FIFA’s best down to Messi, Ronaldo, van Dijk

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk are the three final candidates for FIFA’s 2019 The Best award.

Luka Modric won in 2018, but he failed to make the final three or the extended list of finalists after a disappointing year at Real Madrid.

The rest of the finalists were Eden Hazard, Frenkie de Jong, Kylian Mbappe, Matthijs de Ligt, Sadio Mane, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah.

Fans, journalists, coaches and international captains all voted between July 31 and August 19, but the window is now closed.

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The three women’s final three are the USA’s World Cup-winning pair of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan as well as England’s Lucy Bronze.

Julie Ertz, Caroline Graham Hansen, Ada Hegerberg, Amandine Henry, Sam Kerr, Rose Lavelle, Vivianne Miedema, Wendie Renard and Ellen White were the other finalists.

Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino are the finalists for The Best Coach with Jill Ellis, Phil Neville and Sarina Wiegman being those from the women’s game.