Bielsa’s inclusion on the list has prompted confusion from some quarters
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has been nominated for the FIFA men’s manager of the year award, alongside the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Hansi Flick, Julen Lopetegui and Zinedine Zidane.
The Argentine coach brought Leeds up from the Championship as winners last season, and has overseen an encouraging start to their first Premier League campaign in over a decade, with his side sitting in 14th place with 11 points, one behind last year’s runners up, Manchester City.
In Klopp, Flick, Lopetegui and Zizou, Bielsa joins the winners of the Premier League, Bundesliga and Champions League, Europa League and LaLiga respectively on the list of nominees.
Marcelo Bielsa’s nomination for FIFA men’s manager of the year appears to have caused a stir…
Who deserved to get in ahead of him? pic.twitter.com/vvNh3ZL9rk
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) November 25, 2020
His inclusion appears to have annoyed many people on Twitter – shock horror – with a number of fans and journalists claiming that coaches such as Dean Smith, Frank Lampard and Chris Wilder may feel hard done by to see the former Bilbao coach ahead of them on the list.
A word too, for Gian Piero Gasperini, the Atalanta coach who has overseen his side’s elevation to the Champions League, and who brought them to the competition’s quarter-finals last season.
Some people have even suggested Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was more deserving of a place on the list, but we assume anyone who has said that is joking.
