Nominated with the three Zenit players are 19 other candidates: Quincy Promes, Artem Rebrov, Ze Luis (all of Spartak), Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich, Alan Dzagoev (all - CSKA), Fedor Smolov, Yuri Gazinskiy (both Krasnodar) , Oleg Ivanov (Akhmat), Timofei Kalachev (Rostov), Magomed Ozdoev (Rubin), Alexander Belenov (Ufa), Kirill Panchenko (Dynamo), Vladimir Gabulov (Arsenal), Pavel Yakovlev (Anzhi), Vladimir Ilyin (Ural), Anton Zabolotny (Tosno), Guilherme and Vedran Corluka (both Lokomotiv). 

Komsomolskaya Pravda's fan vote will choose the top five and then a panal of experts will choose the winner. The award ceremony will take place in early December 2017.

Four times previously Zenit players have won the Gentlemen of the Year Award. In 2004, Alexander Kerzhakov, in 2007 Konstantin Zyryanov, in 2014 Hulk and in 2015 Artem Dzyuba.