At the age of 32, Robert Lewandowski was named The Best FIFA Men's Player for the first time. The Bayern Munich striker snapped a sequence of La Liga-based players winning FIFA's top individual award at 11 successive years.
FIFA: 2020 in numbers
The FIFA Council approved no less than USD 1.5 billion for the COVID-19 relief plan that is designed to support the footballing community in three separate phases – one of a number of reasons that gives us hope of a brighter future.
Tigres finally won the Concacaf Champions League final at the fourth attempt. After losing the final in 2016, 2017 and 2019, they finally broke their duck with a 2-1 win over Los Angeles FC, which also saw them qualify for February's FIFA Club World Cup™.
Five important measures were jointly handed down by the World Health Organization (WHO) and FIFA in March in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This message is still every bit as important now as it was back then.
Bayern Munich won 8-2 in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals to hand Barcelona their worst defeat in 69 years. This was the first time that Barça had ever shipped eight goals in European competition. Fans were reminded of Germany’s 7-1 win over the hosts in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ semi-finals, not least because a number of Bayern players and coach Hansi Flick (who was one of Joachim Low’s assistants) were involved at the time. Bayern went on to win the competition and ended the calendar year with a perfect haul of five titles. They will be looking to round out the half-dozen in February at the FIFA Club World Cup™.
12 matches were all Erling Haaland needed to reach 15 goals in the UEFA Champions League – easily a record.
Liverpool finally ended their wait to be English top-flight champions at 30 years. The Reds recorded a 99-point haul and secured the trophy seven matches before the end of the season – two outstanding achievements.
Germany's 6-0 defeat by Spain in the UEFA Nations League was their heaviest in 89 years. West Germany lost by the same score to Austria's Matthias Sindelar-inspired Wunderteam in 1931.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s double against Sweden in September and goal against Andorra last month moved him on to 102 Portugal goals, just seven shy of former IR Iran forward Ali Daei.
Christine Sinclair broke USA legend Abby Wambach's 184-goal international scoring record in January. The Canada forward now has 186.
Lionel Messi moved on to 644 goals for Barcelona in late December, putting him ahead of the legendary Pele in terms of the most goals scored for one club. Two months earlier ‘The Atomic Flea’ became the first player to score in 16 successive UEFA Champions League seasons.
1442 projects had been deemed worthy of support by the FIFA Forward Programme as of 30 October 2020. This great new interactive map shows you exactly where the funds have been used around the world.
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