GENEVA — Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane head the 11 candidates in a likely French domination of FIFA’s best men’s coach award.
Deschamps led France to win the World Cup, and his 1998 World Cup-winning teammate Zidane coached Real Madrid to a third straight Champions League title.
Zidane, who has since left Madrid, won the FIFA award last year and was also runner-up in 2016.
FIFA published the choices of its expert panel on Tuesday with five World Cup coaches among the contenders . They include all four semifinalists — Deschamps, Zlatko Dalic of Croatia, Roberto Martinez of Belgium, and Gareth Southgate of England — plus Russia’s Stanislav Cherchesov.
Pep Guardiola is nominated for leading Manchester City to a runaway English Premier League title win. Guardiola won the 2011 FIFA award when coaching Barcelona.
The other nominees are: Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Juergen Klopp (Liverpool), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Ernesto Valverde (Barcelona).
Later Tuesday, FIFA publishes candidate lists for the men’s and women’s best player awards.
The winners announced in London on Sept. 24 are voted by national coaches and captains, plus media from FIFA’s 211 member countries, and fans voting online.
Four women and six men are on a 10-candidate list to win the FIFA award as the best coach in women’s football.
The nominations include Sarina Wiegman, the 2017 winner who coaches the Netherlands, and Asako Takakura, who coached Japan to the Women’s Asian Cup title.
The male candidates include Reynald Pedros, who led Lyon to a Women’s Champions League and French league double, and Brazil’s Vadao, whose team won the Copa America Femenina.
[relatedlinks]
