ZURICH (AP) - Carli Lloyd will defend her FIFA women’s player of the year award against a number of rivals, including three Olympic champions from Germany and five-time winner Marta.
Lloyd is the United States’ only nominee on a 10-player list announced by FIFA on Thursday after the 2015 World Cup winners lost in the Olympic quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro.
Germany has forward Dzsenifer Marozsan, who scored in a 2-1 win over Sweden in the gold medal match, as well as midfielders Melanie Behringer and Sara Daebritz on the list. Behringer retired after the Olympics, having played more than 100 times for her country.
Each of the trio aims to be the third different German winner in the past four years.
Brazil great Marta, who won the award every year from 2006 through 2010, had her 11-year streak of making the final shortlist of three candidates broken last year.
European champion club Lyon provides four nominees from four different national teams.
Voting is held by national team captains and coaches, selected media members and an online fan poll. Each section will count for 25 percent of the final tally.
FIFA will announce the shortlist on Dec. 2. The rebranded Best FIFA Awards ceremony will be held on Jan. 9 in Zurich.
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Candidates:
Camille Abily (France, Lyon); Melanie Behringer (Germany, Bayern Munich); Sara Daebritz (Germany, Bayern Munich); Amandine Henry (France, Portland Thorns); Saki Kumagai (Japan, Lyon); Carli Lloyd (United States, Houston Dash); Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany, Frankfurt/Lyon); Marta (Brazil, Rosengard); Lotta Schelin (Sweden, Lyon/Rosengard); Christine Sinclair (Canada, Portland Thorns).
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