FIFA have unveiled nominees’ for the 2024 Best Men’s Coach of the Year Award, MySportDab reports.
Leading the five-man shortlist for the coveted football award is Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, including the La Liga title.
He also clinched the UEFA Super Cup and was voted as the winner of the 2024 Ballon d’Or award for the best coach of the year.
The Italian and European football veteran, who boycotted the Ballon d’Or award due to Real Madrid’s protest of Vinicius Jr’s snub in the Best Men’s Player category, will hope to the add the FIFA laurel to his shelf.
However, he is set to face a stiff opposition from other nominees like Manchester City manager Pepe Guardiola. Guardiola won the Premier League title with Manchester City and finished in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Another strong contender for the award is Spain’s national team head coach Luis de La Fuente, who led La Rojas to 2024 Euro triumph in Germany.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has also made the five-man list. Arguably, Scaloni has emerged as one of the best managers lately from South America.
He led Argentina to the 2021 Copa America triumph and capped a brilliant managerial spell with the Albiceleste with 2022 World Cup triumph.
Recently, he led the world champions to a second consecutive Copa America triumph, winning the coveted South American footballing showpiece in America in 2024.
The last but not the least in the list is Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso. Alonso led Bayer Leverkusen to historic Bundesliga title win with an unbeaten record.
He also won the DFB-Pokal and reached the Europa League final where they suffered their first defeat throughout in the campaign to winners Atalanta.