Best FIFA Men's Coach: Why Man City's Pep Guardiola should win


REUTERS/John Gress

As FIFA and France Football have split, there are positives and negatives to be taken. 

On the one hand, it's a more logical choice to judge players and coaches based on a full season - and summer tournament, if there is one - rather than the clunky calendar year of the Balon d'Or, which awkwardly assesses the final months of one season and the first few months of the next. 

There's an argument this is too Euro-centric, but it's been decades since top talent stayed in South America, so it should be that way.

On the other hand, it gives us the impossibly naff branding of "The Best" and an even glitzier ceremony that reflects the modern game, namely the narcissism of footballers chasing individual awards in a collective sport.

As has been the case since FIFA's awards merged with France Football - and since split - the award for best coach takes place alongside.

Who's nominated and what does it tell us?

So here we are, anyway. The nominated coaches: Massimiliano Allegri, Stanislav Cherchesov, Zlatko Dalic, Didier Deschamps, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Martinez, Diego Simeone, Gareth Southgate, Ernesto Valverde and Zinedine Zidane. 

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