Poland’s Robert Lewandowski
World’s Best Footballer
Polish star striker Robert Lewandowski has been named the world’s best player in the world’s most popular sport by FIFA, the international soccer authority. With 63 international goals to his credit, the 32-year-old Pole beat out such all-time football greats as Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the title. Lewandowski, who play for Germany’s Bayern Munich, has scored 250 goals in the Bundesliga (Germany’s major league) and has won the league’s Top Scorer Award five times. He is also the all-time top scorer for Poland, has been named Polish Player of the Year a record eight times and in 2015 won the World’s Top Goal Scorer Award. Lewandowski was also awarded four Guinness World Records after scoring a spectacular five goals in only nine minutes against Germany’s Wolfsburg team in 2015. He is the first Polish athlete to win a “world’s greatest” award since 1974, when that title went to runner Irena Szewińska in the track and field category.
By Robert Strybel