Six of the nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player are from Manchester City, and their manager, Pep Guardiola, is nominated for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach.

The nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Player include Aitana Bonmati and players from Spain, England, and Australia, reflecting their performances in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

Previous winners of The FIFA Best Women’s Coach award, Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman, are among the nominees in this category.

The Best Women’s Goalkeeper nominees are dominated by players who performed well in Australia and New Zealand during July and August, including Mary Earps and Catalina Coll.

The Best Men’s Goalkeeper category features nominees from five different players representing three continents.

The Best FIFA Men’s Player
Julian Alvarez
Marcelo Brozovic
Kevin De Bruyne
Ilkay Gundogan
Erling Haaland
Rodri
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Kylian Mbappe
Lionel Messi
Victor Osimhen
Declan Rice
Bernardo Silva

The Best FIFA Women’s Player Nominees
Aitana Bonmati
Linda Caicedo
Rachel Daly
Kadidiatou Diani
Caitlin Foord
Mary Fowler
Alex Greenwood
Jennifer Hermoso
Lindsey Horan
Amanda Ilestedt
Lauren James
Sam Kerr
Mapi Leon
Hinata Miyazawa
Salma Paralluelo
Keira Walsh

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach
Peter Gerhardsson
Jonatan Giraldez
Tony Gustavsson
Emma Hayes
Sarina Wiegman

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach
Pep Guardiola
Simone Inzaghi
Ange Postecoglou
Luciano Spalletti
Xavi

The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper
Mackenzie Arnold
Ann-Katrin Berger
Catalina Coll
Mary Earps
Christiane Endler
Zecira Musovic
Sandra Panos Garcia-Villamil

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper
Yassine Bounou
Thibaut Courtois
Ederson
Andre Onana
Marc-Andre ter Stegen

The Best 2022 Winners
The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Lionel Messi
The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Alexia Putellas
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper: Mary Earps
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Lionel Scaloni
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman
The FIFA Puskás Award: Marcin Oleksy
The FIFA Fair Play Award: Luka Lochoshvili
The FIFA Fan Award: Argentina fans

This suspension comes after he returned an adverse sample from a random drug test conducted following Juventus’ Serie A game against Udinese on August 20. During that match, he was an unused substitute.

Pending further investigation, including the testing of a backup “B” sample, Pogba faces a potential suspension of up to four years if found guilty of the anti-doping offense.

The Frenchman’s career has been marked by injuries since his return to Juventus from Manchester United over a year ago.

He missed out on playing in the World Cup final with the French national team due to a knee injury.
Additionally, he played in only six Serie A matches for Juventus in the previous season and has yet to start a game in the current season, making only two substitute appearances.

Pogba has yet to start a game this season but has made two substitute appearances, last playing in the 2-0 win at Empoli.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, led Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar last December, their first triumph since 1986.

PSG forward Kylian Mbappe is also nominated, but Cristiano Ronaldo is not included for first time since 2004 and Neymar is also absent.

Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, who won the UEFA award for the best men’s player, after his 52 goals last season is one eight City players nominated.

He is joined by Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Ilkay Gundogan, who joined Barcelona this summer.

Harry Kane, who joined Bayern Munich from Tottenham Hotspur, is also included after scoring 40 goals for club and country, but there was no place for Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford despite his 30 goals and 11 assists during the 2022/23 season.

Other notable Premier League inclusions are Aston Villa’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard.

Men’s Ballon d’Or: Nominees
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
Erling Haaland (Man City)
Bernardo Silva (Man City)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Rodri (Man City)
Julian Alvarez (Man City)
Ruben Dias (Man City)
Josko Gvardiol (Man City)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Andre Onana (Man United)
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Randal Kolo Muani (PSG)
Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich)
Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad)
Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona)
Victor Osimhen (Napoli)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli)
Nicola Barella (Inter Milan)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal)

Women’s Ballon d’Or: Nominees
Mary Earps (Man United)
Millie Bright(Chelsea)
Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)
Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich)
Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
Guro Reiten (Chelsea)
Katie Mccabe (Arsenal)
Khadija Shaw (Man City)
Jill Roord (Man City)
Yui Hasegawa (Man City)
Hayley Raso (Real Madrid)
Amanda Ilestedt (Arsenal)
Hinata Miyazawa (Man United)
Daphne Van Domselaar (Aston Villa)
Mapi Leon (Barcelona)
Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona)
Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona)
Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona)
Olga Ramona (Real Madrid)
Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid)
Alba Redondo (Levante)
Wendie Renard (Lyon)
Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)
Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg)
Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
Debinha (Kansas City)
Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)

The 35-year-old helped his country win the second FIFA World Cup beating France in the Final.

FC Barcelona and Spanish international Alexia Putellas, won the The Best Women’s Player for a second consecutive time.

Emiliano Martinez and Mary Earps won the Best FIFA Goalkeeper for men and women’s category. Martinez was part of Argentina’s FIFA World Cup winning squad.

Lionel Scaloni and Sarina Wiegman won the Best FIFA Coach of the Year for men and women’s categories.

