Canadian Stephanie Labbe is one of three finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper.
The 35-year-old from Stony Plain, Alta., is up against Germany’s Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea) and Chile’s Christiane Endler (Paris Saint-Germain/Olympique Lyonnais).
Labbe, who started the season with Sweden’s FC Rosengard before transferring to PSG, led the Canadian women to the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with penalty shootout wins over Brazil and Sweden. She has earned 85 caps for Canada, with 43 clean sheets.
The three ‘keepers were part of an initial shortlist announced in November that also included Sweden’s Hedvig Lindahl (Atletico de Madrid) and American Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars).
The finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper are Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan/Paris Saint-Germain), Senegal’s Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) and Germany’s Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich).
Brazil’s Alisson Becker (Liverpool) and Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City) had also been shortlisted for the award..
The winners will be announced Jan. 17 in Zurich.
They will be decided by an international jury comprising national team coaches and captains around the globe, one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team, and fans via an online poll on FIFA.com.
The shortlists were selected by separate men’s and women’s soccer panels. The men’s panel included former Toronto FC coach Ryan Nelsen and goalkeeper Julio Cesar, among others.
Canada captain Christine Sinclair and coach Bev Priestman are also up for FIFA awards.
Sinclair is one of 13 finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Player while Priestman, in her first full year at the helm of the Canadian team, is one of five finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach.
The coaching finalists are scheduled to be announced Thursday with the player finalists to follow Friday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2022
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