Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has been crowned FIFA The Best for 2021 having beaten Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah to the award.
It’s the Pole’s second successive The Best award having also claimed the crown in 2020.
“Thank you I am very honoured to win this trophy,” Lewandowski said. “I feel very proud. This belongs to my teammates and coaches.
“I never dream about breaking this record [of Gerd Muller]. To score 41 in 29 games, if you ask me that a few years ago if it is possible I would tell you it is impossible. I also say to him thank you. He set so many records and to me it was always the next step to try and break it.”
This is the first time that the winner of the Ballon d’Or hasn’t gone on to win The Best as well after the prior was cancelled for 2020.
Lewandowski joins Cristiano Ronaldo as the only player to have won The Best twice since its inception in 2016.
🚨🏆 #TheBest FIFA Men’s Player Award 2021 goes to #RobertLewandowski!
🌎🇵🇱 Fans, players, coaches and journalists have spoken, naming @lewy_official as #TheBest! pic.twitter.com/21hfIDR3rI
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 17, 2022
A year like no other
Lewandowski’s 2021 was perhaps the best it could have possibly been with four winners medals and a golden boot to add to his enormous collection.
He was an instrumental figure in Bayern Munich’s victories in the Bundesliga, DFL-Supercup, UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
His goals have long carried Bayern through tough games and none more so than in 2021 where Lewandowski broke Gerd Muller’s long-standing record for goals in a single season.
The late Muller hit the net 40 times in the 1971-72 season but Lewandowski went one better in 2020-21, netting 41 times in the Bundesliga.
It came as something of a surprise to see Messi not win the award having won the Ballon D’Or and carried Barcelona almost single-handedly through the 2020/21 season but his start at PSG hasn’t hit the heights everyone thought he would.
All the winners from The Best 2021
The Best FIFA Men’s Player – Robert Lewandowski
The Best FIFA Women’s Player – Alexia Putellas
The FIFA Fifpro Men’s World XI: Donnarumma; Dias, Bonucci, Alaba; Jorginho, Kante, De Bruyne; Ronaldo, Haaland, Lewandowski, Messi
The FIFA Fifpro Women’s World XI: Chistiane Endler; Lucy Bronze, Wendy Renard, Mille Bright, Magdalena Erikkson; Estafania Banini, Carli Lloyd, Barbara Bonansea; Vivianne Miedema, Marta, Alex Morgan
FIFA Fan Award – Denmark and Finland Fans
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach – Thomas Tuchel
The FIFA Best Women’s Coach – Emma Hayes
FIFA Fair Play Award – Denmark National Team and Staff
Puskas Award – Erik Lamela
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper – Edouard Mendy
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper – Christiane Endler
FIFA Best Special Award – Christine Sinclair
FIFA Best Special Award – Cristiano Ronaldo
Bayern Munich – English
Robert Lewandowski – English
Soccer
