Red Devils goalie Thibaut Courtois is one of seven players nominated by the International Football Federation for the title of best goalkeeper of the year.
FIFA's Best Awards will be presented on 27 February, the federation announced. Public voting can begin from 12 January and the performances selected must have taken place between 8 August and 18 December 2022.
Naturally, performances during the World Cup in Qatar are the focus of attention for nominees such Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez, who was the best goalkeeper at the tournament, but whose eccentric celebrations have caused much controversy.
Chelsea's French-Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was voted last year’s winner, while Courtois, who won the award in 2018, was not among the final three nominees.
This time around, the 30-year-old Real Madrid and Red Devils goalkeeper is on FIFA's shortlist of nominations. So are Liverpool’s Alisson (Brazil), Sevilla’s Yassine Bounou (Morocco) and Dinamo Zagreb’s Dominik Livakovic (Croatia).
Other FIFA awards also up for grabs
Completing the shortlist are AC Milan’s Mike Maignan (France), Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez (Argentina) and Germany’s Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich.
Other FIFA awards include male and female Player of the Year, won last year by Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Spain’s Alexia Putellas respectively.
FIFA also gives out awards for the best goal of the year, best female goalkeeper, coach of the year for men’s football and coach of the year for women’s football.
The members of the team of the year will also be nominated.
The jury is made up of the coach and captain of each national men's and women's squad, one specialised journalist per national federation, and fans registered on FIFA.com.
