Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri won the Best FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year award on Monday after beating Portugal’s Fernando Santos and Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane on the shortlist.
Claudio Ranieri won the Best FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year award
Ranieri defied odds of 5,000-1 to lead Leicester to the Premier League title last season — the first-ever top-flight title in their 132-year history — and has overseen a strong start to the club’s first ever Champions League campaign this season, despite his side struggling in the league.
Leicester conceded the fewest Premier League goals (36) during the voting period from Nov. 20, 2015, to Nov. 22, 2016 (excluding promoted teams), and the Italian also set a record for the shortest time between his appointment and winning the title win (294 days), beating Jose Mourinho’s 332 days with Chelsea.
FIFA recently announced that the award will be based on the votes of captains and head coaches of national teams around the globe and an online public ballot with football fans and submissions from a selected group of over 200 media representatives.
