Canadian coach Bev Priestman gestures to her players during a friendly soccer international between Canada and Australia in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. For the second year in a row Priestman has missed out on making the cut for the three finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Rick Rycroft
Canada coach Bev Priestman has missed out on making the cut for the three finalists for the Best FIFA Women’s Coach award for the second year in a row.
On Thursday, FIFA announced the final three as Sonia Bompastor (Olympique Lyonnais), Pia Sundhage (Brazil) and Sarina Wiegman (England),
Priestman had been one of the six nominees. Emma Hayes (Chelsea) and Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (Germany) also failed to make the final cut.
Under Priestman, the sixth-ranked Canadian women went 11-3-3 in 2022 with wins over No. 2 Germany, No. 9 Brazil and No. 12 Australia. Canada also tied No. 4 England on the road.
Hayes won the 2021 FIFA award with Priestman finishing fourth, just failing to make the list of finalists despite leading Canada to Olympic gold.
The final three nominees for Best FIFA Men’s Coach are Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Lionel Scaloni (Argentina). Nominees failing to make the final cut were Didier Deschamps (France) and Walid Regragui (Morocco).
The two awards are given to the outstanding coaches in women’s and men’s soccer as voted on by an international jury comprising the current coaches and captains of all women’s/men’s national teams pus one specialist journalist from each country.
Finalists for Best FIFA Women’s Player, Men’s Player and FIFA Puskas Award, which celebrates the year’s most spectacular goal, will be announced Friday.
Chelsea midfielder Jessie Fleming, named Canada’s player of the year in December, is one of 14 nominees for Best Women’s Player.
The award winners will be revealed Feb. 27 in Paris.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2023.
