Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp are the only English-based nominees at the Globe Soccer Awards.
Liverpool have been nominated for the Team of the Year, whilst Klopp is up for the Best Coach Award.
Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo and French pair Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann will fight it out for the Best Player Award when the 10th edition of the Globe Soccer Awards is staged at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah on January 3, 2019.
The Juventus icon and the two FIFA World Cup-winning French stars lead the nominations for the now traditional gala awards ceremony to be held in association with the 13th Dubai International Sports Conference, organised by the Dubai Sports Council.
With Dubai Holding as title sponsor and supported by Meraas, Audi and Emirates, the Globe Soccer Awards is considered part of the ‘Grand Slam’ of football award ceremonies alongside the Ballon D’or and The Best FIFA Football Awards.
And it’s Juve’s CR7 who remains the only player to win all three ‘Grand Slam’ award titles in one year – a feat he accomplished in both 2016 and 2017.
The Portuguese legend, a record four-time winner and eight-time nominee, will be looking to make it a third Globe Soccer Best Player Award in as many years but he faces a battle for the crown from French pair Griezmann and Mbappé who lit up the world stage in Russia this summer.
Like his two star players, French coach Didier Deschamps is also among the nominees.
Deschamps, only the third man to win the FIFA World Cup as both player and manager, is in contention for the Best Coach Award alongside former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone, Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool and Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Among the other early nominees announced by Globe Soccer, super-agent Jorge Mendes will battle it out with Jonathan Barnett and Stefano Castagna in the Best Agent category, while 2018 UEFA Champions League finalists Real Madrid and Liverpool will once again go head-to-head this time for the Best Team Award alongside Atletico Madrid.
The ceremony will also honour many other distinguished names from the world of football with the other nominees to be announced shortly.
The Globe Soccer Awards will be staged in Dubai shortly after the UAE hosts the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup and just before the country stages the AFC Asian Cup, while the associated Dubai Sports Council’s International Sports Conference will see a wide range of speakers from club owners to coaches, players and sponsors discussing the future development of football.