FIFA Fifpro Women’s Best XI
Christiane Endler (Chile and Olympique Lyonnais)
Lucy Bronze (England and Manchester City/Barcelona)
Mapi Leon (Spain and Barcelona)
Wendie Renard (France and Olympique Lyonnais)
Leah Williamson (England and Arsenal)
Lena Oberdorf (Germany and Wolfsburg)
Alexia Putellas (Spain and Barcelona)
Keira Walsh (England and Manchester City/Barcelona)
Sam Kerr (Australia and Chelsea)
Beth Mead (England and Arsenal)
Alex Morgan (USA and Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave)

FIFA Fifpro Men’s Best XI
Thibaut Courtois (Belgium and Manchester City)
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and PSG)
Virgil Van Dijk (Netherlands and Liverpool)
Joao Cancelo (Portugal and Manchester City/Bayern Munich)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium and Manchester City)
Casemiro (Brazil and Real Madrid/Manchester United)
Luka Modric (Croatia and Real Madrid)
Karim Benzema (France and Real Madrid)
Erling Haaland (Norway and Manchester City)
Kylian Mbappe (France and PSG)

By Zola Doda

Gomes, who retired after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, will take over from SAFA vice-president Natasha Tsichlas.

According to the mother body of South African football, the 40-year-old’s appointment “is in line with world football governing body FIFA’s requirement that the chair of the Referees Committee must be a former elite referee”.

“I want to thank SAFA and especially the President (Dr Danny Jordaan) for the trust entrusted on me with this appointment,’’ said Gomes.

“I will put same commitment in this job with the same professionalism I showed during my days as the referee,’’ he added saying implementing VAR was one of the several priorities which he wanted to get down to.

During his illustrious career, Gomes was in charge of the 2022 AFCON final between Senegal and Egypt in Cameroon as well the CAF Champions League final between Al Ahly and Wydad AC.

The 69-year-old coach has been appointed to take charge of the 2022 World Cup hosts until the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The Mozambique-born was in charge of Iran at the 2022 World Cup and left his job after failing to lead the team to the knockout stages.

“As I embark on a new journey, there are many memories I will hold on to with great joy,” said Queiroz after leaving his job as Iran coach.

“I’d like to share my gratitude to my great players in Team Melli. To all my loyal Iranian staff, to the Football Federation and everyone who supported me and the “Team Melli Legacy.

Thank you to all the fans for all the years of support and inspiration.”

Queiroz took over as the Iran coach ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, bringing Roger de Sa as his assistant.

But with their contracts having expired after the World Cup, local fans have been wondering when will a new head coach be appointed.

The Iran FA has been mum about selecting the new coach, and Argentine coach Hector Cuper is a favorite candidate according to media reports.

“The Iran football federation faces financial crisis,” former national team player and coach, Ebrahim Ghasempour told Tehran Times.

“I think the financial crisis has led the Iran FA officials to make a weird decision about the national team. They select coaches who have failed in other teams,” he added.

Cuper is a former Valencia, Inter Milan and Democratic Republic Congo coach.

“Before the 2022 World Cup, the federation did the same about hiring Queiroz. He was a complete failure in Egypt and Colombia.

He was sacked from both teams, but our football federation suddenly fired the former head coach and gave him the chance to lead Iran in another World Cup,” he added.

“Now they are repeating their mistakes by thinking about coaches who are not expensive and are without a team right now, no matter how they performed in their recent teams.

“When you do not have enough money to hire big and well-known coaches, you should trust in hiring the skilled domestic coaches instead of unsuccessful foreign ones,” he concluded.

Koeman was previously appointed manager of the Netherlands national team on February 2018 but stepped down in August 2020 to take over the coaching reigns at Barcelona.

“In principle, we are going back to the system we played before,” said the former defender during a press conference.

“I also change the system sometimes, but we are going to form the basic system with four defenders. In the end, it’s all about the implementation of the system.

I also played with five players at the back at Barcelona, with three central defenders, and that went very well. Everything revolves around: put high pressure or let yourself sink. That makes a system offensive or not.”

He praised the achievement of his predecessor to take this side on an unbeaten run that was only ended by World Cup winners Argentina in the quarter-finals of the tournament.”

His first match will be 2024 Euro qualifier against France.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino was present for the draw and addressed delegates before proceedings got under way.

He thanked Morocco – hosts of the tournament for a third time – and stoked excitement as the countdown continues to discover which side will become champions of the world.

“Congratulations and thank you to Morocco for hosting the champions of all the continents for what will be a very important edition of the FIFA Club World Cup in February,” the FIFA president said.

“When the champions of all the continents meet to crown the champion of the planet, the champion of the world, this is a special occasion, and this will take place in a very special country, in a great football environment,” Infantino added.

“We’re looking very much forward to [coming] to Rabat and to Tangier, to visit an entire country, and to cheer for the champions of all the continents and see who finally will be crowned champion of the world.”

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP FIXTURES
First round 1 February 2023
Al Ahly v/s Auckland City (At Stade Ibn Batouta, Tangier)

Second Round 4 February 2023
Wydad Casablanca v/s Al-Hilal (At Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat)

4 February 2023
Seattle Sounders FC v/s Winner Match 1 (At Stade Ibn Batouta, Tangier)

Semi-finals 7 February 2023
Flamengo v/s Winner Match (At Stade Ibn Batouta, Tangier)

8 February 2023
Winner Match 2 v/s Real Madrid (At Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat)

Third Place PlayOff 11 February 2023
Loser Match 5 v/s Loser Match 4 (At Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat)

Final 11 February 2023
Winner Match 5 v/s Winner Match 4 (At Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat)

Mokwena and the Sundowns technical team spent five days in Qatar, where they watched the opening 17 matches of the tournament.

“I’m not surprised that Senegal are through to the knockout stages they were good against Holland. That was the best game,” the coach says.

“They won convincingly against Ecuador, but I felt their performance against Holland was superb, and credit must go to coach Aliou Cisse, even though they are without Sadio Mane.

It’s going to be difficult in the knockout stages against England though. Spain and France are some of the best teams as well. Netherlands have played well and they are organized, you can see they are experienced.

There were interesting results when Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 and Japan win over Germany. This tells you that in football, the gap between the major football nations and minor football nations is not big.”