UEFA Player of the Year

Award winner 2021: Jorginho

Prize winner 2021: Alexia Putellas

The UEFA Player of the Year (English UEFA Men's Player of the Year ; 2016 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award ), often also referred to as the European Footballer of the Year referred, is an annual award for the best football player of a European club. It has been awarded by UEFA in collaboration with European Sports Media since 2011 . 2013, for the first time was UEFA Player of the Year (English UEFA Women's Player of the Year ; 2016 UEFA Best Player in Europe Women's ) chosen.

The awards ceremony takes place at the end of August each year as part of the group stage draw for the UEFA Champions League at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco . The performance of the players in the respective preseason in all national and continental competitions is assessed. The winners in 2021 are the Italian Jorginho and the Spanish Alexia Putellas .

Emergence

The award came about at the suggestion of UEFA President Michel Platini , who wanted to revive the tradition of voting for Europe's Footballer of the Year , which has been carried out by the French football magazine France Football since 1956 under the official name Ballon d'Or . After early as 2007, players had from clubs outside Europe for election and the award in 2010 with the election of the FIFA World Player of the year of the FIFA for the FIFA Ballon d'Or merged, there had been no choice that takes into account exclusively in Europe playing soccer . The nationality of the players does not play a role in this award either. On August 25, 2011, the prize was awarded for the first time as part of the group draw for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League . This new award also replaces the previous UEFA Club Football Awards , which honored not only the best player but also the best goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, strikers and coaches (until 2006) of the previous Champions League season. The best female player has also been honored since 2013.

Allocation mode

The winner is chosen by a jury of sports journalists, each representing one of the UEFA member states (up to 2013: 53 states, up to 2015: 54, since 2016: 55). Each journalist first submits a list of five players. The first named receives five points, the second four points, etc. The ten players with the most points reach the shortlist. In the second round of voting, the journalists each choose their three favorites from these ten nominees. From the three players with the most points, the journalists then select the winner live on the day of the award at the push of a button.

In the women's category, the coaches of the quarter-finalists of last year's UEFA Women's Champions League choose their favorites. If there was also a World Cup or European Championship in the year of election, all coaches of the participating European teams are also entitled to vote. The trainers each create a list of their five favorites, which were rated in descending order with five points to one point. From this selection, the short list of the ten best players is drawn up. The election then runs analogously to that of the men. From the short list, selected international journalists (2013: 18, 2014: 12) choose their three favorites, from which the top 3 are created and finally the winner is chosen in the final vote.

List of award winners

• Green: simultaneous award from FIFA as FIFA World Player of the Year ; bold : highest election result.

men

year	winner	society	Result	Second	Third
2011	Lionel Messi	FC Barcelona	73.6%	Xavi	Cristiano Ronaldo
2012	Andrés Iniesta	FC Barcelona	35.8%	Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo
2013	Franck Ribery	FC Bayern Munich	67.9%	Lionel Messi	Cristiano Ronaldo
2014	Cristiano Ronaldo	real Madrid	50.0%	Manuel Neuer	Arjen Robben
2015	Lionel Messi	FC Barcelona	90.7%	Luis Suarez	Cristiano Ronaldo
2016	Cristiano Ronaldo	real Madrid	72.7%	Antoine Griezmann	Gareth Bale
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo	real Madrid	65.8%	Lionel Messi	Gianluigi Buffon
2018	Luka Modrić	real Madrid	46.7%	Cristiano Ronaldo	Mohamed Salah
2019	Virgil van Dijk	Liverpool FC	52.0%	Lionel Messi	Cristiano Ronaldo
2020	Robert Lewandowski	FC Bayern Munich	53.2%	Kevin De Bruyne	Manuel Neuer
2021	Jorginho	Chelsea FC		Kevin De Bruyne	N'Golo Kanté

women

year	Winner	society	Result	Second	third
2013	Nadine Angerer	1. FFC Frankfurt	55.6%	Lena Goessling	Lotta Schelin
2014	Nadine Keßler	VfL Wolfsburg	75.0%	Martina Müller	Nilla Fischer
2015	Celia Šašić	1. FFC Frankfurt	61.1%	Amandine Henry	Dzsenifer Marozsán
2016	Ada Hegerberg	Olympique Lyon	65.0%	Amandine Henry	Dzsenifer Marozsán
2017	Lieke Martens	FC Rosengård	42.6%	Pernille Harder	Dzsenifer Marozsán
2018	Pernille Harder	VfL Wolfsburg	51.0%	Ada Hegerberg	Amandine Henry
2019	Lucy bronze	Olympique Lyon	46.8%	Ada Hegerberg	Amandine Henry
2020	Pernille Harder	VfL Wolfsburg	30.6%	Wendie Renard	Lucy bronze
2021	Alexia Putellas	FC Barcelona		Jennifer Hermoso	Lieke Martens

Voting results and nominees

men

In the first election in 2011, Lionel Messi ( Argentina , FC Barcelona ) received 39 of the 53 votes in the final vote; Xavi ( Spain , FC Barcelona) received eleven, Cristiano Ronaldo ( Portugal , Real Madrid ) three votes. In places four to ten followed Andrés Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Falcao ( Colombia , FC Porto ), Wayne Rooney ( England , Manchester United ), Nemanja Vidić ( Serbia , Manchester United), Zlatan Ibrahimović ( Sweden , AC Milan) , Gerard Piqué (Spain, FC Barcelona) and Manuel Neuer ( Germany , FC Schalke 04 ).

