Champions League-winning Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp and Jill Ellis, who led the United States to a second straight women's World Cup title, were among the nominees yesterday for FIFA's Best Coach of the Year award.
Klopp faces competition from two other Premier League coaches. Manchester City's Pep Guardiola won the title by a point from Liverpool last term while Tottenham Hotspur's Mauricio Pochettino lost to Klopp in the Champions League final. Other contenders include Brazil's Copa America-winning coach Tite, Ricardo Gareca of runners-up Peru, Djamel Belmadi of African Nations Cup champions Algeria and Marcelo Gallardo, whose River Plate side won the Copa Libertadores.
Ajax's Erik ten Hag, France's Didier Deschamps and Fernando Santos of Nations League winners Portugal complete the list of nominees for the men's prize. The favorite for best coach of a women's team would appear to be Ellis, who announced on Tuesday she would leave her job in October having become the first coach to win two women's World Cups last month.
