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FIFA Puskas award: Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Man Utd’s Nemanja Matic nominated
OLIVIER GIROUD's outrageous scorpion kick goal for Arsenal against Crystal Palace last season has been nominated for the prestigious Puskas award.
Olivier Giroud's scorpion goal has been nominated for the Puskas award
Nemanja Matic’s long-range pile-driver for Chelsea against Tottenham in the FA Cup also makes the shortlist.
Celtic’s Moussa Dembele has also been recognised for finishing off the Hoops’ 25-pass goal against St Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League.
The award is FIFA's tribute to Ferenc Puskas, a prolific Hungarian forward who scored 84 goals in 85 international matches.
The legendary striker also bagged 514 goals in 529 matches for Real Madrid and Budapest Honved.
Croatian front-man Mario Mandzukic’s audacious overhead strike in Juventus’ 4-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final is also nominated.
Giroud's overhead backheel volley against Crystal Palace
Nemanja Matic celebrates his thunderous strike against Spurs at Wembley
James Rodriguez scores wonder goal for Colombia
Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo have all topped the vote in their careers.
But last season’s Puskas award went to the lesser-known Mohd Faiz Subri of Penang in the Malaysia Super League.
The trophy has only been in existence since 2009, but it yet to be awarded for a goal scored in a Premier League match.
The criteria for the a goal to win is that: It should be a beautiful goal (subjective — the spread of goals should include long-range shots, team goals, overhead kicks or individual plays.)
It should be awarded "without distinction of championship, gender or nationality”.
Mario Mandzukic about to score in the Champions League final vs Real Madrid
FIFA Puskas Award 2013 - Nominees Goals
It should not be the result of luck, mistakes, deflection by another player or the player in a offside position.
It should support fair play, i.e. the player should not have behaved badly in the game or have been charged with doping, for example.
Arsenal fans are well-known for their ability to to influence online polls.
And as votes from FIFA.com users will determine the winner, it could be the Frenchman’s lucky year.
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