BEVERLY HILLS, December 17, (THEWILL) – Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski crowned an epoch-making 2020 campaign by winning FIFA’s The Best award ahead of rivals Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the heart of the treble-winning campaign for the Bavarians last season, Lewandowski scored 55 goals in all competitions as Bayern recovered from a poor start to reach football royalty.
The Polish striker is the first player from outside La Liga to win the award, which is now in its fifth edition. Cristiano Ronaldo won it twice while in Real Madrid. He, Lionel Messi and Luka Modric were the previous winners.
It was a memorable day for Bayern, as aside from Lewandowski, their captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer won The Best Men’s Goalkeeper Award for the first time in his glittering career. He had finished as runner-up in 2017.
In his reaction, Neuer: “It is one of the best years of my career, we were so confident with our team and amazing what we did in 2020. We are very happy.”
But, in The Best Men’s Coach category, Bayern’s luck ran out as Jurgen Klopp overcame the odds to pip Bayern Munich’s Hansi Flick to the award after leading his Anfield side to their first domestic title in 30 years.
Klopp seemed truly flummoxed: “I am [shocked]. I was sitting here because I thought last year I won it. I am here with my players. Thank you very much, wow.”
“I have so many people to thank and most of all my coaches. If I had known we’d won it my coaches would be here with me. What we did in the last year is all about these boys.
“We didn’t dream 30 years but we dream already for a few years. It was absolutely exceptional and we all had a special year in an unfortunately not so positive way but for Liverpool fans at least we could make some highlights in a tricky period. I had no idea how it would feel and it felt absolutely overwhelming.”
The Puskas Award for the best goal went to South Korean Son Heung-min for his superb individual effort for Tottenham Hotspur against Burnley in the Premier League December 2019 tie.
“After I scored, I didn’t realise it was that amazing – after the game, I watched it again, and was thinking ‘wow, this is something special’,” Son said.
“During the game you focus, afterwards I was so surprised that I was so far away, so many people around me. It was an amazing feeling.”
The FIFA Fair Play award went to Mattia Agnese. The 17-year-old Italian rushed to an opponent’s aid during an Italian youth match after he lost consciousness, performing life-saving first aid.
It was a historic event as it was the first to take place digitally, with an audience appearing behind co-hosts Ruud Gullit and Reshmin Chowdhury via video call.
Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, led a FIFA Tribute to the healthcare staff who battled against the coronavirus pandemic on the frontlines. There were also tributes to Diego Maradona and Gerard Houllier.
Following his successful campaign against child food poverty in the UK, Manchester United Englishman Marcus Rashford was recognised with the FIFA Foundation Award.
THE BEST RESULTS
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)
THE BEST GOALKEEPER
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany)
THE BEST COACH
Hansi Flick (Bayern Munich)
PUSKAS AWARD
Son Heung-min (Tottenham vs Burnley, December 7 2019)
FIFA FIFPRO MEN’S WORLD11
Allison, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Ramos, Davies, Kimmich, De Bruyne, Thiago Alcantara, Messi, Lewandowski, Ronaldo
FIFA FAIR PLAY AWARD
Mattia Agnese (Ospedaletti)
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
