Three EPL managers nominated for Fifa award
Three English Premier League managers have been nominated for the Best Fifa Coach of the Year award.
Liverpool's Juergen Klopp, Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspur will be competing with seven others for the gong, which will be announced at The Best ceremony in Milan next month.
Joining the trio on the list are Didier Deschamps, Tite, Fernando Santos, Djamel Belmadi, Marcelo Gallardo, Ricardo Gareca and Erik ten Hag.
Klopp, 52, is among the favourites for the award after guiding Liverpool to Champions League glory last season. The Reds were also in contention for the EPL title going into the final matchday, but missed out on their first title since 1990 to Guardiola's City by a mere point.
The rivalry shared by both sides continues to spill over to the race for the award as Guardiola, 48, led City to not only the English league title, but also the League Cup and the FA Cup - completing an unprecedented domestic treble.
Spurs slipped up in their challenge for the EPL title towards the latter part of the season but, despite a host of challenges, Pochettino took his side to their first Champions League final.
The 47-year-old Argentine started the season with no new signings and, as a club, had to deal with many delays to moving to their new home stadium.
Pochettino had to also contend with the added distractions of rumours linking him to Manchester United job following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.
Ajax Amsterdam coach Ten Hag, whose side lost to Tottenham in the Champions League semi-finals, won the domestic double playing brilliant football.
Gallardo completes the line-up of club coaches, with his River Plate side winning the Copa Libertadores - the Champions League equivalent in South America.
On the international front, France's Deschamps (maintaining the World Cup winners' dominance), Brazil's Tite (Copa America winners), Portugal's Santos (Nations League winners), Algeria's Belmadi (African Nations Cup winners) make up the rest of the best, along with Gareca for leading an unfancied Peru side to the Copa America final.
BEST FIFA MEN'S PLAYER NOMINEES:
Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk (all Liverpool), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Frenkie de Jong (joined Barca from Ajax Amsterdam), Matthijs de Ligt (joined Juve from Ajax), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Eden Hazard (joined Real Madrid from Chelsea), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
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