UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award

The UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award (previously known as the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award) is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a men's football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season of both club and national team competition. The award, created in 2011 by UEFA in partnership with European Sports Media (ESM) group, was initially aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or),[3][4] which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or.[5] It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.[6]

This article is about the men's award. For the women's award, see UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award.
UEFA Men's Player of the Year
Sponsored byESM[1]
Presented byUEFA
Formerly calledUEFA Club Footballer of the Year (1998–2010)
UEFA Best Player in Europe (2011–16)
First awarded2011
Current holder Robert Lewandowski (1st award)[2]
Most awards Cristiano Ronaldo (3 awards)
Websiteuefa.com

Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to win the award three times as well as twice in a row.[7][8] Since its inception, the award has been won by Lionel Messi (2011, 2015),[9] Andrés Iniesta (2012),[10] Franck Ribéry (2013),[11] Cristiano Ronaldo (2014, 2016, 2017), Luka Modrić (2018),[12] Virgil van Dijk (2019)[13] and Robert Lewandowski (2020).[14] Female players are awarded the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, introduced in 2013.[15]

Criteria

According to UEFA, the award "recognise[s] the best player, irrespective of his nationality, playing for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season."[3] Players are judged by their performances in all competitions, domestic and international, and at club and national team levels throughout the season.[3]

Voting

At the beginning, the award's voting format was a return to the old Ballon d'Or, which was decided purely by journalists.[4]

In the first round of voting, 53 sports journalists representing each of the UEFA national associations provided a list of their three best-ranked players from one to three, with the first player receiving five points, the second three points and the third one point. The three players with the most points overall were shortlisted.[3] The jury comprised renowned sports journalists representing each of UEFA's national associations, from RTV Albania to the Daily Post in Wales via members of European Sports Media, with whom UEFA collaborated on this award. The final vote, also by the journalists, then took place live via electronic voting during the presentation ceremony.[3]

In 2017, however, UEFA added 80 coaches, from the clubs that participated in the group stages of that year's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, to its jury. The amount of journalists selected by the European Sports Media association was also increased to 55, representing each of UEFA's member associations.[16]

Award history
For the 1997–2010 award, see UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.

Winners
Season Player Club
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award
2010–11 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2011–12 Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
2012–13 Franck Ribéry Bayern Munich
2013–14 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2014–15 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2015–16 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award
2016–17 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2017–18 Luka Modrić Real Madrid
2018–19 Virgil van Dijk Liverpool
2019–20 Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich

Finalists

  Winner   Shortlisted

2010–11
Rank Player First round[6] Final round Club
1 Lionel Messi – 39 Barcelona
2 Xavi – 11 Barcelona
3 Cristiano Ronaldo – 3 Real Madrid
4 Andrés Iniesta 33 – Barcelona
5 Radamel Falcao 17 – Porto
6 Wayne Rooney 15 – Manchester United
7 Nemanja Vidić 5 – Manchester United
8 Zlatan Ibrahimović 4 – Milan
Gerard Piqué – Barcelona
10 Manuel Neuer 3 – Schalke 04

2011–12
Rank Player First round[17] Final round Club
1 Andrés Iniesta – 19 Barcelona
2 Lionel Messi – 17 Barcelona
Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid
4 Andrea Pirlo 90 – Juventus
5 Xavi 57 – Barcelona
6 Iker Casillas 53 – Real Madrid
7 Didier Drogba 31 – Chelsea
8 Petr Čech 14 – Chelsea
Radamel Falcao – Atlético Madrid
10 Mesut Özil 10 – Real Madrid

2012–13
Rank Player First round Final round Club
1 Franck Ribéry – 36 Bayern Munich
2 Lionel Messi – 14 Barcelona
3 Cristiano Ronaldo – 3 Real Madrid
4 Arjen Robben 57 – Bayern Munich
5 Robert Lewandowski 39 – Borussia Dortmund
6 Thomas Müller 38 – Bayern Munich
7 Bastian Schweinsteiger 32 – Bayern Munich
8 Gareth Bale 24 – Tottenham Hotspur
9 Zlatan Ibrahimović 14 – Paris Saint-Germain
10 Robin van Persie 10 – Manchester United

2013–14
Rank Player First round[18] Final round Club
1 Cristiano Ronaldo – 27 Real Madrid
2 Manuel Neuer – 18 Bayern Munich
3 Arjen Robben – 9 Bayern Munich
4 Thomas Müller 39 – Bayern Munich
5 Philipp Lahm 24 – Bayern Munich
Lionel Messi – Barcelona
7 James Rodríguez 16 – Monaco
8 Luis Suárez 13 – Liverpool
9 Ángel Di María 12 – Real Madrid
10 Diego Costa 8 – Atlético Madrid

