The award was determined by journalists from FIFA's national associations. Only one journalist per country can vote. Those participating get to vote for five players. They are allowed to select players who play in or are affiliated with their own country.

Graphics, posted on Twitter by @TheEuropeanLad, show how every journalist voted in the 2021 Ballon d'Or.

According to the information, Uzbekistan’s Grigoriy Rtveladze ranked Kylian Mbappe first and Chelsea’s Mason Mount – second, ahead of Messi. He didn’t include Robert Lewandowski in his TOP-5 at all, for which many football fans around the world started criticizing him.

A screenshot of Rtveladze’s private messages with one of the Instagram users is also going viral on social networks.

He asked the journalist how come he did not pick Lewandowski in the TOP-5, to which Rtveladze supposedly answered: “He isn’t fast enough. Plus, he doesn’t do skills in real life.” The representative of Uzbekistan attached Lewandowski’s FIFA 22 card in his message, which shows the player’s pace stats at 78.

Many football fans expressed their anger and amusement at how one can make a decision based on video game stats.

Rtveladze added that: “Also, he hasn’t won anything with Germany.”

Robert Lewandowski is not from Germany, he is from Poland and only plays for a German club – FC Bayern München.