England’s Mark Sampson has been nominated for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year award.
Sampson is one of ten coaches listed for the honour after leading the Lionesses to a best-ever third place finish in the Women’s World Cup earlier this year.
The list was drawn up by FIFA’s Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as a group of experts from France Football.
Sampson led England to third-place in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada
After progressing through a World Cup group containing France, Colombia and Mexico, Sampson’s England side beat Norway and the host nation Canada in the knock-out stages to reach a semi-final against Japan.
And, following a desperately unfortunate 2-1 defeat against the then World Cup holders, the Lionesses faced Germany in the third-place play-off game, where an extra-time penalty from Fara Williams secured victory to ensure England finished as the highest-ranked nation in Europe.
There are also three English coaches on the list, with FFC Frankfurt boss Colin Bell, Seattle Reign's Laura Harvey and Canada manager John Herdman all nominated for their achievements between 22 November 2014 and 20 November 2015.
The final decisions for the Women’s World Coach of the Year award will be made by the captains and head coaches of the women’s national teams, and international media representatives selected by FIFA.
Winners will be announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 11 January 2016, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Puskás Award (for the most beautiful goal of the year), the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented.
Honour to make final 10 for the @FIFAcom Women's World Coach of the Year. Recognition for the whole #Lionesses TEAM pic.twitter.com/btng8j0W41
— Mark Sampson (@Mark_Sampson) October 19, 2015
The voting period for the awards commences on 26 October and closes on 20 November, with FIFA and France Football announcing the names of the final three nominees who have received the most votes - without announcing the winners - soon after that.
The following ten coaches are contenders for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football 2015:-
Calle Barrling (Swedish U19s), Colin Bell (1.FFC Frankfurt), Farid Benstiti (Paris Saint-Germain), Jill Ellis (USA), Laura Harvey (Seattle Reign), John Herdman (Canada), Gerard Precheur (Olympique Lyonnais), Mark Sampson (England), Norio Sasaki (Japan), Thomas Worle (Bayern Munich).
They are next in action on home soil when they face Bosnia-Herzegovina at Bristol City's Ashton Gate in a Euro Qualifier on Sunday 29 November. Tickets can be purchased via TheFA.com/Tickets or by calling 01179 630 600.