2014–15
Rank Player First round[19] Final round[9] Club
1 Lionel Messi – 49 Barcelona
2 Luis Suárez – 3 Barcelona
3 Cristiano Ronaldo – 2 Real Madrid
4 Gianluigi Buffon 24 – Juventus
5 Neymar 23 – Barcelona
6 Eden Hazard 21 – Chelsea
7 Andrea Pirlo 12 – Juventus
8 Arturo Vidal 11 – Juventus
9 Carlos Tevez 8 – Juventus
10 Paul Pogba 5 – Juventus

2015–16
Rank Player First round[20] Final round[7] Club
1 Cristiano Ronaldo – 40 Real Madrid
2 Antoine Griezmann – 8 Atlético Madrid
3 Gareth Bale – 7 Real Madrid
4 Luis Suárez 29 – Barcelona
5 Lionel Messi 25 – Barcelona
6 Gianluigi Buffon 19 – Juventus
7 Pepe 9 – Real Madrid
8 Manuel Neuer 6 – Bayern Munich
9 Toni Kroos 5 – Real Madrid
10 Thomas Müller 2 – Bayern Munich

2016–17
Rank Player First round[21] Final round[8] Club
1 Cristiano Ronaldo – 482 Real Madrid
2 Lionel Messi – 141 Barcelona
3 Gianluigi Buffon – 109 Juventus
4 Luka Modrić – Real Madrid
5 Toni Kroos – Real Madrid
6 Paulo Dybala – Juventus
7 Sergio Ramos – Real Madrid
8 Kylian Mbappé – Monaco
9 Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich
10 Zlatan Ibrahimović – Manchester United

2017–18
Rank Player Points[12] Club
1 Luka Modrić 313 Real Madrid
2 Cristiano Ronaldo 223 Real Madrid
3 Mohamed Salah 134 Liverpool
4 Antoine Griezmann 72 Atlético Madrid
5 Lionel Messi 55 Barcelona
6 Kylian Mbappé 43 Paris Saint-Germain
7 Kevin De Bruyne 28 Manchester City
8 Raphaël Varane 23 Real Madrid
9 Eden Hazard 15 Chelsea
10 Sergio Ramos 12 Real Madrid

2018–19
Rank Player Points[13] Club
1 Virgil van Dijk 305 Liverpool
2 Lionel Messi 207 Barcelona
3 Cristiano Ronaldo 74 Juventus
4 Alisson 57 Liverpool
5 Sadio Mané 51 Liverpool
6 Mohamed Salah 49 Liverpool
7 Eden Hazard 38 Chelsea
8 Frenkie de Jong 27 Ajax
Matthijs de Ligt Ajax
10 Raheem Sterling 12 Manchester City

2019–20
Rank Player Points[14] Club
1 Robert Lewandowski 477 Bayern Munich
2 Kevin De Bruyne 90 Manchester City
3 Manuel Neuer 66 Bayern Munich
4 Lionel Messi 53 Barcelona
Neymar Paris Saint-Germain
6 Thomas Müller 41 Bayern Munich
7 Kylian Mbappé 39 Paris Saint-Germain
8 Thiago 27 Bayern Munich
9 Joshua Kimmich 26 Bayern Munich
10 Cristiano Ronaldo 25 Juventus

Wins by player
Player Winner Second place Third place
Cristiano Ronaldo 3 2 4
Lionel Messi 2 4 —
Andrés Iniesta 1 — —
Franck Ribéry 1 — —
Luka Modrić 1 — —
Virgil van Dijk 1 — —
Robert Lewandowski 1 — —

See also

References
  1. "UEFA Best Player in Europe Award". European Sports Media. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  2. "Robert Lewandowski wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award". UEFA. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  3. "UEFA Best Player in Europe Award launched". UEFA. 18 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  4. Landolina, Salvatore (18 July 2011). "Uefa Launches Best Player In Europe Award". Goal.com. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  5. "UEFA announces new award". ESPNSoccernet. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  6. "UEFA announces Shortlist for UEFA Best Player in Europe". UEFA. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  7. "Cristiano Ronaldo named Best Player in Europe". UEFA. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  8. "Ronaldo named 2016/17 Men's Player of the Year". UEFA. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  9. "Messi named Best Player in Europe for second time". UEFA. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  10. "Iniesta wins Best Player in Europe Award". UEFA. 30 August 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  11. "Franck Ribéry wins UEFA Best Player in Europe Award 2012/13". UEFA. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  12. "Luka Modrić wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award". UEFA. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  13. "Virgil van Dijk wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award". UEFA. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  14. "Robert Lewandowski wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award". UEFA. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  15. "UEFA launches Best Women's Player in Europe Award". UEFA. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  16. "Nominees revealed for 2016/17 UEFA Player of the Year Awards". UEFA. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  17. "Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo up for Best Player Award". UEFA. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  18. "Neuer und Robben unter den Top 3 Europas" (in German). FC Bayern München. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  19. "Best Player in Europe: Messi, Ronaldo or Suárez". UEFA. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  20. "Best Player in Europe: Bale, Griezmann or Ronaldo". UEFA. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  21. "Buffon, Messi and Ronaldo on Player of the Year shortlist". UEFA. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
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