The 2021 FIFA Best Men's Player Award nominees have been revealed. Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski make the cut in an 11-man shortlist. The list also includes the trio of French footballers Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté and Kylian Mbappé. While the likes of Jorginho, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Neymar join them in the reckoning. Kevin De Bruyne and Cristiano Ronaldo are also in contention to win the award.
Argentina captain Messi didn’t have the best of the year, but guiding his country to their first Copa America title in 28 years sees the former Barcelona forward in contention. Lewandowski has been firing on all cylinders for Bayern Munich for the last few seasons. After winning the award in 2020, the Polish striker is once again the front runner to claim the prize.
Since Ronaldo’s exit from Real Madrid in 2018, Benzema has taken the baton over and has guided the Los Blancos to the La Liga title. The former Lyon man was back in contention for France and was instrumental in France winning the Nations League title. His fellow teammates Kanté and Mbappé were also part on the list for Didier Deschamps' side. The latter even won the Champions League (CL) with Chelsea earlier this year.
If winning trophies is the criteria, then Jorginho should stand a better chance as he won both CL with Chelsea as well as Euro 2020 with Italy. However, his Italian teammate Gianluigi Donnarumma was slightly unlucky to miss out on a place in the nominations.
FIFA also revealed the nominees for the Best coach of the year as well. Antonio Conte, Hansi Flick, Pep Guardiola are joined by Roberto Mancini, Thomas Tuchel in the list of nominees. There was also a place for Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni, who guided Messi-led side to their first Copa America title since 1993. Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone completes the list.
The likes of Alisson Becker, Donnarumma have joined the roster for the Best Goalkeeper’s award while CL winning goalkeeper Édouard Mendy is also amongst the nominees.
Leicester’s FA Cup-winning goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was also nominated as his role was crucial in guiding Denmark to the semi-final of the Euros 2020. German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is also in hunt.
