CLAUDIO RANIERI has had a remarkable time in charge of Leicester City and now he may be rewarded for the astonishing achievement of turning the Foxes in to champions.
However the Italian will have to beat Real Madrid‘s Zinedine Zidane and Euro 2016 winning coach, Portugal gaffer Fernando Santos.
The shortlist for Fifa‘s coach of the year was announced earlier today for ‘The Best Fifa Football Awards’ which is a new ceremony after the world’s football governing body split from the Ballon d’Or.
Ranieri won Leicester the Premier League title in what was seen as a remarkable achievement, his side were the best in the most competitive division in the world over 38 games.
Santos won Portugal their first piece of silverware in Paris after they beat France to win Euro 2016 another fantastic accomplishment although this was a tournament rather than an entire season compared to Leicester who were ranked at 5000/1 outsiders.
Not to mention the fact that Portugal did in fact finish third in their Group but qualified for the last 16 under the European Championships expansion from 16 to 24 teams.
Real Madrid won the Champions League on penalties against their rivals Atletico Madrid to win their 11th European Cup/Champions League crown.
Related articles
Seeing as this is the second time in two seasons against the same opponent that Real Madrid have won the competition, as fantastic as it is, it really does open the door for Ranieri to win the award.
The fact that Leicester overcame such hurdles to win the Premier League is a football miracle that is often dreamt of, rarely does it become a reality.
The other two candidates do have a strong argument as to why it should be them that win the prize but against such odds its difficult to see past Ranieri topping off a remarkable year.
The ceremony will take place on January 9, by this time Ranieri will hope his Leicester side can take their Champions League from back to the Premier League as their defence of the title has been woeful.
The champions though have really taken their chance in Europe's elite competition after reaching the last 16 as group winners meaning they have a realistic chance of reaching the quarter final with a favourable draw.
Leave a comment