The Best FIFA Football Awards 2020: Messi did not vote for Ronaldo, Klopp surprise winner
Robert Lewandowski and Lucy Bronze won the top honours at The Best FIFA Football Awards this year. Here's a look who voted for whom.
Published : Dec 18, 2020 18:52 IST
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) | Thiago Alcantara | Neymar | Kevin De Bruyne |
| Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | Neymar | Kylian Mbappe | Robert Lewandowski |
| Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) | Robert Lewandowski | Lionel Messi | Kylian Mbappe |
| Sunil Chhetri (India) | Robert Lewandowski | Kevin De Bruyne | Sadio Mane |
| Igor Stimac (Head coach, India) | Sadio Mane | Mohamed Salah | Virgil Van Dijk |
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Ashalata Debi Loitongbam (India) | Lucy Bronze | Wendie Renard | Saki Kumagai |
| Maymol Rocky (Head coach, India) | Sam Kerr | Vivianne Miedema | Ji So-yun |
| Phil Neville (coach, England) | Lucy Bronze | Vivianne Miedema | Dzenifer Marozsan |
| Pernille Harder (Chelsea/ ex-Wolfsburg) | Vivianne Miedema | Sam Kerr | Ji So-yun |
| Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands) | Sadio Mane | Mohamed Salah | Virgil Van Dijk |
| Marta Vieira Da Silva (Brazil) | Pernille Harder | Jennifer Hermoso | Vivianne Miedema |
| Christine Sinclair (Canada) | Pernille Harder | Delphine Cascarino | Vivianne Miedema |
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Ashalata Debi Loitongbam (India) | Lluis Cortes | Stephan Lerch | Emma Hayes |
| Maymol Rocky (Head coach, India) | Sarina Wiegman | Jean-Luc Vasseur | Emma Hayes |
| Phil Neville (Head coach, England) | Emma Hayes | Jean-Luc Vasseur | Sarina Wiegman |
| Pernille Harder (Chelsea/ex-Wolfsburg) | Emma Hayes | Stephan Lerch | Jean-Luc Vasseur |
| Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands) | Jean-Luc Vasseur | Stephan Lerch | Emma Hayes |
| Marta Vieira Da Silva (Brazil) | Jean-Luc Vasseur | Stephan Lerch | Vivianne Miedema |
| Christine Sinclair (Canada) | Sarina Wiegman | Jean-Luc Vasseur | Emma Hayes |
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) | Hansi Flick | Jurgen Klopp | Julen Lopetegui |
| Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | Hansi Flick | Marcelo Bielsa | Julen Lopetegui |
| Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) | Hansi Flick | Zinedine Zidane | Julen Lopetegui |
| Sunil Chhetri (India) | Hansi Flick | Jurgen Klopp | Marcelo Bielsa |
| Igor Stimac (Head coach, India) | Jurgen Klopp | Marcelo Bielsa | Hansi Flick |
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) | Manuel Neuer | Marc-André ter Stegen | Alisson Becker |
| Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | Keylor Navas | Manuel Neuer | Jan Oblak |
| Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) | Keylor Navas | Jan Oblak | Manuel Neuer |
| Sunil Chhetri (India) | Manuel Neuer | Jan Oblak | Alisson Becker |
| Igor Stimac (Head coach, India) | Alisson Becker | Alisson Becker | Jan Oblak |
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.
| Player/coach | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 |
| Ashalata Debi Loitongbam (India) | Ann-Katrin Berger | Sarah Bouhaddi | Hedvig Lindahl |
| Maymol Rocky (Head coach, India) | Sarah Bouhaddi | Alyssa Naeher | Ann-Katrin Berger |
| Phil Neville (Head coach, England) | Christiane Endler | Sarah Bouhaddi | Ellie Roebuck |
| Pernille Harder (Chelsea/ex-Wolfsburg) | Christiane Endler | Ann-Katrin Berger | Hedvig Lindahl |
| Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands) | Christiane Endler | Alyssa Naeher | Ellie Roebuck |
| Marta Vieira Da Silva (Brazil) | Hedvig Lindahl | Christiane Endler | Alyssa Naeher |
| Christine Sinclair (Canada) | Christiane Endler | Hedvig Lindahl | Sarah Bouhaddi |