Ghana Player of the Year

The Ghana Player of the Year (or Ghanaian Footballer of the Year) is an annual award from Football Association of Ghana, govern in recognition of excellence to the best Ghanaian professional association footballer of the year.

Ghana Player of the Year

2020 winner Jordan Ayew
Sport	Association football
Location	Accra International Conference Centre
Country	Republic of Ghana
Presented by	Sport Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG)
History
First award	1975
Editions	29
First winner	Mohammed Ahmed Polo (1975)
Most wins	Samuel Kuffour (3)
Most recent	Daniel Afriyie (2022, home based) Mohammed Kudus (2022, foreign)

The title has been awarded yearly in Ghana since 1975. The award is determined annually by the members of the Sport Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), with additional votes from the Ghana Premier League team captains and coaches, in collaboration with Goal.com's corporate subdivision of Perform Group, and is published by the Ghana Football Association (GFA). All Ghanaian professional association footballers all eligible. The award has been presented on 28 occasions as of 2020.

The most successful player of the award is Samuel Kuffour, who was chosen as Ghana Player of the Year three times. Asamoah Gyan, André Ayew, Stephen Appiah, Kwadwo Asamoah and Thomas Partey have each won the award twice, the latter three all in consecutive years.

Winners

Abedi Pele was the winner of the award in 1993, and was also named African Footballer of the Year three times

Samuel Kuffour has won the most awards, with three titles in 1998, 1999 and 2001

John Mensah was the recipient of the award in 2006

Michael Essien won the award in 2007

John Paintsil was the recipient of the award in 2008

André Ayew, winner of the award in 2011

Asamoah Gyan won the award twice 2010 and 2013

Thomas Partey of Atlético Madrid was the first winner that was playing in La Liga, earning two straight awards in 2018 and 2019

Year	Winner	Club	Position
1975	Ahmed Polo, MohammedMohammed Ahmed Polo	Hearts of Oak	Forward
1978	Razak, Karim AbdulKarim Abdul Razak	Asante Kotoko	Midfielder
1979	John Nketia Yawson	Hearts of Oak	Midfielder
1980	Francis Kumi	Asante Kotoko	Forward
1984	Joe Odoi	Hearts of Oak	Defender
1993	Pele, AbediAbedi Pele	Marseille	Forward
1997	Yeboah, TonyTony Yeboah	Hamburger SV	Forward
1998	Kuffour, SamuelSamuel Kuffour	Bayern Munich	Defender
1999	Kuffour, SamuelSamuel Kuffour	Bayern Munich	Defender
2000	Kuffour, Emmanuel OseiEmmanuel Osei Kuffour	Hearts of Oak	Midfielder
2001	Kuffour, SamuelSamuel Kuffour	Bayern Munich	Defender
2002	Asampong, CharlesCharles Asampong	Hearts of Oak	Forward
2003	Ansah, AzizAziz Ansah	Asante Kotoko	Defender
2004	Appiah, StephenStephen Appiah	Juventus	Midfielder
2005	Appiah, StephenStephen Appiah	Juventus	Midfielder
2006	Mensah, JohnJohn Mensah	Rennes	Defender
2007 [1]	Essien, MichaelMichael Essien	Chelsea	Midfielder
2008	Paintsil, JohnJohn Paintsil	Fulham	Defender
2009[2]	Adiyiah, DominicDominic Adiyiah	Milan	Forward
2010[3]	Gyan, AsamoahAsamoah Gyan	Sunderland	Forward
2011[4]	Ayew, AndréAndré Ayew	Marseille	Forward
2012[5]	Asamoah, KwadwoKwadwo Asamoah	Juventus	Midfielder
2013[6]	Gyan, AsamoahAsamoah Gyan	Al Ain	Forward
2014[7]	Harrison Afful	Espérance de Tunis	Defender
2015[8]	André Ayew	Swansea City	Forward
2016[9]	Solomon Asante	TP Mazembe	Forward
2017[10]	Thomas Partey	Atlético Madrid	Midfielder
2018[11]	Thomas Partey	Atlético Madrid	Midfielder
2020[a][12]	Jordan Ayew	Crystal Palace	Forward

Footballer of the Year (Home Based)

Year	Winner	Club	Position
2021[13]	Afriyie, Daniel Daniel Afriyie	Hearts of Oak	Forward
2022[14]	Afriyie, Daniel Daniel Afriyie	Hearts of Oak	Forward

Footballer of the Year (Foreign)

Year	Winner	Club	Position
2021[15]	Kudus, MohammedMohammed Kudus	Ajax	Midfielder
2022[16]	Kudus, MohammedMohammed Kudus	Ajax	Midfielder

