Winners on the night of the 2021 Ballon D’or awards
This year’s Women’s Ballon d’Or was awarded to Barcelona superstar Alexia Putellas. Putellas’ Blaugrana team-mate Jennifer Hermoso finished just behind her with Chelsea forward Sam Kerr finishing third on the podium.
Putellas, who was an integral part of Barcelona’s treble-winning side with 18 goals and 12 assists in the Primera División, scored in the 4-0 Champions League final victory against the WSL champions Chelsea and was named in the tournament’s squad of the season.
The midfielder has already been named Uefa’s Women’s Player of the Year for her stellar performances and she has followed up last season with a strong opening to this campaign, including a four-minute hat-trick against Valencia.
Champions League winners Chelsea won the ‘Club of the Year’ award after the men’s and women’s teams of the Blues had a successful year, thanks to the efforts of Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma bagged the Lev Yashin award following his heroics with Italy in their European Championship winning run.
Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy could only manage a second-place finish, while Atletico Madrid custodian Jan Oblak came third.
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Although Lewandowski missed out on the Ballon d’Or, he won the newly announced ‘Striker of the Year’ award.
The 33-year-old deservingly bagged the award after breaking Gerd Muller’s long-standing Bundesliga goalscoring record, having netted 41 goals last term.
Barcelona’s teenage midfielder Pedri, who recently agreed a long-term contract extension which includes a €1bn (£846m) release clause, was named the winner of the Kopa Trophy, the best under-21 player of 2021.
The 19-year-old was presented with the award by the former Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro.
Borussia Dortmund teenager Jude Bellingham finished second, while Bayern Munich attacker Jamal Musiala came third.
The biggest award of the night went to Lionel Andres Messi, bagging his seventh Ballon D’or.
Robert Lewandowski came second with Jorginho third on the podium after helping Chelsea and Italy win the Champions League and European Championship respectively.
Wrapping up the top ten on the Ballon D’or list was Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema placing fourth, Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante fifth , Manchester United’s Ronaldo sixth, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah seventh, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne eighth, P.S.G duo Kylian Mbappe and Gianluigi Donnarumma ninth and tenth respectively.
