Sinclair, Herdman among 2012 FIFA nominees

Canadian captain Christine Sinclair and coach John Herdman have been nominated for a pair of FIFA honours. Sinclair is amongst the 10 finalists for the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year while Herdman is amongst the 10 finalists for FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football.

The two awards will be celebrated at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala on 7 January 2013. Along with the two awards for women’s football, FIFA will also celebrate the FIFA Ballon d’Or, the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football, the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the goal-of-the-year FIFA Puskás Award, the FIFA Presidential Award, and the FIFA Fair Play Award.

In 2012, Sinclair led Canada to a bronze medal at the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. She set a national record with 23 goals in 22 matches, including a tournament-best six goals at the London 2012 tournament. 

As for coach Herdman, he was of course the director of Canada’s memorable third-place finish at the London 2012 Olympics. In 22 matches, he helped Canada post an overall record of 14 wins, one draw and seven losses. He set the national record for most wins in a single year by a Canadian coach (surpassing the previous record of 13).

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FIFA and France Football have today announced the names of the players and coaches on the shortlists for these awards (see below). The final decisions will be made, as usual, by the captains and head coaches of the women’s national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football.

The list of ten female candidates has been drawn up by experts from the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as by experts from France Football. The list of ten coaches has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee, the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as by a group of experts from France Football.

On 29 November 2012, FIFA and France Football will announce at a press conference in São Paulo (Brazil) the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners). The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards will also be announced (the shortlists for best goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders will be unveiled on 19, 22 and 26 November, respectively).

Women’s shortlists for the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala 2012

The following ten women (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2012:
Camille Abily (France), Miho Fukumoto (Japan), Carli Lloyd (USA), Marta (Brazil), Aya Miyama (Japan), Alex Morgan (USA), Megan Rapinoe (USA), Homare Sawa (Japan), Christine Sinclair (Canada), Abby Wambach (USA).

The following ten coaches (in alphabetical order, first nationality and then team) are in contention for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football 2012:
Bruno Bini (France/France national team), John Herdman (England/Canada national team), Patrice Lair (France/Olympique Lyonnais), Maren Meinert (Germany/Germany U-20 national team), Silvia Neid (Germany/Germany national team), Hope Powell (England/England national team), Norio Sasaki (Japan/Japan national team), Pia Sundhage (Sweden/USA national team), Steve Swanson (USA/USA U-20 national team), Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan/Japan U-20/U-17 national teams).