Klopp, Van Dijk, and Alisson Finalists for FIFA Best of the Year Award

Photo by Pascal Della Zuana/Icon Sport via Getty Images

Liverpool place one of three finalists for FIFA’s manager, player, and goalkeeper of the year awards.

Fresh off their triumphs at the UEFA awards, where Virgil van Dijk was named Europe’s best player for last season and Alisson was named the Champion League’s best goalkeeper for last season, Liverpool’s stars are again up for top honours—this time from FIFA.

And they’re joined by Jürgen Klopp, who made the cut as one of three finalists as FIFA’s The Best Manager of the Year. It’s hardly a surprise that Klopp makes the cut—and it’s as part of a Premier League sweep, as he’s joined by Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino.

The three finalists were chosen from an initial ten-man list that included five club managers and five national team coaches, including the likes of Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, River Plate’s Marcelo Gallardo, Brazil national team manager Tite, and Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi.

Alisson, meanwhile, is one of three finalists for FIFA’s The Best Goalkeeper of the Year along with fellow Brazilian Ederson and Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Ederson wasn’t a finalist for UEFA’s positional award, which was based on Champions League performance.

As for Van Dijk, as with UEFA’s overall Player of the Year award—which, as here with FIFA’s The Best Player of the Year award, did take both domestic competition and international football into account—he is joined by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The ten-man short-list for the FIFA award included two other Liverpool players, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah along with ex-Ajax stars Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Light, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, and ex-Chelsea star Eden Hazard.

The manager and player awards will be decided by the votes of national team captains, managers, fans, and media; the goalkeeper prize by a FIFA committee comprised of former goalkeepers. The awards will be handed out in Milan on September 23.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com