What you missed from The Best FIFA gala

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FIFA held its annual The Best awards gala in Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday, in which world soccer’s governing body heralded the biggest successes and achievements of the past year, with Robert Lewandowski and Alexia Putellas going home with the big individual awards.

Prolific Bayern Munich and Poland striker Lewandowski was crowned The Best FIFA Men’s Player for the second successive year after he scored 51 goals in 44 games in 2021 for club and country, finishing as the Bundesliga’s top scorer and winning his ninth German top flight-title in the process.

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Lewandowski ties Cristiano Ronaldo for the most The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards (two apiece), with Luka Modric and Lionel Messi the only other male stars to have collected the accolade since its introduction in 2016.

Despite appearing on the shortlist for the very first time, Barcelona midfielder Putellas was named The Best FIFA Women’s Player. The 27-year-old, who captained Barca to the Treble in 2021-22 and became Spain’s all-time record appearance maker in October, can add the trophy to the Ballon d’Or she won last month.

While few could argue with the Player of the Year awards, the announcement of the 2021 FIFA FIFPRO World 11s caused more than a little consternation in both the men’s and women’s categories.

Mohamed Salah was once again spurned as the Liverpool forward missed out on a spot despite being nominated for the men’s individual award. The Egypt international, who hit some of the best form of his career in 2021, also finished a lowly seventh in the voting for the Ballon d’Or. Just to rub it in a little more, Salah also missed out on a spot despite FIFA implementing a truly baffling 3-3-4 formation in order to squeeze an inordinate number of forwards into their World 11.