Following FIFA’s well documented split from France Football for the Ballon d’Or Award, FIFA has decided on a rebranding of their yearly award renaming them BEST coach/player of the year.

Here is the shortlist for the BEST women’s coach 2016; the candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

  • Philippe Bergeroo (France/French national team)
  • Jill Ellis (USA/US national team)
  • John Herdman (England/Canadian national team)
  • Silvia Neid (Germany/German national team)
  • Vera Pauw (Netherlands/South African national team)
  • Gérard Prêcheur (France/Olympique Lyonnais)
  • Pia Sundhage (Sweden/Swedish national team)
  • Oswaldo Vadão (Brazil/Brazilian national team)
  • Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (Germany/Swiss national team)
  • Thomas Wörle (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)

On social media, fans and journos were quick to point out some curious choices.

https://twitter.com/AnnOdong/status/793439957616431104

https://twitter.com/AnnOdong/status/793440290518409216

One of the new surprises in the election process is fan voting has been introduced and will count for 25% of the final vote.

The winner of The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016 will be determined through a combined voting process, in which 50% of the decision will be based on the choices of all captains and head coaches of women’s national teams around the globe. The other 50% will be defined by the result of an online public ballot with football fans and the submissions from a selected group of over 200 media representatives from the six continents.

Fan voting is always a tough one as fans tend to vote for their favourite player or coach rather than the one who deserves to win.

Logically, Silvia Neid should be the favourite as she has won the Rio Olympics with Germany.