Chelsea duo N’Golo Kante and Jorginho will battle it out with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe for The Best FIFA men’s player award for 2021.
The Blues have also had no fewer than four players – Magdalena Eriksson, Pernille Harder, Ji So-yun and Sam Kerr – shortlisted for the women’s award, while men’s boss Thomas Tuchel and women’s counterpart Emma Hayes have been nominated for the coaching awards.
France’s World Cup-winning midfielder Kante and Jorginho, a member of the Italy team which beat England in the Euro 2020 final, will compete with Ronaldo, Messi and Mbappe, as well as Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, Real Madrid star Karim Benzema, Bayern Munich hot-shot Robert Lewandowski, Paris St Germain’s Neymar, Borussia Dortmund’s rising star Erling Haaland and Liverpool’s Egypt international Mohamed Salah.
The Chelsea Women quartet also find themselves in good company alongside England and Manchester City pair Ellen White and Lucy Bronze, Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema, Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati, Caroline Graham Hansen, Jennifer Hermoso and Alexia Putellas, as well as Stina Blackstenius of BK Hacken and Portland Thorns’ Christine Sinclair
The men’s coaching award will be contested by Tuchel, Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola, new Tottenham boss Antonio Conte, Italy’s Roberto Mancini, Germany’s Hansi Flick, Diego Simeone and Lionel Scaloni.
Hayes has been shortlisted for the women’s prize along with England boss Sarina Wiegman, Lluis Cortes, Peter Gerhardsson and Beverly Priestman.
Two expert panels – one each for the men’s and women’s games – have also identified candidates for the best goalkeeper awards, with Alisson Becker, Edouard Mendy and Kasper Schmeichel flying the flag for the Premier League along with Italy star Gianluigi Donnarumma and Germany’s Manuel Neuer, while Chelsea’s Ann-Katrin Berger will go head-to-head with Christiane Endler, Stephanie Labbe, Hedvig Lindahl and Alyssa Naeher.
The nominees for the FIFA Puskas Award, given for the best goal, will be announced at a later date.
A public vote is now open on FIFA.com and will remain so until December 10, and three finalists in each category will be announced in January. The winners will be revealed at an online ceremony on January 17.
