The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football has announced the shortlists and the opening of fan and media voting for the third-annual CONCACAF Awards to honor 2015’s standout performers and achievements.
The awards recognize the top players, coaches and referees in women’s and men’s events from the CONCACAF region; players and achievements in CONCACAF-sanctioned tournaments and competitions at all levels, including FIFA World Cups and World Cup qualifying for both genders, in all age categories.
Performances also eligible for recognition include those achieved in professional club football leagues under CONCACAF’s stewardship in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
Players, coaches and referees of any nationality were eligible to be nominated for the awards, as long as they meet at least one of the following criteria:
Have played/coached/refereed in an official CONCACAF tournament at club or national team level
Have played/coached/refereed for a CONCACAF member national team in a FIFA-sanctioned international competition
Have played/coached/refereed in a domestic league within CONCACAF’s territory. Award categories
Male Player of the Year
Female Player of the Year
Male Goalkeeper of the Year
Female Goalkeeper of the Year
Male Coach of the Year
Female Coach of the Year
Male Referee of the Year
Female Referee of the Year
Male Best XI
Female Best XI
Goal of the Year
The 11 candidates for male player of the year are: Andres Guardado of PSV Eindhoven (NED); Bryan Ruiz of Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR); Clint Dempsey of Seattle Sounders FC (USA); Cyle Larin of Orlando City SC (USA); Hirving Lozano of CF Pachuca (MEX); Javier Hernandez of Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER); Jesus Corona of FC Porto (POR); Michael Bradley of Toronto FC (CAN); Oribe Peralta of Club America (MEX); and Rodolph Austin of Brøndby IF (DEN).
The 10 nominees for female player of the year are: Alex Morgan of Orlando Pride (USA); Becky Sauerbrunn of FC Kansas City (USA); Carli Lloyd of Houston Dash (USA); Christine Sinclair of Portland Thomas FC (USA); Hope Solo of Seattle Reign FC (USA); Julie Johnson of Chicago Red Stars (USA); Kadeisha Buchanan of West Virginia University (USA); Megan Rapinoe of Seattle Reign FC (USA); Raquel Rodriguez of Penn State University (USA); and Shirley Cruz of Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA).
Fans can also vote for the best of 10 goals that can be seen on the CONCACAF website.
According to a press release from CONCACAF, for the first time, fans and media will also be able to vote for the Male and Female Best XIs.
In each category, a list of nominees has already been determined through voting of technical directors from each of CONCACAF’s 41 member associations and the CONCACAF Technical Study Group, which analyzes tactics and rates performances at all official CONCACAF tournaments.
The lists have been submitted for final voting among three stake-holding segments of the Confederation: member associations’ men’s and women’s national team coaches and captains, media and fans. The national team coaches and captains from across the Confederation will account for one third of the final vote, and accredited members of CONCACAF’s media circle will contribute another third of the tally.
Fans from around the region and the world are invited to vote online for the final one-third segment of the vote.
Fans can have their say by visiting the fan voting page on www.CONCACAF.com.
Voting is open from Jan. 18. Final votes in each of the 11 categories will be tallied and the winners announced via www.CONCACAF.com.
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