PARIS, July 24 -- The decade-long dominance of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi was set to face tough challenges from other contenders like French sensational teenager Kylian Mbappe and Croatia's key figure Luka Modric as 10 nominees for the Best FIFA Men's Player were unveiled on Tuesday.
Ronaldo and Messi combined to win all Best Player awards in the past decade since 2008, either when it was named FIFA Ballon d'Or due to merger of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d'Or, or the Best FIFA Men's Player after 2016.
As the list was selected by a panel of FIFA Legends for their achievements during the period July 3, 2017 to July 15, 2018 inclusive, however, the duo seemed to lose something significant for their national team's under-par performance at the FIFA World Cup, the biggest tournament of the year, as both exit from the round of 16 in Russia.
World Cup was obviously a stage to prove themselves for Mbappe and Modric, with the former winning the FIFA Young Player Award and the latter bagging the Golden Ball Award of the tournament.
World champion France also has Antoine Griezmann and Raphael Varane in the list. Other contenders included World Cup Golden Boot Award winner Harry Kane, Belgian midfield duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard, and Egypt's forward Mohamed Salah, who finished a glittering season with Premier League side Liverpool.
France's coach Didier Deschamps and his fellow Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who steered Real Madrid to its third straight UEFA Champions League title last season, were nominated for the Best FIFA Men's Coach.
Apart from Deschamps, head coaches of other World Cup semi-finalists, Zlatko Dalic (Croatia), Roberto Martinez (Belgium) and Gareth Southgate (England), were also among the 11 nominees. The other national team's coach was Russia's Stanislav Cherchesov after the World Cup hosts reached the quarter-finals.
Other five candidates for the award were Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Juergen Klopp (Liverpool), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid) and Ernesto Valverde (Barcelona).
Nominees for Best FIFA Women's Coach and Player were also announced on Tuesday.
Winners of the four categories will be chosen by a process involving stakeholders from across the world of football, including players, coaches, fans and media, with public voting to close on August 10.
FIFA will announce the final lists of the three nominees for each of the four 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 winner will be announced at the Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in London on September 24.
《射雕英雄传》终于有英译版了!最难译的不是“九阴白骨爪”
火腿告急!西班牙火腿成中国餐桌新宠
古巴纪念菲德尔·卡斯特罗去世一周年
火腿告急!西班牙火腿成中国餐桌新宠
老外在中国:人生百态之善与恶
国内英语资讯:Chinese premier calls for advancing China-CEEC 16+1 cooperation
遇到颜值高、气质好的人如何用英语表达赞美?
体坛英语资讯:Vasco keep alive Libertadores qualifying hopes
国内英语资讯:China establishes research center for Dunhuang studies
国内英语资讯:China trains cultural workers from poor areas for rural vitalization
名人的时间能像股票一样交易?时间交易平台合规性存疑
体坛英语资讯:Barshim and Thiam become IAAF Athletes of the Year, Bolt honored Presidents Award
想穿最新的袜口运动鞋,你得学会这3点时尚窍门
名人的时间能像股票一样交易?时间交易平台合规性存疑
体坛英语资讯:Pouilles decisive win hands France 10th Davis Cup
国内英语资讯:Economic Watch: China treads carefully to tame financial cycles
国际英语资讯:World leaders, officials denounce Egypts deadliest attack at Sinai mosque
体坛英语资讯:Four things we learned from Spains matchday 13
国际英语资讯:Britains Prince Harry engages with American actress Meghan Markle
Go overboard?
国际英语资讯:Russian military denies killing civilians in E. Syria
The Shinning Stars 闪亮的星星
国内英语资讯:China, Serbia agree to cement parliamentary exchanges
体坛英语资讯:BATE Borisov wins Belarus football championship
乔治小王子太吵了!凯特和威廉都忍不住抱怨了!
国际英语资讯:Number of Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh reaches 624,000: UN
乘机出行Q&A:如何能更快取到行李?降落时为何打开遮光板?
国内英语资讯:Chinese premier says Beijing ready to step up win-win cooperation with Warsaw
国内英语资讯:All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce congress closes
你终于可以吃到“蒂凡尼的早餐”啦!