2021 Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi wins prize for seventh time

Editor's Picks

Man City vs Arsenal final score, result (FA Cup): Ake is the Citizens’ hero

28/01/2023 02:23 Harry Siuu

Leeds United beat Everton to sign Georginio Rutter

18/01/2023 04:30 Harry Siuu

Liverpool priorities Firmino contract extension

18/01/2023 12:00 Harry Siuu

1. Messi Ballon d’Or

As it happened, Lionel Messi officially beat Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to win the 2021 Ballon d’Or award for men’s football. This is the seventh time Messi wins this prestigious award, after being rewarded in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2019. 

This victory of Messi seems to be foreseen. In 2021, he played not too excellently for his clubs when just winning a title (Copa del Rey) with Barcelona and having not much breakthrough with his new club PSG. However, the 34-year-old striker reached the highest glory with the Argentina national team. He won the 2021 Copa America title and owned 2 individual awards for the 2021 Copa America Best Player and the 2021 Copa America Golden Boot. These amazing achievements helped him earn more supports from France Football voters and have huge advantages in the race for the Ballon d’Or as well. 

Messi Ballon d’Or 2021

Lewandowski, despite having an impressive season with 64 goals scoring for both Bayern Munich FC and the Poland national team, could not defeat the former Barca striker because of a lack of team titles. Whereas, Chelsea midfielder Jorginho had a wonderful year when being a member in winning squads in the Champions League (with Chelsea) and Euro 2020 (with Italy) but his individual achievement was nothing too outstanding. 

Messi led the race with 613 points. Following him in the Top 5 are Lewandowski with 580 points, Jorginho with 460 points, Benzema with 239 points, and Kante with 186 points respectively. Here below is the specific list of the Top 10 players for the Ballon d’Or this year. 

2. Other Awards of France Football

On the same night, other awards apart from the Ballon d’Or for men’s football were also named. 

Women's Ballon d'Or award

Alexia Putellas has won the women’s Ballon d’Or after an amazing year for Barcelona FC in which she helped the team to a dominant treble. The 27-year-old midfielder and her Barca teammates won all the Spanish league, Spanish Cup, and Champions League for women this year. In addition, she impressed every people when captaining the team in the 2020-21 season, scoring in both cup finals and having had 37 goals and 27 assists this calendar year. 

Alexia Putellas

Yashin Trophy

The award for the best goalkeeper in the world this year belonged to Gianluigi Donnarumma. 

Italy’s No1 played an important role in their Euro 2020 triumph with incredible penalty shootout saves and kept a miserly defensive record throughout the competition. He was also named the Player of the Tournament. At the age of 22, the young goalie fought off competition from Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy, who has been outstanding under Thomas Tuchel for Chelsea. 

Gianluigi Donnarumma

Kopa Trophy

Another name from Barcelona was named at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris yesterday. It was Pedri when he was awarded the prestigious Kopa Trophy, presenting to the best young player in men’s football. 

Pedri is just 19 years old this year but he has enjoyed a breakthrough season in the Barcelona first team. The La Masia’s young talent featured in 37 of their 38 league matches and also established himself as one of the most potential players in the Spain national team. He displayed supreme technique and balance on the ball reminiscent of one of his idols, Andres Iniesta.

He was voted Young Player of the Tournament at Euro 2020 this summer and was the only Spanish player to be named in Euros’ Team of the Tournament, before going on to play at the Tokyo Olympics too. In total, Pedri played an extraordinary 73 games for club and country in the 2020-21 season. 

Pedri

Striker of the Year

Bayern Munich and Poland striker Lewandowski was not handed the Ballon d’Or but his breathtaking achievements were compensated with the Striker of the Year Award. This is one of the two new awards at this year’s event, which was announced just before the shortlist ranking started to be revealed. 

Lewandowski’s free-scoring consistency made him a favorite to win the 2020 Ballon d’Or but it was canceled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. He was then among the contenders to win this year’s award with wonderful individual results before Messi claimed the prize.

Robert Lewandowski

Club of the Year

Another new award of France Football at the Ballon d’Or 2021 ceremony this year is the Award for the Club of the Year. Chelsea were crowned this award.

The Blues had a number of individuals all aiming for awards at the Ballon d’Or 2021 but none of them won an award. Instead, the whole team were identified as the best club of the year thanks to their overwhelming achievements. Chelsea are the reigning Champions League winners in the 2020-21 season and they are now the leaders in the 2021-22 Premier League. The English club have gorgeous players and their playing style is also diverse and creative, making them one of the best clubs in the world now.

Chelsea crowned club of the year

Reference Sources

• independent.co.uk
• theguardian.com