The UEFA Player of the Year Award was an annual honour given to the best player in Europe based on their previous season’s performance for both club and country. It was discontinued after the 2022-23 edition: UEFA agreed to co-organise the Ballon d’Or with Groupe Amaury from 2024, and its own best player and best coach awards were retired as part of that deal. UEFA still names a best player in each of its club competitions.
As quoted by the UEFA, the award “recognises the best player, irrespective of his nationality, playing for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season.”
First presented in 2011, the Player of the Year award replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year title which ran from 1998 to 2010.
During the first six years of the UEFA Player of the Year Award, the voting format was similar to that of the Ballon d’Or, meaning that it was based purely on the judgement of journalists.
In 2017, however, UEFA decided to add 80 coaches from the teams that participated in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for better judgement.
Former Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was the first-ever recipient of the award in 2011 while Cristiano Ronaldo remains the only player to win it a record three times (2014, 2016, 2017). Furthermore, the Portugal forward finished inside the top three in nine of the award’s 13 editions — three wins, one second place and five thirds.
Erling Haaland is the last winner of the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award, taking the 2022-23 edition with Manchester City. Karim Benzema won the season before that and became the first French player after Franck Ribery (2012-13) to do so.
Across its 13 editions, players at Spain’s La Liga clubs won the honour the most times (8). England follows with three winners — Virgil van Dijk, Jorginho and Haaland — and Germany has two, both at Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, two years after the rebranding of the UEFA Player of the Year honour, the organising committee also introduced the same award for female footballers. The criteria and voting system were kept the same for the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award.
Nadine Angerer of Germany won the first edition in 2013 while Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas is the only player to have won it twice in a row, in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmatí took the final edition in 2022-23; the women’s award was retired alongside the men’s.
UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award winners list
| Season | Player | Team |
| 2010-11 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona |
| 2011-12 | Andres Iniesta | Barcelona |
| 2012-13 | Franck Ribery | Bayern Munich |
| 2013-14 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| 2014-15 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona |
| 2015-16 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| 2016-17 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| 2017-18 | Luka Modric | Real Madrid |
| 2018-19 | Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool |
| 2019-20 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich |
| 2020-21 | Jorginho | Chelsea |
| 2021-22 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid |
| 2022-23 | Erling Haaland | Manchester City |
UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award winners list
| Season | Player | Team |
| 2012-13 | Nadine Angerer | Frankfurt |
| 2013-14 | Nadine Kessler | Wolfsburg |
| 2014-15 | Celia Sasic | Frankfurt |
| 2015-16 | Ada Hegerberg | Lyon |
| 2016-17 | Lieke Martens | Barcelona |
| 2017-18 | Pernille Harder | Wolfsburg |
| 2018-19 | Lucy Bronze | Lyon |
| 2019-20 | Pernille Harder | Wolfsburg |
| 2020-21 | Alexia Putellas | Barcelona |
| 2021-22 | Alexia Putellas | Barcelona |
| 2022-23 | Aitana Bonmatí | Barcelona |
Featured photo: AFP / OZAN KOSE