Following FIFA‘s ‘The Best’ awards ceremony, voting has been revealed to show how each international captain’s picks for the top three players of 2021.
Bayern Munich‘s Robert Lewandowski picked up the prestigious Men’s Player of the Year award for the second time following a prolific 2021 in attack for the Bundesliga giants.
The revealed votes paint an interesting picture as to how the Polish forward claimed the award, with many of Lewandowski’s opposition voting for him.
Robert Lewandowski did not attend the awards in person as he won Men’s Player of the Year
The Polish forward received the award for a second successive year after flourishing in 2021
The document shows that international captains Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo all voted for the 33-year-old as their number one pick for the award.
Interestingly, Chelsea’s Jorginho received a number of votes to win the award, with Mohamed Salah, Lewandowski and England coach Gareth Southgate all voting for the Italian.
Manchester United’s Ronaldo barely appeared in people’s top three votes, with the Portuguese star snubbed by former teammates such as Luka Modric and Bale.
Despite a number of injury struggles over the course of 2021, Lionel Messi voted for Neymar as ‘The Best’ player of the year, with fellow Frenchmen Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema rounding off the Argentine’s top three picks.
England boss Gareth Southgate (right) voted for Jorginho (left) as the Men’s Player of the Year
Elsewhere there was controversy as a number of Premier League players missed out on ‘The Best’ XI of 2021, despite being nominated and winning other awards on the night.
Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy won the FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year award but was omitted from ‘The Best’ XI with PSG’s Gianluigi Donarumma instead taking the goalkeeper position.
Mohamed Salah came in the top three for the Player of the Year award, which makes his omission from a starting XI including four attackers, even stranger.
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