Benzema and Griezmann battle for best French player award
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema and Atlético Madrid's Antoine Griezmann are among the candidates for the UNFP's award for best French player outside of Ligue 1.
The National Union of Professional Footballers in France (UNFP) this Thursday announced its nominations for the award for the best French player outside of Ligue 1 for the 2018-2019 season.
Five candidates playing in England and Spain have been chosen for this year’s edition of the award: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea) and Hugo Lloris (Tottenham).
This will be the fourth edition of the UNFP award for the best French player outside of Ligue 1, with Chelsea midfielder Kanté winning the last two editions. Atlético’s Griezmann was the recipient of the first award back in 2016 for his outstanding performance for Atlético Madrid in the 2015-16 campaign.
Mbappé hot favourite for best Ligue 1 player
The UNFP has also announced the five candidates for the best player in the French League. PSG’s Kylian Mbappé is the hot favourite to take the title from current holder and PSG team mate Neymar, who also makes this year’s list along with Ben Arfa (Rennes), Angel Di Maria (PSG) and Nicloas Pépé (Lille).
After helping France to World Cup glory last summer and becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pele in 1958, 20-year-old Mbappé has enjoyed a remarkable season with the Parisian club, netting 36 goals in 41 games.