Cliftonville Ladies' Billie Simpson has been nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award for her strike against Sion Swifts Ladies in August 2018.
The centre-half took a goal kick from the Sion Swifts goalkeeper flush on the volley, scoring from the halfway line. Simpson is one of three women nominated for the award alongside Cameroon's Ajara Nchout and Utah Royals' Amy Rodriguez.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph at the time of the goal, Simpson says she often tries to score outrageous volleys, much to the chagrin of her manager, Martin Douglas.
Martin shouts at me all the time before kick-off saying 'no 40-yarders' but I just get ahead of myself when I'm on the pitch sometimes... Whenever we're training, if anybody hits the ball up in the air, I'll always try to volley it. I just know that I can do it and if I connect with it, it could hit the net.
Simpson, alongside Nchout and Rodriguez, find themselves nominated with seven male counterparts. The likes of Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all nominated for the award.
🚨 #PUSKAS AWARD 🚨
The ten candidates have been revealed 👀
Vote now 🗳️👇— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) August 19, 2019
Voting for the Puskas Award is open to the public and you can vote right here. Voting closes on September 1, with the winner announced at The Best FIFA Football Awards on September 23.
