(Football news) Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski retained the title of FIFA’s Best Men's Player of the Year at The Best of 2021 ceremony, thereby equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s record (with two awards) after a successful season in which he scored 41 goals. Lionel Messi finished second while Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah came third. In the women’s category, Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas won the FIFA’s Best Women’s Player of the Year award. 

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel beat Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Italy national team’s manager Roberto Mancini for the Manager of the Year award after leading his side to the Champions League trophy. Chelsea and Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy won the Goalkeeper of the Year award over the likes of Manuel Neuer and Gianluigi Donnarumma while Sevilla’s Erik Lamela won the Puskas award for his “Rabona” in Tottenham Hotspur’s match against fierce rivals Arsenal.

The Fair Play award was given to the Denmark team and staff after their timely action when Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest at the Euro 2020 while the Best Fan award was given to fans of Denmark and Finland for their unified chanting to express support for Eriksen when he was taken off the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo was given a special award for breaking the international men’s goalscoring record and was also the first footballer to win back to back Men’s Player of the Year awards in the first two years since the ceremony began.

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FIFA FIFPro Men's World XI

Gianluigi Donnarumma – Paris Saint-Germain, Italy
David Alaba – Real Madrid, Austria
Ruben Dias – Manchester City, Portugal
Leonardo Bonucci – Juventus, Italy
Jorginho – Chelsea, Italy
N'Golo Kante – Chelsea, France
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City, Belgium
Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United, Portugal
Erling Haaland – Borussia Dortmund, Norway
Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich, Poland
Lionel Messi – Paris Saint-Germain, Argentina