Zidane, Guardiola battle W’Cup winner Deschamps for FIFA Best coach award

Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola and a host of others will battle 2018 FIFA World Cup winner Didier Deschamps for this year’s FIFA Best coach award.

According to a statement by FIFA, the coaches have been nominated based on their performance for the period between 3rd July 2017 to 15 July 2018.

Zidane led Real Madrid to a third consecutive UEFA Champions League title last season while Guardiola led Manchester City through a record-breaking season in the Premier League, and winning the title.

Deschamps took the France national team all the way to lifting the title at the just-concluded FIFA World Cup in Russia, and became only the third person in history to have won the title both as player and 

Other coaches also contending for the award are Massimiliano Allegri, Zlatko Dalic, Roberto Martinez, Diego Simeone, Gareth Southgate and Ernesto Valverde.

Dalic helped Croatia reach their first-ever final of the World Cup in their fifth appearance in Russia; and Southgate took a young Three Lions team of England to the last four of the competition.

Valverde was nominated for his exploits with Barcelona, Simeone’s Atletico Madrid clinched the Europa League, Allegri helped Juventus clinch their 7th consecutive Serie A title last season, while Martinez led Belgium to secure a third place finish at the mundial.

Voting for the award closes at midnight on 10 August; FIFA will announce the final list of three nominees in early September while the awards ceremony takes place in London on 24 September.

FULL SHORTLIST: Massimiliano Allegri (Italy/Juventus FC); Stanislav Cherchesov (Russia/Russian national team); Zlatko Dalić (Croatia/Croatian national team); Didier Deschamps (France/France national team); Pep Guardiola (Spain/Manchester City FC); Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Liverpool FC); Roberto Martínez (Spain/Belgian national team); Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atlético Madrid); Gareth Southgate (England/English national team); Ernesto Valverde (Spain/FC Barcelona); Zinédine Zidane (France/Real Madrid CF).

Also, the nominees for the Best FIFA Women’s Coach for 2018 include Emma Hayes, Stephan Lerch, Mark Parsons, Reynald Pedros, Alen Stajcic, Asaka Takakura, Vadao, Jorge Vilda, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and Sarina Wiegman.