Lewandowski wins European Golden Shoe award

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Polish football star Robert Lewandowski on Wednesday was awarded the European Golden Shoe, winning the award in back-to-back years.

Now a Barcelona forward, Lewandowski scored 35 goals for his ex-club Bayern Munich in the 2021-22 German Bundesliga season to bag this prestigious award for a second time.

The European Golden Shoe award was given to the top scorer of the European leagues each season.

Lewandowski, who received his award from former Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, thanked his former team and teammates for this honor.

The 34-year-old, who will play for Poland in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, emphasized that Brazil and Argentina are favorites in the organization and it will be a difficult tournament.

Former Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is still the record holder with six European Golden Shoe awards.

The prestigious award was first given to Portuguese football legend Eusebio da Silva Ferreira - largely known as Eusebio - in the 1967-68 season as he scored 42 goals for Benfica.

Tanju Colak became the only Turkish player to win this award with 39 goals scored for Galatasaray in the 1987-88 season.