Former Celtic man nominated for prestigious FIFA award alongside treble-winning Man City boss Pep Guardiola

A former Celtic manager has been shortlisted for a prestigious FIFA award.

Ange Postecoglou enjoyed an incredible two year stint at Celtic before joining Tottenham in the Premier league. He arrived in Scotland in 2021 and inherited a team that had just finished 25 points behind their city rivals Rangers.

The former Australia coach made an instant impact at Celtic and helped his team to a Scottish Premiership and League Cup double in his first season, losing just three games in the process.

Postecoglou’s instant success earned plaudits from many pundits, but he took Celtic to another level in the 2022/23 campaign and followed in the footsteps of Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon - who all secured domestic clean sweeps during their time in the Celtic dugout.

The fashion of Celtic’s title triumph made Postecoglou a firm fan favourite at Glasgow and his team scored a remarkable 114 goals, which is a post-war record for The Hoops.

Such achievements earned Postecoglou the Professional Footballers’ Association Scotland Manager of the Season and the Scottish Football Writers Manager of the Season.

But he has now achieved worldwide recognition for his achievements and he is amongst the contenders for the FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year where he is joined by star-studded names such as Pep Guardiola, Simone Inzaghi, Luciano Spalletti and Xavi.

Postecoglou is the first Celtic boss to ever be nominated for the award, although such an award did not exist when Jock Stein lifted the European Cup title back in 1967.

The FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year is decided by media representatives, national team coaches and national team captains who all have a 25% split of the overall vote.

The final 25% is then decided by the general public, and fans can vote for their winner through the FIFA website.