With voting under way in this year’s GOAL50, fans around the world are having their say on which men’s and women’s players had the best 2021.
Our team of writers are also getting involved, revealing their top 10s this week.
GOAL Nigeria Chief Editor Shina Oludare has now compiled his list, which you can see below.
Remember, though, you can still cast more votes. The polls are open until November 16!
Karim Benzema
Benzema seems to have fitted in perfectly into Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring shoes following the Portuguese great’s departure from Santiago Bernabeu.
While some of his colleagues are bidding the beautiful game goodbye at 33, the Frenchman appears to be getting better game after game.
Lionel Messi
Barcelona’s sub-standard performance in the 2021-22 campaign no doubt will affect Messi’s chances of making the top five, his performance at Copa America will surely not be overlooked.
The pint-sized forward single-handedly help Argentina rule South America for the 15th time ever – scoring four goals and five assists – which earned him the competition’s Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards.
Paul Onuachu
Absurd as this choice could appear, the goalscoring machine’s exploit in 2021 speaks volume of his talent.
Onuachu was sensational for Belgian side Genk – scoring 33 league goals in 38 matches played.
Apart from winning the Belgian First Division A top scorer prize, he was named Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year for the 2020–21 season, while helping the Smurfs win the Belgian Cup.
With his performance, moving to a big club now appears to be just a matter of time.
Edouard Mendy
The tale of Chelsea’s Champions League triumph in the 2020-21 season will be incomplete without mentioning the Senegal international’s involvement. Despite taking part in the competition for the first time as well, the African star was a beast in the Blues’ goal – as he made crucial saves to deny some of the best strikers in Europe.
With nine clean sheets, Mendy joined an extremely exclusive club that boasts Santiago Canizares and Keylor Navas – being the most ever by a goalkeeper in their debut campaign in the European tournament.
That earned him the Goalkeeper of the season prize ahead of Thibaut Courtois and Ederson. His showing still got me questioning why he was snubbed from the Ballon d’Or list.
Mohamed Salah
Although many would argue that the Egyptian phenomenon did not will any title in 2021, that will surely not rub Salah of some shine as he was a predator in front of goal.
Even at that, no one would rule out his contributions to Egypt in their quest to qualify for Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Robert Lewandowski
Talk about consistency, it would be difficult to ignore the Poland international’s contributions.
The tireless goal machine scored 41 goals for Bayern Munich – to eclipse a domestic mark set by Gerd Muller
Overall, he found the net on 56 occasions for club and country in the 2021-22 campaign – a mark that no other striker achieved in Europe.
Unfortunately, his goals could not stop the White and Reds from crashing out of Euro 2020’s group stage.