The Best FIFA Football Awards: Lewandowski, Messi, Ronaldo among 11 nominees for Men's Best Player Award
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the 11 nominees to win the Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year award, as Bayern Munich and Liverpool players dominated the field after great seasons for their clubs in 2019-20.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the only former winners on the nominees' list, with the Best FIFA Football Awards having only come into existence in 2016.
Since then, Ronaldo has won the award twice, while Messi won it last year, staving off competition from Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk. Before that, the award had been called the FIFA Ballon D'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year.
Liverpool's Premier League title winners van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have also been nominated for the award, alongside PFA Player of the Year Kevin de Bruyne.
New Liverpool signing Thiago Alcantara is also amongst the nominees for his exploits with Bayern Munich last season.
However, the favorite to win the trophy is thought to be Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, who was at the heart of Bayern Munich's treble-winning campaign.
Marcelo Bielsa, who brought Leeds United back into the Premier League after 16 years, has been nominated for the Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award, alongside the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Hansi Flick.
In terms of the goalkeepers, Bayern Munich's all-conquering side have their captain Manuel Neuer nominated, together with the likes of Liverpool's Alisson Becker and Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois.
This year's nominees for The Best FIFA Women's Player of the Year award are all based in Europe, with last year's winner Megan Rapinoe not nominated.
The record-breaking European champions Lyon dominate the nominations, with Lucy Bronze, Wendie Renard, Dzsenifer Maroszan and Saki Kumagai being nominated for the award.
Lyon head coach Jean-Luc Vassier has also been nominated for the Best FIFA Women's Coach of the Year award.
The ceremony will be held virtually due to pandemic restrictions, and will happen on December 17. Here are the full list of nominees in each category.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player
Thiago Alcantara, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Sadio Mane, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach
Marcelo Bielsa, Hansi Flick, Jurgen Klopp, Julen Lopetegui, Zinedine Zidane
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper
Alisson Becker, Thibaut Courtois, Keylor Navas, Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak, Marc-Andre ter Stegen
The Best FIFA Women’s Player
Lucy Bronze, Delphine Cascarino, Caroline Graham Hansen, Pernille Harder, Jennifer Hermoso, Ji So-yun, Sam Kerr, Saki Kumagai, Dzsenifer Marozsán, Vivianne Miedema, Wendie Renard
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper
Ann-Katrin Berger, Sarah Bouhaddi, Christiane Endler, Hedvig Lindahl, Alyssa Naeher, Ellie Roebuck
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach
Lluís Cortés (FC Barcelona Women), Rita Guarino (Juventus Women), Emma Hayes (Chelsea FC Women), Stephan Lerch (VfL Wolfsburg Women), Hege Riise (LSK Kvinner), Jean-Luc Vasseur (Olympique Lyonnais Femenin), Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands women's national team)