Cristiano Ronaldo wins special honour, Robert Lewandowski and Putellas get FIFA Best awards

Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo was recognised for becoming the highest-scoring male in international football history. 

Bayern Munich’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men’s Player award for 2021 with Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the FIFA Best Women’s Player prize at Monday’s (January) ceremony. Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded the ‘FIFA Special The Best Award’.

The Manchester United striker was recognised for becoming the highest-scoring male in international football history. “I think It’s much harder to score goals at international level these days,” said Ronaldo in 1997. "You can’t expect to score against Saudi Arabia or Australia or any other national team in the modern era. That record is not something I think about.”

Those were the words of Ronaldo in 1997. ‘O Fenômeno’ was 21, an out-and-out striker and had 20 goals in 30 caps to his name, but was trying to extinguish talk of whether he’d one day break Pele’s 77-goal Brazil record. Ronaldo went on to retire as one of the greatest marksmen in football history and with 62 goals for his country.