Neuer ignores Messi, CR7 chooses Lewandowski: That’s how it was voted
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Robert Lewandowski from FC Bayern Munich is in the lead when it comes to the FIFA World Player of the Year election. We’ll show you how the election went.
Robert Lewandowski from FC Bayern Munich secured the 2021 world football title by a narrow margin. After counting all the votes, the Pole prevailed with 48 total points ahead of Lionel Messi (44 points) and Mohamed Salah (39 points).
An international jury consisting of the current coaches of all men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all men’s national teams, one specialist journalist from each country with a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com were eligible to vote. They were all allowed to award points to the final eleven players – five for first place, three for second place and one for third place.
Neuer ignores Messi
After the FIFA Gala in Zurich, FIFA published the complete list of all votes cast. There were again some curious and surprising findings: Manuel Neuer, the Bayern keeper, who had to give up his title as FIFA world goalkeeper to Edouard Mendy from Chelsea, awarded five points to his Bayern teammate Lewandowski as captain of the German national team , but none to Messi, who had won the Ballon d’Or just a few weeks ago.
As Argentina captain, Messi gave five points to his PSG colleague Neymar, Lewandowski went away empty-handed, while Cristiano Ronaldo (Captain Portugal) gave the Bayern striker five points.
National coach Hansi Flick also saw Lewandowski ahead of Salah and Kylian Mbappe. Argentina’s national coach Lionel Scaloni, on the other hand, unsurprisingly awarded his five points to Messi.
Haaland with Taiwan coach in front
Aside from Messi, few others saw Neymar as the player of the year, such as Brazil captain Thiago Silva or Laos national team coach Selvaraj Vengadasalam.
BVB striker Erling Haaland, on the other hand, is apparently very popular in Taiwan. The Norwegian was put in first place by nation coach Yeh Hsien-Chung.
Fans: Messi clear ahead of Lewandowski
Unsurprisingly, Messi received more than twice as many votes as Lewandowski in the fan poll. The Pole probably still has to work on his worldwide popularity.