ZURICH: Robert Lewandowski won the biggest individual prize of his career Thursday, showing that a forward not named Messi or Ronaldo can be voted the world’s best football player.

The Poland captain was named the FIFA Best Men’s Player for 2020 after his 55-goal season lifted Bayern Munich to a sweep of international and domestic trophies.

Lewandowski, who won the German league and cup double as well as the Champions League with Bayern, finished as top scorer in all three competitions. The 32-year-old also led Poland to Euro 2020 qualification and was named the 2019-20 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year in October.

Lewandowski topped a three-player shortlist that included Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Voting was by a global jury of national team captains and coaches, plus selected journalists and fans. Lewandowski received 52 voting points, with Ronaldo second on 38 Messi third with 35.

Though FIFA hosted the virtual ceremony in Zurich, its president Gianni Infantino went to Munich to present the trophy in person.

“To win such an award and share this title with [previous winners] Messi and Ronaldo, is unbelievable and means so much to me,” Lewandowski said.

“I am very proud and happy. This is a great day for me, and also for my club and colleagues. This award also belongs to my colleagues, the coach and Bayern in general. It is an incredible feeling, a lot of emotions.”

Lewandowski joined Luka Modric, the Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder who won in 2018, as the only players in the past 13 years to deny both Messi and Ronaldo the victory.

His stellar season for all-conquering Bayern has already been recognised by UEFA who awarded the Polish striker European player of the year in October.

While he has won the Bundesliga in each of his first six seasons at Bayern, finishing as the league’s top scorer in four of the last five seasons, his international profile has been hurt in the past by Poland’s mediocre form and his previous failure, at Dortmund and Bayern, to win the Champions League.

Last season, however, he was spectacular as Bayern won every game in Europe including the Champions League final against Paris St Germain.

Lewandowski finished with 15 goals in the competition, five more than the next best striker, Erling Braut Haaland.

“It has not been an easy year, as it has been for the whole world, but we won everything we could win,” said the Pole. “The highlight was the victory in the Champions League final against PSG, it was a special day.”

Lucy Bronze was voted the best women’s player to give England its first individual victory at the FIFA awards. A Champions League winner with Olympique Lyonnais, she has since joined Manchester City.

Bronze got 52 points from the women’s voting jury. Pernille Harder, who helped VfL Wolfsburg to the Champions League final, finished second with 40 points and Bronze’s former Lyon team-mate Wendi Renard scored 35 points.

Elsewhere, in the mens categories, Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp was named The Best Men’s Coach for the second successive year after guiding Liverpool to a first Premier League title in 30 years.

Klopp finished tied in votes with Hansi Flick, who took over at Bayern mid-season. Klopp won in the tiebreaker of most votes from national-team coaches. Marcelo Bielsa of English second-tier champions Leeds United was third.

Lewandowski’s Bayern team-mate Manuel Neuer was named The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper.

Netherlands’ Sarina Wiegman was named The Best Women’s Coach and Sarah Bouhaddi was awarded The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper.

The Puskas Award for best goal went to Tottenham Hotspur’s South Korean striker Son Heung-min for a mazy, individual goal he scored against Burnley in the Premier League in December 2019.

Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford was honoured for his campaign to fight child poverty. FIFA made a donation of $100,000 toward his charitable work.

The Fair Play Award went to Mattia Agnese, a teenage player in Italy who saved the life of an opponent who lost consciousness after a clash of heads, while Marivaldo Francisco da Silva who walks for 11 hours to see his favorite team play in Brazil, won the Fan Award.

The Best awards began in 2017 after a brief merger with the Ballon D’Or, which was cancelled this year because of coronavirus, and the FIFA Player of the Year award, which was created in 1991.

FIFPro World XIs:

Men’s: Alisson Becker (Liverpool and Brazil), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool and England), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Netherlands), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich and Canada), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich and Germany), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium), Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool and Spain), Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal).

Women’s: Christiane Endler (PSG and Chile), Lucy Bronze (Manchester City and England), Wendie Renard (Lyon and France), Millie Bright (Chelsea and England), Delphine Cascarino (Lyon and France), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus and Italy), Veronica Boquete (AC Milan and Spain), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign and USA), Pernille Harder (Chelsea and Denmark), Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal and Netherlands), Tobin Heath (Manchester United and USA).

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2020