The Best Fifa Awards 2023 Final Shortlist For Coaches Of The Year

The world football governing body, FIFA, has released the final shortlist for the 2023 Best Fifa Coach of the Year award, and Argentina’s head coach, Lionel Scaloni who won the last edition wasn’t shortlisted.

Recall that Lionel Scaloni won the Best Fifa coach of the year in 2022 after leading Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup but didn’t do anything special this year to make the final shortlist for this year’s edition of the award.

Pep Guardiola who led Manchester City to win the historic treble – Premier League, FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League is the favourite to win the 2023 Best Fifa Coach of the Year award.

None of the other two coaches nominated for the category of the award achieved as much as Guardiola did in the year under review.

For instance, the two special things Simone Inzaghi did in the year under review were helping Inter Milan to win the Coppa Italia and reach the Champions League final which they lost 1-0 to Guardiola’s City.

The third coach on the shortlist, Luciano Spalletti who is currently the head coach of Italy, helped Napoli to win the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years and took them to the quarter-final stage of the Champions League for the first time in the history of the club.

For the women’s category, Emma Hayes, who will leave Chelsea to take over the United States women’s national team at the end of the season, has been shortlisted for the award.

She won the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s FA Cup last season.

Hayes’ major rival for the award is Jonatan Giraldez of the FC Barcelona women’s team. He led the Barca women to win the Primera División, UEFA Women’s Champions League, and Supercopa de España. Hence, he stands the biggest chance of winning the award among the three names in the shortlist.

Interestingly, the 2023 Women’s World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda didn’t make the cut probably because of the kissing scandal he has been embroidered in.

Best Women’s Coach shortlist

Jonatan Giraldez (Barcelona)

Emma Hayes (Chelsea)

Sarina Wiegman (England)

Best Men’s Coach shortlist

Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)

Simone Inzaghi (Inter Milan)

Luciano Spalletti (Napoli)