MOROCCO goalkeeper Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou has made the final shortlist of The Best FIFA Awards in his category, along with Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez.
The Sevilla shot-stopper was in top form during the Qatar 2022 World Cup in November and December, inspiring the Atlas Lions to the semi-finals.
His reward for being a key component of the team that became the first from Africa to reach the World Cup semi-finals is a place alongside Real Madrid and Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois as well as Aston Villa star Martinez on the podium for the men’s goalkeeper prize.
Courtois won the 2021/2022 UEFA Champions League title with Real Madrid while Martinez was awarded with the Golden Glove as Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA announced the final nominees in the men’s and women’s goalkeeper categories today, with more to be released in the days leading to the February 27 award ceremony in Paris, France.
The women’s goalkeeper finalists are Ann-Katrin Berger of Germany and Chelsea FC Women, Mary Earps of England and Manchester United WFC) and Christiane Endler of Chile and Olympique Lyonnais.
“These two awards are given to the outstanding goalkeepers in women’s and men’s football as voted for by an international jury respectively comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com,” the world governing body explained.