In the 2012 election on August 30, 2012, Iniesta received 19 of the 53 votes in the final vote; Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo each had 17 votes. Also in the top 10 were Andrea Pirlo ( Italy , Juventus Turin ), Xavi, Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), Didier Drogba ( Ivory Coast , Chelsea FC ), Petr Čech ( Czech Republic , Chelsea FC), Falcao (now Atlético Madrid ) and Mesut Özil (Germany, Real Madrid).

In the 2013 election, Franck Ribéry (France, FC Bayern Munich) won with 36 votes, ahead of Messi with 14 and Cristiano Ronaldo with three votes. In the squares followed Arjen Robben (Netherlands, FC Bayern Munich), Robert Lewandowski ( Poland , Borussia Dortmund ), Thomas Müller (Germany, Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, Bayern Munich), Gareth Bale ( Wales , Tottenham Hotspur ), Ibrahimović (now Paris Saint-Germain ) and Robin van Persie ( Netherlands , Manchester United).

In the 2014 election, Cristiano Ronaldo won with 26 votes ahead of Manuel Neuer (now FC Bayern Munich) with 19 and Robben with nine votes. Places four to ten went to Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm (Germany, Bayern Munich), Messi, James Rodríguez (Colombia, AS Monaco ), Luis Suárez ( Uruguay , Liverpool FC ), Ángel Di María (Argentina, Real Madrid) and Diego Costa (Spain, Atlético Madrid). For the first time since 2006, Messi missed the top 3 placement in an election for Europe or FIFA World Player of the Year.

In 2015, Lionel Messi won with the highest election result to date of 49 out of 54 votes (90.7%) ahead of Suárez (now FC Barcelona) with three votes and Cristiano Ronaldo, who received two votes. In places four to ten were Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus Turin), Neymar ( Brazil , FC Barcelona), Eden Hazard ( Belgium , Chelsea FC), Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus Turin), Arturo Vidal ( Chile , Juventus Turin) , Carlos Tévez (Argentina, Juventus Turin) and Paul Pogba (France, Juventus Turin).

In the 2016 election, Cristiano Ronaldo won with 40 votes, Antoine Griezmann ( France , Atlético Madrid) with eight and Bale (Real Madrid) with seven votes. Luis Suárez was chosen in fourth place, followed by Messi, Buffon, Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid), Neuer, Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid) and Thomas Müller.

In 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo won with 482 points ahead of Messi with 141 points and Buffon with 109 points. In fourth to tenth place are Luka Modrić (Croatia, Real Madrid), Kroos, Paulo Dybala (Argentina, Juventus Turin), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappé (France, Monaco), Robert Lewandowski (now FC Bayern Munich) and Ibrahimović (now Manchester United).

Modrić won the 2018 election with 313 points, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo with 223 points and Mohamed Salah ( Egypt , Liverpool FC) with 134 points. Behind them are Griezmann, Messi, Mbappé (now Paris Saint-Germain), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City ), Raphaël Varane (France, Real Madrid), Hazard and Ramos.

In the 2019 election, Virgil van Dijk ( Netherlands , Liverpool FC) was the first defender to win this award. He won with 305 points ahead of Messi with 207 points and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus Turin) with 74 points. In the other places: Alisson (Brazil, Liverpool FC), Sadio Mané (Senegal, Liverpool FC), Salah, Hazard, Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam ), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam) and Raheem Sterling (England , Manchester City).

In 2020 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) won with 477 votes, clearly ahead of Kevin De Bruyne (90, Manchester City) and Manuel Neuer (66, also Bayern Munich). Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) and Neymar (Paris St. Germain), both of whom received 53 votes, went fourth.

women

In 2013 Nadine Angerer (Germany, 1. FFC Frankfurt ) won the women's election with 10 votes. Lena Goeßling (Germany, VfL Wolfsburg ) received six votes , Lotta Schelin (Sweden, Olympique Lyon ) two votes. Places four to ten went to Nadine Keßler (Germany, VfL Wolfsburg), Verónica Boquete (Spain, Tyresö FF ), Caroline Seger (Sweden, Tyresö FF), Nilla Fischer (Sweden, Linköpings FC / VfL Wolfsburg), Célia Okoyino da Mbabi ( Germany, SC 07 Bad Neuenahr / 1. FFC Frankfurt), Wendie Renard (France, Olympique Lyon) and Louisa Nécib (France, Olympique Lyon).

