Soccer-Lewandowski heads FIFA award shortlist for best player of the year

Nov 25 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich's treble-winning Robert Lewandowski joined regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the shortlist for The Best FIFA Men's Player award, world soccer's governing body announced on Wednesday.

Lewandowski was top scorer for Bayern in the Champions League (15 goals), as well as the Bundesliga (34), and was a firm favourite for the Ballon d'Or award before it was scrapped this year for the first time in its 64-year history because of the novel coronavirus.

However, the Polish striker can still lay claim to being the best player if he picks up the FIFA award, which will be presented at a ceremony on Dec. 17. His former team mate and current Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara was also nominated.

Joining them on the shortlist are Champions League runners-up Paris St Germain's forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappe while Liverpool's Premier League winning trio of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane also made the cut.

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, the Premier League's player of the year last season, also made the shortlist as did Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Robert Birsel)