Moreover, Lionel Messi also finds himself in the nominees for the Puskas award along with Quintero and Daniel Zsori.