WORLD SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Robert LEWANDOWSKI 2021
Cover star…back-to-back
Two in a row for Lewandowski
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ince the World Soccer awards first began in 1982, only Michel Platini, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have ever been named World Player of the Year in back-to-back years. Now, Robert Lewandowski’s name can be added to that illustrious list. Continuing where he left off in 2020, the Bayern Munich and Poland striker was in scintillating goalscoring form once again as he surpassed the seemingly unbreakable Bundesliga record of the late, great Gerd Muller. With 41 league goals, he overtook the Bayern legend’s tally from the 1971-72 campaign, thereby securing his first-ever European Golden Shoe. For most of our panel, that was enough to win their vote. Still, missing out on the Champions League, or international glory with Poland, meant that Lewandowski’s competition for this year’s award was much stiffer than last year. Winning the Copa America with Argentina put Lionel Messi right back in contention after finishing a distant third in 2020; Jorginho becoming a European champion for club and country made the Italian a popular choice, while Mo Salah’s breathtaking start to the season put him right among the contenders too. UEFA Player of the Year Jorginho can console himself by being one of
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR
the key men in this year’s World Soccer Men’s Team of the Year: Italy. Their boss, Roberto Mancini, was also a runaway leader in the Men’s Manager of the Year, with only Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel rivalling them as challengers. It is rare for a team to win the award while also ending their year so disappointingly. Italy’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup automatically was made all the more surprising by their excellence in the summer. In the women’s categories, there was a clean sweep for European champions
Barcelona, the coach that guided them to last season’s Champions League, Lluis Cortes, and their captain, Alexia Putellas. But back to the men’s World Player award, and of all the elite players to have been overshadowed by the astonishing achievements of Messi and Ronaldo in the last decade, few have remained as consistently prolific as Lewandowski. He may have had to wait until beyond his 30th birthday, but the Poland marksman has now moved out of that shadow and established himself as the world’s best centre-forward.
Lewandowski… two-time winner
