Robert Lewandowski on Thursday won the biggest individual prize of his career, showing that a forward not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo can be voted the world’s best soccer player.
The Poland captain was named the FIFA Best Men’s Player for this year after his 55-goal season lifted Bayern Munich to a sweep of international and domestic trophies.
Lewandowski topped a three-player shortlist that included Messi and Ronaldo.
Photo: AFP
Voting was by a global jury of national team captains and coaches, plus selected journalists and fans.
Lewandowski received 52 voting points, with Ronaldo second on 38 Messi third with 35.
Although FIFA hosted the virtual ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA president Gianni Infantino went to Munich, Germany, to present the trophy in person.
Photo: AFP
“It’s an incredible feeling” said Lewandowski, who at age 32 made the shortlist for the first time.
Lewandowski joined Luka Modric, the Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder who won in 2018, as the only players in the past 13 years to deny both Messi and Ronaldo the victory.
“Today I am among them,” Lewandowski said in comments translated from German. “It means I’ve always done the right things in my life.”
Lucy Bronze was voted the best women’s player to give England its first individual victory at the FIFA awards.
A Champions League winner with Olympique Lyonnais, she has since joined Manchester City.
Bronze got 52 points from the women’s voting jury.
Pernille Harder, who helped VfL Wolfsburg to the Champions League final, finished second with 40 points and Bronze’s former Lyon teammate Wendi Renard scored 35 points.
Lewandowski is also the first men’s winner from a club outside Spain since Ronaldo won in 2008 as a Manchester United player.
A Bayern player had not won since FIFA created a world player award in 1991.
The club twice saw its stars relegated to third place by Messi and Ronaldo: Franck Ribery in Bayern’s Champions League winning year of 2013, and Manuel Neuer one year later after Germany won the World Cup.
Juergen Klopp, who coached Lewandowski at their former club Borussia Dortmund, denied Bayern a sweep of the FIFA men’s awards by being voted the best coach for a second straight year.
Klopp guided Liverpool to become Premier League champions for the first time in 30 years and finished tied in votes with Hansi Flick, who took over at Bayern mid-season.
Klopp won in the tiebreaker of most votes from national-team coaches.
Marcelo Bielsa of English Championship winner Leeds United was third.
Sarina Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to last year’s World Cup final, was voted the best coach in women’s soccer ahead of Lyon’s Jean-Luc Vasseur and Emma Hayes of Chelsea.
Wiegma is to take over the England team next year.
Son Heung-min’s end-to-end dribble to score for Tottenham Hotspur against Burnley won the Puskas Award for best goal.
Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford was honored for his campaign to fight child poverty.
FIFA made a donation of US$100,000 toward his charitable work.
Other awards were: Best Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich) and Sarah Bouhaddi (France, Lyon); Fair Play Award: Mattia Agnese, a teenage player in Italy who saved the life of an opponent who lost consciousness after a clash of heads; Fan Award: Marivaldo Francisco da Silva, who walks for 11 hours to see his favorite team play in Brazil.
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