Breakdown of winners

Number of wins by player

Rank	Name	Number of wins	Winning years
1	Kuffour, SamuelSamuel Kuffour	3	1998, 1999, 2001
2	Appiah, StephenStephen Appiah	2	2004, 2005
	Gyan, AsamoahAsamoah Gyan	2	2010, 2013
	Ayew, AndréAndré Ayew	2	2011, 2015
	Partey, ThomasThomas Partey	2	2017, 2018
6	Asamoah, KwadwoKwadwo Asamoah	1	2012
	Ahmed Polo, MohammedMohammed Ahmed Polo	1	1975
	Karim Abdul Razak	1	1978
	John Nketia Yawson	1	1979
	Francis Kumi	1	1980
	Joe Odoi	1	1984
	Pele, AbediAbedi Pele	1	1993
	Yeboah, TonyTony Yeboah	1	1997
	Kuffour, Emmanuel OseiEmmanuel Osei Kuffour	1	2000
	Asampong, CharlesCharles Asampong	1	2002
	Ansah, AzizAziz Ansah	1	2003
	Mensah, JohnJohn Mensah	1	2006
	Essien, MichaelMichael Essien	1	2007
	Paintsil, JohnJohn Paintsil	1	2008
	Adiyiah, DominicDominic Adiyiah	1	2009
	Afful, HarrisonHarrison Afful	1	2014
	Asante, SolomonSolomon Asante	1	2016
	Ayew, JordanJordan Ayew	1	2020

Number of wins by league

Rank	League	Number of wins	Winning years
1	Ghana Premier League	8	1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 2000, 2002, 2003
2	Premier League	5	2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2020
3	Serie A	4	2004, 2005, 2009, 2012
	Bundesliga	4	1997, 1998, 1999, 2001
5	Ligue 1	3	1993, 2006, 2011
6	La Liga	2	2017, 2018
7	Linafoot	1	2016
	UAE Pro League	1	2013
	Ligue Professionnelle 1	1	2014

Number of wins by club

Rank	Club	Number of wins	Winning years
1	Hearts of Oak	5	1975, 1979, 1984, 2000, 2002
2	Juventus	4	2004, 2005, 2012, 2013
3	Asante Kotoko	3	1978, 1980, 2003
	Bayern Munich	3	1998, 1999, 2001
5	Marseille	2	1993, 2011
	Atlético Madrid	2	2018, 2019
7	Hamburger SV	1	1997
	Rennes	1	2006
	Chelsea	1	2007
	Fulham	1	2008
	Milan	1	2009
	Sunderland	1	2010
	Al Ain	1	2014
	Espérance de Tunis	1	2015
	Swansea City	1	2016
	TP Mazembe	1	2017
	Crystal Palace	1	2020

Number of wins by position

Rank	Position	Number of wins
1	Forward	12
2	Midfielder	10
3	Defender	6
4	Goalkeeper	0

References

1. "Essien named Footballer of the Year". Ghana Football Association. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
2. "Adiyiah wins SWAG gongs". Ghana Football Association. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
3. "Asamoah Gyan Wins SWAG Top Award". Modern Ghana. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
4. "Andre Ayew wins SWAG Footballer of the Year Award, missed out on ultimate". GhanaSoccernet. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
5. Dogbevi, Emmanuel (1 July 2013). "Kwadwo Asamoah picks SWAG top awards". Ghana Business News. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
6. "Kwasi Appiah wins top SWAG award". graphic.com.gh. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
7. Laryea, Beatrice (5 October 2015). "Afful crowned SWAG 2014 Footballer of the Year". Graphic Online. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
8. Owusu, Stephen (5 June 2016). "Andre Ayew wins Sports Personality of The Year at MTN SWAG awards". YEN Ghana. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
9. Gyamera-Antwi, Evans (28 May 2017). "Asante named 2016 SWAG Player of the Year". Goal. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
10. "Thomas Partey insist he deserves SWAG player of the year award". Ghana Sports Online. 2018-05-04. Archived from the original on 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
11. Okine, Sammy Heywood (13 May 2019). "Full List Of 2018 SWAG Award Winners". Ghana Olympic. Ghana Olympic Committee. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
12. "Jordan Ayew on SWAG best player award, life at Crystal Palace, C.K Akonnor and Ghana vs Qatar: Transcript". www.ghanafa.org. Ghana Football Association. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
13. "SWAG Awards: Hearts of Oak striker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh wins Home-based Footballer of the Year". GhanaSoccernet. 17 December 2021. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
14. Akyereko, Akwasi (28 January 2023). "Hearts star-boy Afriyie Barnieh dumps Galaxies teammate Danlad Ibrahim and GPL goal-king Annor to win 2022 SWAG Home-based Footballer of the Year". Ghana Sports Online. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
15. "SWAG Awards: Ajax star Mohammed Kudus adjudged Foreign Footballer of the Year". GhanaSoccernet. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
16. Lawrence, Kweku (29 January 2023). "Mohammed Kudus wins big at 47th SWAG Awards gala". My Joy Online. Retrieved 30 January 2023.

Notes

1. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the award covered the both 2019 and 2020

External links

• all Players of the Year at Worldfootball.net