Robert Lewandowski was named the best player in Europe last season in Geneva on Thursday evening. During the draw ceremony for the Champions League group stage, it became clear that the Bayern Munich striker had received more votes from the jury than competitors Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Neuer. Lewandowski is the successor to Virgil van Dijk, who last year until UEFA Men’s Player of the Year was proclaimed. The prize is awarded on the basis of the performance of a player in a club context and with his national team in all competitions.

The award was voted on by a jury consisting of last season’s club trainers in the Champions League (32) and the Europa League (48), as well as 55 sports journalists from Europe. Each UEFA member country is represented by one journalist. The award has been presented since 2011. So far, Cristiano Ronaldo and / or Lionel Messi have always been among the last three contenders, but this time the greats of Juventus and Barcelona respectively fell outside the top three.

UEFA previously announced that Ronaldo finished tenth in the election. The Bayern Munich duo Joshua Kimmich (ninth) and Thiago Alcántara (eighth) received slightly more votes. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) and Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) finished seventh and sixth respectively after all votes were counted. Messi (Barcelona) and Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) received equal votes and shared fourth place. The top three were kept secret until Thursday night’s draw.

Lewandowski made a big impression last season in the service of Bayern Munich. The attacker scored 55 times in 47 official games, making a significant contribution to winning the treble; with 15 goals he became the top scorer of the last Champions League season and with 6 assists he prepared the most goals. The 32-year-old Lewandowski, who won the German Supercup with Bayern on Wednesday evening, is now being awarded a prestigious individual European prize for the first time in his career. He was seen as a big contender to win the Ballon d’Or, but magazine France Football decided not to appoint a winner due to the corona crisis.

Teammate Neuer kept his goal clean six times in the Champions League season won. During the Final Eight tournament in Lisbon, Neuer performed as his club’s hero with important saves against Barcelona, ​​Olympique Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. De Bruyne equaled a record set by Thierry Henry in the Premier League last season by delivering twenty assists. He himself scored thirteen times in competition. This resulted in De Bruyne, the first Belgian ever to win the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award, was named Premier League Player of the Year last month. Among the women, Pernille Harder was named Player of the Year by UEFA.