Carli Lloyd shortlisted for FIFA player of the year 2016

Carli Lloyd is on the short list of 10 candidates for FIFA’s best female player of the year in 2016.

Camille Abily (France/Olympique Lyonnais)
Melanie Behringer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
Sara Däbritz (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
Amandine Henry (France/Portland Thorns)
Saki Kumagai (Japan/Olympique Lyonnais)
Carli Lloyd (USA/Houston Dash)
Dzsenifer Marozsán (Germany/1. FFC Frankfurt/Olympique Lyonnais)
Marta (Brazil/FC Rosengård)
Lotta Schelin (Sweden/Olympique Lyonnais/ FC Rosengård)
Christine Sinclair (Canada/Portland Thorns)

She joins USWNT head coach Jill Ellis on the shortlist for FIFA women’s coach of the year.

Lloyd faces some stiff competition from players like Behringer and Kumagai. The women’s award tends to be more a matter of name recognition, especially in a tournament year. Votes come from team captains, head coaches, online public ballot, and media reps from each country. Often in smaller footballing nations, even players and coaches don’t have the time or resources to devote to following the game closely, so votes will go to big events and big names. Rarely is club performance wholly taken into account.

This year Germany won the gold medal at the Olympics while the United States got knocked out by Sweden in penalty kicks. Fair to say that German names on this list will probably get a good chunk of votes. As always, Marta will get votes on the strength of her name recognition, though it was a tough Olympics for her as she was unable to help carry her nation past Sweden in the semifinals.

Lloyd of course was named women’s player of the year in 2015 after her bravura performance in the later stages of the World Cup, and especially the final against Japan. It’s a much tougher field this year despite Lloyd currently having 17 goals and 11 assists in 21 games played for 2016, including her two goals from the Olympics. 10 of those goals did come against teams outside of the top 20 FIFA-ranked nations.

Winners will be announced on January 9, 2017.