On the evening of January 7, Beijing time, FIFA announced the final candidate for the 2021 World Footballer of the Year Top Three. In the end, Argentine superstar Messi, Polish striker Lewandowski and Egyptian "Pharaoh" Salah were shortlisted.
Last year's second-place winner, Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, missed out on the top three. This is the first time in nearly 5 years that a Portuguese superstar has missed the top three of FIFA's Best Player.
In 2015, after FIFA separated from the Ballon d'Or, FIFA launched the Best Player of the Year award( the Best), after five years, Ronaldo was all shortlisted for the top three and won the FIFA Best Player of 2016 and 2017. Further ahead, since the first time in 2007 to be shortlisted for the top three of FIFA Player of the Year, Ronaldo has not been selected as a FIFA player for the second time in nearly 14 years, the first time in 2010.
In 2016, he defeated Messi and Griezmann, and in 2017, he defeated Messi and Neymar. In 2018, Ronaldo was still in the top three, but second after Real Madrid teammate Modric. In 2019, Messi won the Ballon d'Or and World Footballer of the Year, while Cristiano Ronaldo ranked Third in the World Footballer of the Year, behind Messi and Van Dijk. Last year, Ronaldo scored 38 points and beat Messi's 35 points, but he still lost to Levan, who scored 52 points.
In the past 2021, although Cristiano Ronaldo won the Italian Cup with Juve, he lost the defending title in Serie A, and he transferred to Manchester United last summer, although the personal data is good, but the United record has dropped sharply compared to last season. Coupled with last summer's European Championship, the Portuguese men's football team led by C Ronaldo stopped in the round of 16 and did not have the opportunity to defend the title. Poor results are obviously an important reason why Ronaldo missed the top three world footballers for the first time.