England’s Euro hero Beth Mead has been named on the three-player shortlist for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2022 award. Mead, who led all scorers at the 2017 European Championships and was voted the competition’s best player as England won the trophy at home, is joined on the shortlist by Alex Morgan and Alexia Putellas. She scored 11 goals for club team Arsenal during the WSL 2021/22 season, although Chelsea won the league by a single point. Mead has already made history by winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for women’s football. Since rupturing her ACL in November, the 27-year-old has not participated in a competitive match. Sarina Wiegman, England’s head coach, warned earlier this week that it is too early to predict whether the player will be able to represent the Lionesses at the World Cup this summer.
The FIFA awards consider any contests played between August 7, 2021, and July 31, 2022, the day Beth Mead was victorious in the European Championships final. On February 27, a ceremony in Paris will name the winner. The final three players were chosen from a total of 14 players who were initially nominated. Captains, managers, and designated media from every nation in the world submit nominations for the awards. Currently held by Putellas, the Women’s Player of the Year award will be given to Lucy Bronze of England in 2020.
In the meanwhile, Arsenal Women’s quarterfinal opponent in the Women’s Champions League is Bayern Munich. Arsenal, who won the championship in 2006–07, is using the Emirates Stadium for all of their Champions League games this year. Their rivals, Bayern Munich, have a team that includes several German athletes that competed in the Euro 2022 final last summer along with eventual champion Georgia Stanway. They were in second place behind Barcelona in their group, and Barcelona’s quarterfinal opponent was Roma, a newcomer to the Champions League. In their debut year of the competition, the Italian team advanced to the knockout stages. In their last-eight match, two-time Champions League champion Wolfsburg takes on PSG, with the victor of that match potentially facing Arsenal in the semifinals.
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