FIFA announce Best Men's Player nominee list for 2018

By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun

ANKARA

FIFA have announced the Best Men's Player award nominees for the 2017-2018 season.

Superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi made the cut on the 10-man list.

Filling out the nominees were Kevin De Bruyne, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane, Luka Modric, Mohamed Salah and Raphael Varane, who got the nod for their performances in the period from July 2017 to July 2018.

Kylian Mbappe, 19, was the breakout wunderkind for France, which lifted the World Cup trophy in Russia 2018.

Croatia's Luka Modric was awarded the Golden Ball for the World Cup 2018. He helped his team play the final against France.

Cristiano Ronaldo lifted the Champions League title with Real Madrid for the third year in a row.

Barcelona's Leo Messi had another outstanding season for his La Liga winning team, scoring 34 goals and making 12 assists.

Messi scored six goals in the Champions League. He also played for Argentina in the 2018 World Cup, scoring a goal and dishing out two assists.

Antoine Griezmann and Raphael Varane were also part of France's World Cup victory.

Harry Kane was the recipient of the Golden Boot award in the World Cup by scoring six goals, the most by any player in this year's tournament.

Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne were crucial in Belgium's third-place finish in the World Cup, the country's best-ever achievement.

Mohamed Salah's performance was one of the best last season in both the Champions League and the English Premier League.

He scored 32 goals, sharing the record with Alan Shearer for the most goals scored in a season in the league.

He also scored 11 goals and made five assists in the Champions League last season, helping his team Liverpool play the final against Real Madrid.

FIFA also announced the best coach award nominees for 2018.

Here is the 11-man list:

Massimiliano Allegri, Stanislav Cherchesov, Zlatko Dalic, Didier Deschamps, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Martinez, Diego Simeone, Gareth Southgate, Ernesto Valverde, and Zinedine Zidane.

Public voting opens today on FIFA.com and closes on Aug. 10.

FIFA will announce the final lists of the three nominees for each of the categories – as well as for the FIFA Puskas Award, the FIFA Fan Award, and the Best FIFA Goalkeeper award – at the start of September.

The awards ceremony will be held on Sept. 24 in London.