Canada captain Christine Sinclair misses out on final list of FIFA award nominees

Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso and Alexia Putellas and Australia’s Sam Kerr are the final three nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Player, with Canada captain Christine Sinclair left off the list.

Sinclair, the world’s all-time leading goal-scorer who captained Canada to Olympic gold in Tokyo last summer, was one of 13 original nominees for the award.

But like Canada coach Bev Priestman, one of five nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach, she did not make the final cut.

The final three nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player are Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Argentina’s Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain) and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (Liverpool).

Hermoso and Putellas play for Barcelona, which beat Kerr’s Chelsea in the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The winners will be announced Jan. 17 in Zurich. Canada’s Stephanie Labbe is one of three finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper.

The awards are voted on by an international jury made up of the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams, the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams, one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2022.