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), which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award the most time with 3 awards and is the only player to win it twice in a row. Female players are awarded the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, introduced in 2013.
UEFA partnered with Groupe Amaury to co-organise the Ballon d'Or awards from 2024. The partnership means UEFA's awards for the best player and best coach will cease to exist. But UEFA will continue to present the President's Award as well as prizes for the best player in each of their competitions.
Criteria According to UEFA, the award "recognise[s] the best player playing for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season." Players are judged by their performances in all competitions, domestic and international, and at club and national team levels throughout the season.
Voting At the beginning, the award's voting format was a return to the old Ballon d'Or, which was decided purely by journalists.
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. 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.
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 European Sports Media was also increased to 55, representing each of UEFA's member associations.
In 2020/21 UEFA National Team Coaches were added to the jury
In 2022/23 the Coaches from the UEFA Conference League Group stages were added to the jury
Award history
Winners SeasonPlayerClubUEFA Best Player in Europe Award2010–11 Lionel Messi Barcelona2011–12 Andrés Iniesta Barcelona2012–13 Franck Ribéry Bayern Munich2013–14 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid2014–15 Lionel Messi Barcelona2015–16 Cristiano Ronaldo Real MadridUEFA Men's Player of the Year Award2016–17 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid2017–18 Luka Modrić Real Madrid2018–19 Virgil van Dijk Liverpool2019–20 Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich2020–21 Jorginho Chelsea2021–22 Karim Benzema Real Madrid2022–23 Erling Haaland Manchester City
Finalists
2010–11 Rank Player First round Final round Club 1 Lionel Messi – 38 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 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 Final round Club 1 Cristiano Ronaldo – 26 Real Madrid 2 Manuel Neuer – 19 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 Final round 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 Final round 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 Final round 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 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 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 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
2020–21 Rank Player Points Club 1 Jorginho175 Chelsea 2 Kevin De Bruyne 167 Manchester City 3 N'Golo Kanté 160 Chelsea 4 Lionel Messi 148 Barcelona 5 Robert Lewandowski 140 Bayern Munich 6 Gianluigi Donnarumma 49 Milan 7 Kylian Mbappé 31 Paris Saint-Germain 8 Raheem Sterling 18 Manchester City 9 Cristiano Ronaldo 16 Juventus 10 Erling Haaland 15 Borussia Dortmund
2021–22 Rank Player Points Club 1 Karim Benzema 523 Real Madrid 2 Kevin De Bruyne 122 Manchester City 3 Thibaut Courtois 118 Real Madrid 4 Robert Lewandowski 54 Bayern Munich 5 Luka Modrić 52 Real Madrid 6 Sadio Mané 51 Liverpool 7 Mohamed Salah 46 Liverpool 8 Kylian Mbappé 25 Paris Saint-Germain 9 Vinícius Júnior 21 Real Madrid 10 Virgil van Dijk 19 Liverpool 11 Bernardo Silva 7 Manchester City 12 Filip Kostić Eintracht Frankfurt 13 Lorenzo Pellegrini 5 Roma 14 Trent Alexander-Arnold 2 Liverpool 15 Fabinho 1 Liverpool
2022–23 Rank Player Points Club 1 Erling Haaland 352 Manchester City 2 Lionel Messi 227 Paris Saint-Germain 3 Kevin De Bruyne 225 Manchester City 4 İlkay Gündoğan 129 Manchester City 5 Rodri 110 Manchester City 6 Kylian Mbappé 82 Paris Saint-Germain 7 Luka Modrić 33 Real Madrid 8 Marcelo Brozović 20 Inter Milan 9 Declan Rice 14 West Ham United 10 Alexis Mac Allister 12 Brighton & Hove Albion 11 Jesús Navas 6 Sevilla
By player Player Winner Second place Third place Cristiano Ronaldo 3 1 5 Lionel Messi 2 5 — Andrés Iniesta 1 — — Franck Ribéry 1 — — Luka Modrić 1 — — Virgil van Dijk 1 — — Robert Lewandowski 1 — — Jorginho 1 — — Karim Benzema 1 — — Erling Haaland 1 — — Kevin De Bruyne — 3 1 Manuel Neuer — 1 1 Xavi — 1 — Luis Suárez — 1 — Antoine Griezmann — 1 — Arjen Robben — – 1 Gareth Bale — – 1 Gianluigi Buffon — — 1 Mohamed Salah — — 1 N'Golo Kante — — 1 Thibaut Courtois — — 1
See also UEFA Club Footballer of the Year UEFA Club Football Awards UEFA Team of the Year
References
External links