Putellas and Mead lead race for The Best FIFA Women’s Player award as nominees are revealed

Nominees for The Best FIFA Football Awards have been revealed, with Alexia Putellas and Beth Mead among those in contention to be named The Best FIFA Women’s Player.

Two of Mead's England team-mates, Leah Williamson and Keira Walsh, join her on the 14-player shortlist after helping the Lionesses to win Euro 2022, with Walsh one of three nominees from Barcelona alongside Putellas and Aitana Bonmati.

Nominations for the The Best FIFA Women’s Coach and The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper have also been revealed, while there are a trio of women up for the FIFA Puskas award which recognises the best goal.

Who are the nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2022?

There are a few notable omissions from this year's list for The Best FIFA Women's Player, particularly Catarina Macario and Sophia Smith.

The U.S. women's national team duo have sparkled for their clubs, Macario being one of Lyon's stand-out players as they won the 2021-22 Women's Champions League title, while Smith was voted the NWSL's Most Valuable Player - being the youngest to ever win the award - as she helped the Portland Thorns win the Championship.

Unsurprisingly, England have three nominees after winning Euro 2022, while Germany have two after reaching the final. Lyon also have two names on the list after their triumph in Europe's premier club competition, with runners-up Barcelona having three - although Walsh was not at the club when they reached the final.

Who will win The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2022 award?

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After retaining her Ballon d'Or trophy, Putellas is the front-runner for this award as well after a stellar 2021-22 season that saw her lead Barcelona to the league title, the Copa de la Reina trophy and the Champions League final.

She suffered a devastating ACL injury on the eve of the Euros, but this award only takes into account the 2021-22 season, so she was sidelined was just under a month of that.

That injury meant Putellas missed the Euros, which is where Mead, expected to be her closest rival for this award, shone.

Mead won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards as well as Euro 2022, scoring scoring six goals and providing five assists in just six games at the tournament. The winger had a great season at Arsenal before that, too, albeit not a trophy-laden one.

Bonmati was as integral a part of Barca's success last season as Putellas and could be the third finalist for the award. However, Spain's elimination in the quarter-finals of the Euros may work against her given how much these awards often take major international tournaments into account, even if Bonmati was excellent during the competition.

Who are the nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2022?

Sarina Wiegman will be the favourite for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach award after leading England's Lionesses to their first ever major tournament triumph - all while maintaining an unbeaten record overall as head coach of the team. She is still yet to lose a game in the role, having overseen 26 and won 22 of them.

Sonia Bompastor is likely to be a top contender as well after leading Lyon to the Champions League title, while Bev Priestman led Canada to Olympic gold in the summer of 2021 - an achievement which falls in the time period accounted for. She also helped to end a long winless run against the USWNT on the way to that medal.

Pia Sundhage won the Copa America with Brazil and Emma Hayes won the league and two FA Cups in one season with Chelsea, due to the 2020-21 final being delayed by Covid. Martina Voss-Tecklenburg helped Germany to the Euros final.

Barca head coach Jonatan Giraldez is among the surprise omissions here, despite leading Barca to a league and cup double as well as the Champions League final.

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Who are the nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper 2022?

There was some excellent goalkeeping on show at Euro 2022 and it is represented in the nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper as both Mary Earps, of England, and Merle Frohms, of Germany, are nominated.

Christiane Endler is among the candidates after helping Lyon to win the Champions League, Ann-Katrin Berger's reflexes allowed Chelsea to maintain their status as top dog in England and Sandra Panos made huge saves as Barca had another dominant campaign.

Alyssa Naeher, meanwhile, was between the sticks as the United States won the 2022 CONCACAF Women's Championship and kept the third-highest total of clean sheets in the NWSL last year as Chicago Red Stars reached the play-offs.

Arsenal's Manuela Zinsberger is unlucky not to be nominated after an excellent 2021-22 season was backed up by an impressive Euros.

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Which women's players are nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award 2022?

Three women are on the shortlist for the FIFA Puskas award.

Amandine Henry's sensational strike in the Women's Champions League final makes the cut, as does another top-corner rocket from Salma Paralluelo. The teenager stunned Barcelona with a sensational strike for Villarreal in April 2022, before joining the Catalans later that year.

Alessia Russo completes the trio, her backheeled nutmeg in England's Euro 2022 semi-final victory over Sweden on the list after being named the goal of the tournament, too.

When will the winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 be announced?

Nominations for the women's awards take into account the period between August 7, 2021 and July 31, 2022, as opposed to the men's awards, for which that period of time was extended in order to take into account the 2022 World Cup.

Public voting is open on FIFA+ and will close just before midnight on February 3, 2023. FIFA will then announce the three finalists in each of the categories in early February.

The winners will be revealed at The Best FIFA Football Awards on February 27, 2023.