Fifa announces list for 2016 coach of the year accolade
Four English Premier League coaches and three managers from Spain's La Liga clubs are among the 10 names unveiled on Wednesday for the 2016 Fifa coach of the year award.
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Claudio Ranieri, who inspired Leicester City’s fairy tale run to the Premier League trophy and Mauriccio Pochettino – leader of Tottenham Hotspur’s ultimately futile chase - are among the England based candidates as well as Jurgen Klopp who has been instigating Liverpool’s revival since taking over from Brendan Rodgers in October 2015.
Pep Guardiola - lately of the parish of Manchester City - is also on the list for his work with Bayern Munich who won three successive Bundesliga titles while he was at the helm in Germany.
Zinedine Zidane - who oversaw Real Madrid's advance to a second Uefa Champions League trophy in three years - is among the reckoning along with La Liga rivals Luis Enrique of the champions Barcelona and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone.
Fernando Santos is likely to be among the favourites for the bauble after steering Portugal to their first international title at the 2016 European championships. Didier Deschamps, the boss of Euro 2016 finalists France, is also cited along with Chris Coleman who guided Wales to the semi-final in their first major international tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
The winner will be decided in a combined vote relying on the choices of captains and head coaches of national teams as well as an online public ballot and a selected panel of journalists.
The prize will be handed out at the Fifa Football Awards show on 9 January 2017.
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