Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski will not be awarded the Ballon d’Or for his incredible performances in 2020, the director of the prize Nicolas Manissier has said.
Following a remarkable 2019/20 season with Bayern Munich, in which Lewandowski scored 55 goals and set up a further ten en route to winning a Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions League treble, it was widely expected that the Pole would win the most prestigious prize in football at a canter.
But the Covid-19 pandemic saw France Football decide to scrap the award for 2020 - the only time since the prize's creation in 1954 that it has not been bestowed upon a player.
There have been calls ever since for Lewandowski to be retrospectively handed the award, and recent speculation has suggested his remarkable achievements would indeed be rewarded. But Manissier has gone on record to downplay those claims, suggesting it would be immoral for the Ballon d'Or committee to consider making an exception.
“We are not considering awarding the Ballon d’Or to Robert Lewandowski for 2020," Manissier told Cadena SER (via Sport). "As an institution, we have our own regulations that we rigorously respect.”
Lewandowski has spoken publicly of his disappointment at failing to win the award, and told German newspaper BILD in a recent interview: "In 2020 and 2021 I had the best years of my career.
"Recently a friend sent me statistics: I scored 100 goals in 85 games.
"Of course I would have liked to receive the Ballon d'Or one day. It's not that I'm angry or sad that I don't have this trophy yet, but my feeling is that I could have won it either year.
"Let's put it this way: if I received the 2020 Ballon d'Or four years later, I wouldn't be offended. It would be a great honour and I would accept the award."
While the Ballon d'Or trophy may be missing from Lewandowski's mantlepiece, there's very little he has failed to win in an illustrious career at the top of the game. The 35-year-old won La Liga in his first season with Barcelona, as well as the Supercopa de Espana, having accrued a whopping ten Bundesliga titles during his time with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern.
He has also won the European Golden Shoe twice - awarded to the player with the most goals scored in a top division across the continent - and the Best FIFA Men's Player award twice.