There were three VfL Wolfsburg players in the top 3 for the 2014 election. Keßler won the election ahead of Martina Müller (Germany) and Fischer. Also in the top ten were Goeßling, Boquete, Schelin, Marta (Brazil, Tyresö FF), Alexandra Popp (Germany, VfL Wolfsburg), Seger and Christen Press ( USA , Tyresö FF). After the first round of voting, Lena Lotzen (Germany, FC Bayern Munich ) was also in the selection due to a tie .

On August 27, 2015, the decision on the award of the award was made between Amandine Henry (France, Olympique Lyon) and the two Germans from 1. FFC Frankfurt, Dzsenifer Marozsán and Célia Šašić . Šašić won with 11 votes ahead of Henry (four votes) and Marozsán (three votes). Fourth place was shared by Boquete (now 1. FFC Frankfurt) and Anja Mittag (Germany, FC Rosengård ). Places six to nine went to Eugénie Le Sommer (France, Olympique Lyon), Ramona Bachmann (Switzerland, FC Rosengård), Wendie Renard (France, Olympique Lyon) and Seger (now Paris Saint Germain ). Angerer (Germany, Portland Thorns FC ) and Simone Laudehr (Germany, 1. FFC Frankfurt) shared tenth place, while Popp came in twelfth. Twelve players were nominated for the second round, as after the first round three players were tied in tenth place.

Ada Hegerberg ( Norway , Olympique Lyon) won in 2016 with the highest election result to date of 65%, ahead of Henry and Marozsán. In 2017, Lieke Martens (Netherlands, FC Barcelona) won with 42.2%, ahead of Pernille Harder (Denmark, VfL Wolfsburg) and Marozsán. Harder won in 2018 ahead of Hegerberg and Henry. Lucy Bronze also won in 2019 ahead of Hegerberg and Henry.

See also

• UEFA Club Football Awards (predecessor 1997 to 2010 and parallel since 2017)
• Ballon d'Or (unofficially European Footballer of the Year from 1956 to 2009)
• UEFA Team of the Year
• UEFA Jubilee 52 Golden Players
• UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll
• Golden Shoe (UEFA)

Web links

• Uefa.com: Awards - Player awards. In: uefa.com. August 24, 2017, accessed February 3, 2019 .  on the UEFA website
• News about the UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award on the UEFA website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ About the award. In: uefa.com. UEFA , accessed July 23, 2013 . 
2. ^ Paul Saffer: Best Women's Player in Europe Award launched. In: uefa.com. UEFA, July 9, 2013, accessed July 9, 2013 . 
3. ↑ The Electoral Committee 2013. In: uefa.com. UEFA, accessed July 23, 2013 . 
4. ↑ The 2014 Election Committee. In: uefa.com. UEFA, accessed August 28, 2014 . 
5. ↑ The 2016 election committee. In: uefa.com. UEFA, accessed August 26, 2016 . 
6. ↑ How the voting works. In: uefa.com. UEFA, accessed July 23, 2013 . 
7. ↑ Angerer wins Best Women's Player award. In: uefa.com. UEFA, September 5, 2013, accessed September 5, 2013 . 
8. ↑ UEFA.com: Messi wins UEFA Best Player in Europe Award | Inside UEFA. August 25, 2011, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
9. ↑ UEFA.com: Andrés Iniesta wins UEFA Best Player in Europe Award 2011/12 | Inside UEFA. August 30, 2012, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
10. ↑ UEFA.com: Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo up for Best Player Award | Inside UEFA. August 14, 2012, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
11. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
12. ↑ UEFA.com: Messi, Ribéry and Ronaldo on Best Player shortlist | Inside UEFA. August 6, 2013, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
13. ↑ UEFA.com: Nadine Kessler and Cristiano Ronaldo voted UEFA Best Players in Europe 2013/14 | Inside UEFA. August 28, 2014, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
14. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
15. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
16. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
17. ↑ UEFA.com: Ronaldo named 2016/17 Men's Player of the Year. August 24, 2017, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
18. ↑ UEFA.com: Luka Modrić wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award. August 30, 2018, accessed April 14, 2020 . 
19. ↑ UEFA.com: Virgil van Dijk voted UEFA Player of the Year. Accessed August 31, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Bayern striker wins election by a large margin: Lewandowski is Europe's footballer of the year for the first time. In: kicker. October 1, 2020, accessed October 1, 2020 . 
21. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
22. ↑ UEFA.com: Awards - Player Awards. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
23. ↑ UEFA.com: Šašić crowned best player in Europe. Retrieved July 28, 2019 .