Former Super Eagles captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha is part of an
11-man panel that selected
the nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player
2017 award.
The panel, which includes Argentina legend Diego Maradona and
Brazil’s Cafu, has compiled a 23-man shortlist for the award, according
to a statement on Fifa website.
The shortlist will now be made public on Thursday, August 17 by Fifa.
From the final shortlist, key members of the footballing community –
journalists, fans, national team coaches and captains – will vote for
the winner, with the final three nominees to be announced at a later
date.
Nominees in other categories that will also be decided on Thursday
are Best FIFA Women’s Coach, Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Best FIFA Women’s
Player.
The 11-man panel to select The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017 award
shortlist includes: Cafú (Brazil), Landon Donovan (USA), Enzo
Francescoli (Uruguay), Alex Frei (Switzerland), Hidetoshi Nakata
(Japan), Diego Maradona (Argentina), Austin Okocha (Nigeria), Carles
Puyol (Spain), Carlos Valderrama (Colombia), Edwin van der Sar
(Netherlands) and Ivan Vicelich (New Zealand).
The ceremony where the winners of the awards will be crowned, which
will be the second edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™, will take
place in London on Monday, October 23, 2017.
It would be recalled that Portuguese forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, was
named the Best FIFA Men’s Player in the maiden edition of the awards
last year in Zurich.
