How Sam Kerr finished in the FIFA Best voting and who Arnold, Ryan and other Aussies voted for

The FIFA Best Awards took place in Zurich on Friday morning (AEDT) and there were plenty of Aussies involved.

Graham Arnold, Sam Kerr and Mathew Ryan

(left-to-right) Graham Arnold, Sam Kerr and Mathew Ryan Source: AAP

Sam Kerr finishes 7th

Chelsea and Matildas striker Sam Kerr finished 7th this year in the voting for the Best FIFA Women's Player, the highest Non-European player. 

England's Lucy Bronze took out the award, ahead of Denmark's Pernille Harder and France's Wendie Renard. 

However, the captains of Barbados, Bhutan, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Laos, Lesotho, Macau, Nepal, Palestine, Peru, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Tajikistan and Zambia all voted for Kerr in first place. 

As did the coaches of Anguilla, Bermuda, Chile, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guam, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Soloman Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Vietnam. 

SBS The World Game contributor Samantha Lewis was given the honour of Australia's media vote and went for  Kerr in first place, Harder in second and Vivianne Miedema in third. 

Meanwhile, Sam Kerr herself voted as Australia's captain and chose Chelsea teammates Harder and Ji So-yun in first and second respectively, while she also voted Arsenal's Miedema in third. 

Matildas assistant coach Melissa Andreatta voted for Renard first, Barcelona's Caroline Graham Hansen and Kerr in third.

How the Aussie men voted

While there were no Australians on the men's side of the awards, there were Australian voters. 

Socceroos captain Mat Ryan voted for Robert Lewandowski first, Kevin De Bruyne second and Virgil van Dijk third when it came to best player. 

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold voted for van Dijk first, Lewandowski second and Cristiano Ronaldo third. 

Representing the Australian media was commentator Simon Hill who voted for Lewandowski first, Kylian Mbappe second and Mohamed Salah third. 

Arnold was clearly a fan of Liverpool's 2020 campaign as along with voting for van Dijk as the best player he voted for Jurgen Klopp as the best coach and Alisson Becker as the best goalkeeper.

Interesting votes

With rumours circulating that Lionel Messi will reunite with former teammate Neymar next year, it was interesting to see the Argentina captain vote for Neymar first for best player in the world and fellow PSG player Kylian Mbappe second with Robert Lewandowski third.

Messi also voted for PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas as the best goalkeeper in the world.  

Messi was on the wrong end of an 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in 2020, so it probably makes sense that he was impressed with Bayern's coach Hans-Dieter Flick who he voted as best coach, ahead of his fellow Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa in second and Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui in third. 

Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk was happy to vote for his Liverpool teammates, choosing a 1,2,3 of Sadio Mane, Salah and Thiago Alcantara. 

Poland captain, Robert Lewandwoski, who won the award for best Men's player, voted for former Bayern Munich teammate Thiago, Neymar second and De Bruyne third. 

Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo voted Lewandowski first, Messi second and Mbappe third. 

Croatia captain, Luka Modric, might have an awkward conversation at training when he voted for Flick as best coach in the world ahead of his actual coach at Real Madrid Zinedine Zidane. Modric also chose to put his club teammate Thibaut Courtois as third best goalkeeper, with Manuel Neuer and Alisson Becker ahead of the Belgium. 

Spain captain, Sergio Ramos voted for Courtois first, ahead of former teammate Navas and Neuer third. 


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3 min read
Published 18 December 2020 4:11pm
Source: SBS The World Game


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