Chelsea and Tottenham have enjoyed success in The Best FIFA 2021 awards ceremony with Thomas Tuchel, Edouard Mendy, Emma Hayes and Erik Lamela all scooping up awards.
Despite recent disappointments for both clubs on the field which included a postponement in the North London Derby for Spurs and a 1-0 loss for Chelsea against Man City, both teams ended up celebrating mini victories in the award ceremony that took place on Monday evening.
First off, Edouard Mendy enacted revenge on Gianluigi Donnarumma with a well deserved acknowledgement from FIFA for the impact the Senegalese has had since moving to west London from Rennes in the summer of 2020.
Next up, former Spurs winger Erik Lamela was the victor in the Puskas category with his wonderful Rabona in the 2-1 derby defeat for the Lilywhites last season at the hands of the Gunners.
Then the Chelsea domination continued as Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes scooped up the awards for the best men's and women's coaches of 2021 with both winning more silverware for a club that is prone to success since the Roman Abramovich era started all those years ago.
When asked how he feels on receiving the award by the legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, Tuchel said on FIFA's stream of the event: "It was a pretty normal day so far at the training centre.
"I've just come from training because we have a game tomorrow but now you opened my envelope and said my name, so it's just pretty surreal and I'm overwhelmed- I feel a little bit uncomfortable actually."
He then added on future aims as a Blues manager: "I enjoy the journey and I enjoy the club in the moment- the company on the journey is so good, so I'm grateful to have good people around me and to feel so good in such a competitive club.
"We lost a big track to Manchester City in the league but in every other competition, we follow our goals still and we try and be the best versions of ourselves and compete at the highest levels.
"I'm a huge admirer of Arsene Wenger's work so it's exciting to be here with you and have this little talk, so I try my best to fulfil our dreams.
Then came the men's team of the year for 2021 and it was no surprise to see the Chelsea midfield duo of Jorginho and N'Golo Kante make up the foundations of a simply out of this world first eleven that included the likes of Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski spearheading the attack.
On the other side of the spectrum, for the women's team of the year, Chelsea defender Millie Bright made the cut alongside Arsenal's serial goalscorer Vivianne Miedema
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news for the west Londoners with star striker in the women's team Sam Kerr losing out to Alexia Putellas in the player of the year category.
Without further ado, football.london rounds up all the award winners from the ceremony that was held in the Swiss capital (Zurich).
Winner of Special Award - Christine Sinclair
Winner of men's goalkeeper of the year award - Edouard Mendy
Winner of women's goalkeeper of the year award - Christiane Endler
Winner of the Puskas Award - Erik Lamela
Winner of the Fair Play Award - Denmark national football team
Winner of women's coach of the year - Emma Hayes
Winner of men's coach of the year - Thomas Tuchel
Winner of fan award - Denmark and Finland national football team
FIFPro Women's World XI - Endler; Bronze, Bright, Renard, Eriksson; Banini, Lloyd, Bonasera; Marta, Morgan, Miedema.
FIFPro Men's World XI - Gianluigi Donnarumma, David Alaba, Ruben Dias, Leonardo Bonucci, Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandoski, Lionel Messi.
Winner of The Best Women's Player - Alexia Putellas
Winner of The Best Men's Player - Robert Lewandowski
Winner of the Special Award for scoring 150 goals on the international stage - Cristiano Ronaldo
