Castellanos, Giroud, Masuluke Named as Finalists for 2017 FIFA Puskás Award
Arsenal's Olivier Giroud has been named as one of the three players in the running for the 2017 FIFA Puskás Award, along with Deyna Castellanos and Oscarine Masuluke.
The trio emerged as the front-runners from a shortlist of ten after votes from hundreds of thousands of fans were counted.
The first round of voting concluded on Monday, and a second phase has now started to decide the winner.
Voting will close on 23 October, when the winner will be announced on stage during a ceremony at the London Palladium.
Giroud, who is the first Frenchman to have reached the final three, was shortlisted for his audacious 'scorpion kick' goal against Crystal Palace in January. The striker later claimed that the goal was the best he had ever scored.
Castellanos, also a finalist for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2017, earned recognition for her halfway line strike for Venezuela against Cameroon at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2016.
She is the second Venezuelan teen in successive years to reach the final three, after compatriot Daniuska Rodriguez did the same last year.
Masuluke, meanwhile, is the first player from the entire continent of Africa to have been included in the finalists for the award.
If that was not enough of an achievement in itself, the South African is also a goalkeeper. He scored a stunning, last-minute equaliser for Baroka FC against Orlando Pirates to secure his place amongst the nominees.
