Christopher Nkunku was still standing on the lawn of the Red Bull Arena on Saturday evening with a sad expression on his face, but less than 24 hours after losing the Supercup final, the star striker from RB Leipzig was still able to celebrate.

After a fantastic pre-season, the 24-year-old Frenchman can call himself "Germany's footballer of the year" for the first time.

"I feel very honored and really appreciate being able to accept such an important award," said Nkunku, who lost 5-3 (0-3) to Bayern Munich with Leipzig in the Supercup on Saturday.

"First and foremost, I have to thank my team, the coaching team and all the employees." Nkunku's award is the reward for an outstanding season in which he caused a stir nationally and internationally with 32 goals and 20 assists in 51 competitive games.

According to the annual vote by the specialist magazine "kicker" among 706 sports journalists, Nkunku narrowly won with 134 votes.

He received only six votes more than second-placed Robert Lewandowski, who has since left Bayern Munich for FC Barcelona.

Third was national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp (65 votes) from Europa League winner Eintracht Frankfurt.

In the vote for the footballer of the year, national striker Lea Schüller (141 votes) from FC Bayern won ahead of DFB captain Alexandra Popp (115) and Almuth Schult (68).

"I didn't expect that at all.

This is a total surprise.

It's outstanding!

That's a super great award," said Schüller, who had secured the top scorer's crown in the Bundesliga with 16 goals for the Munich team.

Christian Streich, who had led SC Freiburg to the final of the DFB Cup, won for the coaches.

He also won the vote for the first time and relegated Oliver Glasner from Eintracht Frankfurt, who received 133 votes, and Steffen Baumgart from Cologne (50/65 votes).

“Christian Streich deserves every honor.

He's an outstanding coach who achieves great things in Freiburg and I really appreciate him," said national coach Hansi Flick.

Liverpool's team manager Jürgen Klopp added in the "kicker": "Finally, one has to say, absolutely deserved.

Sometimes it takes a little longer before the actual quality is recognized!” National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (54) came seventh in the election with 15 votes.