Polish-born Roberto Lewandowski has been selected as the Male Player of the Year by FIFA for the second year in a row.
Lewandowski, who plays for Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, defeated Lionel Messi and Muhammad Salah for the men's player of the year finalists at the FIFA awards ceremony held in a non-face-to-face format in Zurich, Switzerland, where FIFA headquarters is located.
Lewandowski scored 43 goals in the German Bundesliga in 2021 alone, breaking the 42 goals set by Gerd Muller in 1972 for the first time in 49 years.
The award is determined by reflecting the results of the FIFA member national team's coach and captain, media, and fan voting, and Lewandowski finished first among the three finalists in the coach, captain, and media votes.
However, in the fan vote, he stayed in 3rd place, the bottom of the vote, but obtained 48 points in the final score converted into points based on the voting results in these four categories, beating Messi with 44 points and Salah with 39 points.
Lewandowski also relieved the disappointment of being defeated by Messi at the Ballon d'Or, another prestigious soccer awards ceremony hosted by France Football, a French soccer magazine in November of last year.
FIFA's Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or were awarded together as a 'FIFA Ballon d'Or' award from 2010 to 2015, and then separated again in 2016.
This is the first time the two award winners have not been matched since separation.
In 2020, the Ballon d'Or award was canceled due to COVID-19.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who did not make the final three FIFA Player of the Year finals for the first time in 11 years since 2010, was awarded a special award for setting a new record in the A-match by scoring 112 goals.
Spain's Alexia Putellas was named FIFA Women's Player of the Year.
Putellas won this year's Ballon d'Or and FIFA Women's Player of the Year.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy goalkeeper), David Alaba (Austria), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), and Hubeng Dias (Portugal, ideal defender) were selected by FIFA and the International Football Players Association (FIFPro) as the best 11 men of the year. , Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Jorginho (Italy), N'Golo Kante (France, above midfielder), Ronaldo, Elling Halan (Norway), Lewandowski, Messi (or forward) were named.
The men's and women's team manager of the year award went to Chelsea men's and women's coaches Thomas Tuchel (Germany) and Emma Hayes (England) side by side.
The Puskas Award for Goal of the Year was awarded to Eric Lamela, now a transfer to Sevilla, who scored against Arsenal in March last year while playing for Tottenham.
Lamela received a pass from Lucas Mora within the penalty area and scored with a ground ball with a Labona kick that crossed her left foot behind her right foot.
Last year, this award was awarded to Son Heung-min, who scored a goal in the 70-meter sprint against Burnley.
When Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen suffered a heart attack during the European Championships held in Copenhagen, Denmark in June of last year, Danish and Finnish fans who showed a mature spectator attitude shared the 'FIFA Fan Award'.
(Photo = Getty Images Korea)