Awards
Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso, world top scorer, aspire to the award for the best player of the year
Robert Lewandowski, Leo Messi and Mohamed Salah are the three finalists for The Best of 2021 award, the FIFA award that recognizes the best footballer of the year and which will be awarded on the 17th in Zurich. In the female category, the Spanish Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso (Barcelona) aspire, along with the Australian Sam Kerr (Chelsea), to the award for the best player, with the winner of the Ballon d’Or also favorite to win the trophy that since 2016 has been awarded the highest international body.
Lewandowski opts for the second The Best of his career after winning that of the last edition held in 2020, like Messi, who did it in 2019. For Salah it is the second time he has entered the final list of candidates, after finishing third in 2018, after Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Polish striker for Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga and the German Super Cup in 2021, in addition to scoring no less than 69 goals in the calendar year, while Messi won the Cup with Barça and the Copa América with Argentina, after leaving the Barça club and before signing for Paris Saint-Germain. In the case of Salah, despite the fact that Liverpool’s Egyptian striker closed the year without titles, he has left Karim Benzema out of the shortlist of finalists.
Among women, Alexia Putellas is the great candidate to also be recognized with The Best after the Ballon d’Or and the best player award for UEFA. Once again, the Catalan midfielder will have as her main rival Jennifer Hermoso, Silver Ball and top scorer in world women’s football, with 51 goals (35 in the First Iberdrola, nine in the Champions League, one in the Queen’s Cup and six with Spain ). Alexia Putellas, however, scored 43 goals in the year just ended.
The Best award is decided by the captains and coaches of all national federations affiliated with FIFA. Each of them awards five points to the first classified, three to the second and one to the third.
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