For the second year in a row, Robert Lewandowski has been awarded FIFA Men’s Player of the Year.
The Bayern Munich attacker beat out Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah, who were also candidates, to win the individual prize.
Lewandowski had a fantastic year in 2021, smashing Gerd Muller’s long-held records for most Bundesliga goals in a season and calendar year.
In the process, the Poland international became only the second player, after Cristiano Ronaldo, to win The Best FIFA Men’s Player title more than once since the trophy’s inception in 2016.
Messi was named to the FIFPro Men’s World XI alongside Lewandowski after winning the Ballon d’Or for his achievements in 2021, which included helping Argentina win the Copa America.
Despite FIFA’s inclusion of four attackers, Salah was left out, with Ronaldo and Erling Braut Haaland rounding out the foursome.
Earlier in the evening, Barcelona and Spain’s Alexia Putellas won The Best FIFA Women’s Player award, while there was a special trophy for Ronaldo in recognition of him breaking the all-time international goalscoring record.
It was a memorable night for Chelsea, who claimed both the men’s and women’s coach of the year in Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes respectively, while Edouard Mendy was named the goalkeeper of the year.
Former Tottenham Hotspur attacker Erik Lamela won the Puskas award for his rabona effort against Arsenal in the North London derby.
The Denmark national team picked up the FIFA Fair Play award for their reaction to Christian Eriksen’s collapse at Euro 2020, an incident which also saw the Danish and Finnish supporters pick up the FIFA Fan award.
