Former Super Eagles winger Emmanuel Amuneke has been named by FIFA as a member of the panel that will shortlist candidates for men’s footballers and coaches of the year for the 2017/2018 season.
Amuneke, who was part of the Super Eagles side that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, was also one of Nigeria’s top performers in the World Cup that same year in the United States of America.
The talented winger scored twice in the competition with the Super Eagles making their mark despite a painful second round exit against Italy.
The former Barcelona player is joined in the panel by former England coach Fabio Capello and former football stars like Ronaldo Nazario de Lima, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Lothar Matthaus and Alessandro Nesta.
Others are; Sami Jabar, CHA Bum-Kun, Andy Roxburgh, Kaka, Wynston Rufer and Carlos Alberto Parreira.
The Best FIFA Football Awards is the premier annual awards celebration held by football’s world governing body.
The judges will shortlist ten candidates for each category, which will be unveiled on 23 July 2018 – with a public vote opening on the same day.
Football fans, national team captains, head coaches and more than 200 media representatives will then cast their votes to decide who will be crowned the best players and coaches in the men’s and women’s games from last season.
With the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia currently showcasing the finest footballing talent on the planet, the race for the Best FIFA Football Awards is even more intense and the showpiece event will take on added significance when it returns to London for a second time on 24 September 2018.
At last year’s awards, Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the Best Men’s Player Award, the Netherlands’ Lieke Martens was crowned Best Women’s Player, French icon Zinédine Zidane was named Best Men’s Coach and the Netherlands’ Sarina Wiegman was Best Women’s Coach.
