African stars Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have been shortlisted for the FIFA 2020 The Best Awards, ACLSports can confirm.
The Liverpool duo were amongst the list of 11 players nominated for The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the year which was revealed by the world football governing body FIFA on Wednesday morning ahead of the FIFA Football Awards.
Egypt’s Salah and his club teammate from Senegal, Mane played key roles to help the Reds end their over three decades wait for the Premier League title earlier this year.
28-year-old Salah was Liverpool’s top scorer last season with 19 goals, while Mane was a close second with 18.
Meanwhile, other names on the list include former winners and fierce rivals, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who won the Award in 2019, Bayern Munich’s goal machine, Roberto Lewandowski, and Paris Saint Germain duo, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
In a related development, South African, Hlompho Kekana has been nominated for the Puskas Award for his stunning goal for Mamelodi Sundowns against Cape Town City FC during a South African Premier Soccer League on 20 August 2019.
In the Women’s category, it is dominated by Olympique Lyonnais, who are represented by as many as 5 players led by France star, Wendie Renard.
Others include Lucy Bronze, Delphine Cascarino, Saki Kumagai, and Dzsenifer Marozsan from Germany.
Public voting is open on FIFA.com and will run until 9 December 2020 before FIFA will announce the three finalists in each of the seven categories on 11 December.
The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony will be held on 17 December 2020.
Full List of The Best FIFA Men’s Player Nominees
Thiago Alcântara (Spain / FC Bayern München / Liverpool FC)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal / Juventus FC)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium / Manchester City FC)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland / FC Bayern München)
Sadio Mané (Senegal / Liverpool FC)
Kylian Mbappé (France / Paris Saint-Germain)
Lionel Messi (Argentina / FC Barcelona)
Neymar (Brazil / Paris Saint-Germain)
Sergio Ramos (Spain / Real Madrid CF)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt / Liverpool FC )
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands / Liverpool FC)
