FIFA’s Best Men’s Player Award 2018: Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Others on 10 Man Shortlist

• Posted on July 24, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah are both in contention to win the Best FIFA Men’s Player award for 2018.

The England captain and Liverpool star were named by the world football’s governing body on a 10-man shortlist announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Similarly vying for the honor are World Cup winners Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane as well as tournament Golden Ball recipient Luka Modric.

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has also been nominated alongside Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and usual suspects Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

However, there was no room for Neymar, despite the Brazilian starring with 28 goals during his maiden campaign at Paris Saint-Germain.

He was unable to lead his country past the World Cup quarter-finals as Brazil were beaten by Belgium.

The Best FIFA Men’s Player award, which has been running in its current format since 2016, covers the period from July 3 2017 to July 15 2018. Ronaldo has taken the top spot in consecutive years.

Kane’s nomination comes after he topped the 40-goal mark with Tottenham across all competitions last term before captaining England to their first World Cup semi-final for 28 years in Russia and sealing the Golden Ball.

Salah, meanwhile, netted on 44 occasions for Liverpool in his first season back in English football following a move from AS Roma and scooped a plethora of individual awards including PFA Player of the Year.

Griezmann and Mbappe notched four times apiece after fine domestic years as France claimed their second world title in Russia. 

Varane was also an instrumental part of that side in addition to the Real Madrid team that won the Champions League for the third season in succession in Kiev.

Luka Modric played a pivotal role in that latter triumph before inspiring Croatia to their first-ever World Cup final appearance.

While Zlatko Dalic’s side were ultimately defeated 4-2 in Moscow, their captain was still voted as the best player of the tournament.

That aforementioned European triumph proved to be the last contribution of a record-breaking nine-year Madrid stint for Ronaldo, who has since joined Juventus in a £100million transfer.

He also scored 44 goals in his final campaign at Real, while great rival Lionel Messi hit one more as dominant Barcelona sealed a domestic double. Both players exited what could be their final World Cup at the last-16 stage.

Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne reached the last four with Belgium and ensured the Red Devils pipped England to third place.

NOMINEES FOR BEST FIFA MEN’S PLAYER AWARD 2018

Source: DailyMail