The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021: Predicting the winners tonight
Since 2015, the Best FIFA and France Football Ballon d’Or have been independently honoring the standout footballers and coaches of a particular year. We already had the Ballon d’Or ceremony in November, which generated its fair share of controversies. Now, attention is turning to the Best FIFA Football Awards in anticipation of a 'fairer' outcome.
With results set to be published at 7 p.m. CET (11:30 pm IST), we will be giving our last-minute predictions for the ceremony.
Here are our predictions for the winners at The Best FIFA Football Awards on Monday night:
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award: Ann-Katrin Berger
Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea FC Women), Christiane Endler (PSG / Olympique Lyon), and Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbe (FC Rosengard / PSG) are the top-three women’s goalkeepers this year.
Under Emma Hayes, Berger enjoyed an excellent FA Women's Super League (WSL) campaign, winning the Golden Glove as Chelsea cruised to the domestic title.
Berger also helped Chelsea to the Women’s Champions League final. The Blues were ultimately beaten by an unstoppable Barcelona side at the grand event.
bbc.in/2TpYabV
Ann-Katrin Berger recovered from cancer to make the PFA Team of the Year.
Now she's signed for Chelsea Women👉 bbc.in/2TpYabV https://t.co/nFSrAyLFtc
Berger is our pick for the Best Women’s Goalkeeper award, following her bravado between the sticks.
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Lluis Cortes
Lluis Cortes (FC Barcelona), Emma Hayes (Chelsea FC Women) and Sarina Wiegman (Dutch national team and England national team) fill up this year’s three-person shortlist.
Hayes and Wiegman did great with their respective sides, but Cortes’ exploits with the FC Barcelona Women’s team make him an outright favorite.
Under Cortes, Barcelona produced an exceptional brand of football last season and cruised to their first-ever treble. They dominated almost every team they encountered and unlocked even the trickiest of defenses with unbelievable ease.
Lluís Cortés has been selected to coach the Ukraine women’s national team. That’s an interesting career move. https://t.co/nkOPm3AcQt
Surprisingly, Cortes stepped down from his post only a couple of days after winning the treble, stating he felt exhausted. The 35-year-old is currently the head coach of the Ukraine women's national team and is preparing to take them to unprecedented heights.
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Thomas Tuchel
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, Italy’s Roberto Mancini, and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel are the final nominees for the best men's coach award this year.
Guardiola, the Spanish mastermind, brought the Premier League back to Manchester City last season and looks on course to do the double this term. Italy national team coach Mancini guided his country to the European Championship in spectacular style in the summer of 2021.
Finally, we have Chelsea’s German tactician Thomas Tuchel who outsmarted the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola to win the Champions League last season.
In LESS than a year, Thomas Tuchel has taken Chelsea to 3 Cup finals.
What a manager 💙 https://t.co/AwrFNg092K
All three were brilliant, of course, but Tuchel’s Champions League heroics might prove to be decisive at the FIFA The Best ceremony tonight. Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola could end up clinching second place in the race to be the best.