Polish amputee beats Richarlison and takes Puskás

Brazil’s only representative at The Best, striker Richarlison, from Tottenham, did not win the Puskás Award. The honor was granted by Fifa to the Polish amputee player Marcin Oleksy, who scored a beautiful goal in the Polish Amputee Championship, in the match between his team, Warta Poznan, and Stal Rzeszow.

The most beautiful goal trophy was handed over by former Italian player Del Piero. “I’m so grateful to football for going this far,” Oleksy summed up.

Puskás: Watch Oleksy’s goal

Oleksy lost his leg at age 23, when a runaway vehicle left the road and came towards him, hitting machines that fell on him. The Pole had to undergo surgery and his left leg was amputated.

Goalkeeper as a teenager, Oleksy returned to the sport in 2019, but outside the goal. He returned to training and started playing football for amputees. He soon began to excel in matches until he was called up to the Polish amputee squad.

The impressive goal was replayed on the ceremony screen. In the throw, he uses his left crutch as a support and flies to mark the painting with the only one of his legs, the right.

Richarlison competed for the most beautiful goal trophy with his volley scored by the Brazilian national team after assisting Vinícius Júnior in the game against Serbia, in the first round of the World Cup in Qatar. Before the awards, he said he was nervous.

Frenchman Dimitri Payet, from Olympique de Marseille, was also in contention with his goal scored against Paok, from Greece, in the quarterfinals of the Conference League.

As a protagonist in several FIFA awards, Brazilian football only competed in the most beautiful goal category in this year’s The Best. Two Brazilian players have already been crowned with the Puskás Award. In 2011, Neymar won the title for an anthological goal scored by Santos against Flamengo, in Vila Belmiro.

In 2015, it was Wendell Lira’s turn to be crowned with the honor. For the Goiano Championship that year, he gave a beautiful volley in the match of his team, Goianésia, against Atlético-GO.