Coleman and O'Neill divided over Best Men's Player nomination - who the Irish leadership voted for
Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)
Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman and manager Martin O'Neill were divided on who to nominate as FIFA Best Men's Player for 2018.
Coleman opted for the eventual winner, Luka Modric ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, while O'Neill opted for Messi ahead of Ronaldo and Mo Salah.
Messi was present on both men's lists but was absent from the final shortlist, which saw Modric deny Ronaldo a third straight award with Salah in third.
Women's national team captain Katie McCabe and manager Colin Bell both plumped for Denmark's Pernille Harder as best player, but Wolfsburg striker was omitted from the final three.
Orlando Pride striker Marta won the overall award ahead of Olympique Lyonnais's Dzsenifer Maroszán and Ada Hagerberg, but neither McCabe nor Bell voted for the Brazilian.
McCabe went for Lyon's Amandine Henry and Marozsán in second and third respectively. Bell also went for Germany's Maroszán, in second, ahead of Lyon's French defender Wendie Renard.
Lyon's dominance of the women's game was perhaps exemplified by coach Reynald Pedros picking up the best coach gong, but only Bell voted for him.
The Englishman put Pedros ahead of last year's winner Sarina Wiegman and Emma Hayes, while McCabe went for Hayes ahead of Switzerland coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and Wiegman.
Coleman and O'Neill were both agreed that France's World Cup-winning manager Didier Deschamps was worthy of being named Best Coach, which he duly was.
Coleman had Zinedine Zidane second ahead of Zlatko Dalic of Croatia, while O'Neill had Dalic in second in front of Manchester City's Pep Guardiola.
In an interesting sideshow, Messi voted for rival Ronaldo for the first time, in third position, while Ronaldo continued to avoid naming the Argentine in his top three picks.
Full list of nominations for:
