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Robert Lewandowski named The Best FIFA Player of the Year

Published 09:36 18 Jan 2022 GMT

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Lewandowski took the crown after recently missing out on the Ballon d'Or.

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski has been named the winner of The Best FIFA Player of the Year award for 2022. The forward was the favourite to win the prize and was up against Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and the man that beat him to the 2021 Ballon d'Or award, Lionel Messi. Several people felt the Pole was unlucky not to win the Ballon d'Or, with the award instead going to Paris Saint-Germain's Messi for a seventh time in his career.

The 33-year-old received the award at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Lewandowski has been in sensational form for Bayern, recently scoring his 300th goal for the club to follow an excellent year last season in which he beat Gerd Muller's 49-year long record to become the highest scorer in the Bundesliga across a calendar year. The forward also helped his side along to a league and cup double as well as also winning the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup. https://twitter.com/lewy_official/status/1483164070022983686

FIFA's The Best award voting.

The captain and coach of each national team each receive one vote for the award. Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny and captain Seamus Coleman both voted for Robert Lewandowski as the best male footballer in the world. The Ireland pair both voted for Italy manager Roberto Mancini as 2021's best coach. And they both voted for Italy and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma as the best 'keeper in the world.