Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and Manchester City's Lucy Bronze pipped a competitive field in their respective categories to win the Best Player of the Year awards at FIFA's annual football awards on Thursday.
Jurgen Klopp earned a surprise second consecutive Men's coach of the Year honour for his Premier League success with Liverpool while Sarina Wiegman won the Women's honour for her work with the Dutch national team.
Held virtually from Zurich, Switzerland due to safety concerns arising due to the coronavirus pandemic, the awards are voted on by selected members of the media, national team captains and coaches as well as fans.
From Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to Sunil Chhetri and Maymol Rocky closer home, here's how the who's who of the international footballing community voted this year.
Full list of winners:
Category: FIFA Men's Player of the Year
Winner: Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich)
This was a hard category for Bayern's Lewandowski, pitted against veterans Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. His performances on the field in Bayern's domestic and Champions League campaigns set him apart from the rest.
Lewandowski and Messi went for safe voting options, while Ronaldo got his top pick right. The Juventus striker did not figure in Messi or Lewandowski's lists, while both featured in Ronaldo's.
Full list of votes here.
Category: FIFA Women's Player of the Year
Winner: Lucy Bronze (England/Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais)
Lucy Bronze and Pernille Harder faced off against each other in the final of the UEFA Women's Champions League. Much like in the summit clash, Bronze got the better of Harder. The former Lyon and current Manchester City player won this year's award, succeeding Megan Rapinoe in the honour roll.
Category: FIFA Women's Coach of the Year
Winner: Sarina Wiegman (The Netherlands)
Sarina Wiegman beat Chelsea's Emma Hayes and PSG's Jean-Luc Vasseur to add FIFA coaching honours for 2020 to her name. Wiegman will leave her position with the Dutch women's national team and succeed Phil Neville in the England setup in 2021.
Category: FIFA Men's Coach of the Year
Winner: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Jurgen Klopp was as surprised as several people watching the broadcast were when he was declared the winner of this category. Hansi Flick's domestic and European triumphs earned him the favourite tag to help Bayern sweep the awards, however Klopp took home the honour for helping Liverpool to its first Premier League title and its top-flight title in 30 years.
Category: FIFA Men's Goalkeeper of the Year
Winner: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
It was relatively obvious that this contest would boil down to two contestants - Alisson Becker (Liverpool) and Manuel Neuer (Bayern). The latter walked away with the honour setting into motion a very successful night for his Bundesliga side.
Interestingly, this is a category
Messi and
Ronaldo nearly voted identically in.
Category: FIFA Women's Goalkeeper of the Year
Winner: Sarah Bouhaddi (Olympique Lyonnais)
Sarah Bouhaddi's win in this category opened up questions as to why she didn't make it to the FIFPro Women's World XI while Christiane Endler did.
Comments
SHARE