After winning his seventh Ballon d'Or in November, Lionel Messi made time in his acceptance speech to say Robert Lewandowski deserved his own Ballon d'Or. But apparently Messi didn't think the Bayern star deserved the FIFA Player of the Year award, leaving Lewandowski off his three-player ballot entirely.
In the end, it didn't matter. Lewandowski still won his second straight Best FIFA Men's Player award after outlasting Messi and Mohamed Salah in the voting, which is decided in four equal parts by fans, media representatives, and the captains and managers of national teams.
For The Best FIFA Women's Player, Barcelona's Alexia Putellas became the second woman after Megan Rapinoe to complete an award sweep after winning the Ballon d'Or Féminin late last year.