Lewandowski received the most votes from an international jury of national coaches, captains of national teams, journalists and fans. This involved an assessment of the candidates in a period from October 8, 2020 to August 7, 2021.
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) were the other two remaining candidates for the accolade.
Cristiano Ronaldo (2016, 2017), Luka Modric (2018), Messi (2019) and Lewandowski (2020) were the previous winners of the award, which has been awarded annually since 2016.
