IT was another stunning year for Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole netted an incredible 69 goals for club and country during 2021, earning him the coveted Fifa Best Award at the annual Zurich ceremony.
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But some fans are confused as to why he won this award when Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or back in November.
Why did Robert Lewandowski win Fifa Best award when Lionel Messi won Ballon d'Or?
Now held yearly, the Fifa Best Awards in their current form were first held in 2016.
Within the ceremony, Fifa crowns their Men's Player of the Year with Lewandowski triumphing for the past two.
To explain why the Bayern foward won this award and Messi the Ballon d'Or for 2021, it's necessary to dive in the history books a little bit.
The Fifa World Player of the Year award was originally handed out between 1991 and 2010, with coaches, international captains and the media voting for the gong.
Winners of this award included Lothar Matthaus, Marco Van Vasten, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.
In 2010, the award was merged with France Football's yearly Ballon d'Or, creating the Fifa Ballon d'Or in a partnership deal signed for six years.
This merger stayed until 2016, when the mutual agreement ceased and the awards were once again split into two.
Since then, both have been held yearly with different voting systems in place – and that is why different players can win each.
The Ballon d'Or sees journalists from France Football magazine cast their votes in a points-based system, which sees players receive votes depending on their ranking by each juror.
These points are then added together, with the player receiving the highest number of points presented with the award.
For the Fifa Best Award, the organisation incorporate a 'four-pillar' approach to the voting.
This gives media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and fans via the Fifa website a 25 percent say in the final result.
Since the two awards became separate again in 2016, the winners had been the same up until Lewandowski's 2021 win (excluding 2020 where the Ballon d'Or was cancelled due to Covid-19).
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Fifa Best Award winners (since 2016)
- 2016 – Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2017 – Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2018 – Luka Modric
- 2019 – Lionel Messi
- 2020 – Robert Lewandowski
- 2021 – Robert Lewandowski
Ballon d'Or winners
- 2016 – Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2017 – Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2018 – Luka Modric
- 2019 – Lionel Messi
- 2020 – CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
- 2021 – Lionel Messi
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