Ligue 1 Player of the Year

The UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year is an official award given by the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP) to the Ligue 1 player whose performances are considered to be the best of the season. The award has been presented since the 1993–94 season and the first winner of the award was Paris Saint-Germain winger David Ginola. The current holder and record winner is Kylian Mbappé, who won the award for his performances throughout the 2023–24 campaign for Paris Saint-Germain, his fifth consecutive award.

Ligue 1 Player of the season

Kylian Mbappé won the award five times playing for Paris Saint-Germain.
Sport	Association football
League	Ligue 1
Awarded for	being the best performing player in a Ligue 1 season.
Country	France
Presented by	Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels
History
First award	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
Editions	30 (as of 2024)
First winner	David Ginola
Most wins	Kylian Mbappé (5 awards)
Most recent	Kylian Mbappé

Key

• Player (X) denotes the number of times a player has won the award (if more than one)
•  §  Clubs with this background and symbol were Ligue 1 champions in the same season

Winners

David Ginola won the inaugural award in 1994.

Kylian Mbappé has the most wins by a single player in the history of the awards, with five.

This award has been presented 29 times as of 2023, with all winners being different aside from Pauleta who was the first two-time winner in 2001–02 and 2002–03, as well as the only other multiple-time winners Eden Hazard (in 2010–11 and 2011–12), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2012–13, 2013–14 and 2015–16) and Kylian Mbappé (a record five consecutive awards in 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24).

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Club	Ref.
1993–94	David Ginola	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain§	[1]
1994–95	Vincent Guérin	Midfielder	France	Paris Saint-Germain	[1]
1995–96	Zinedine Zidane	Midfielder	France	Bordeaux	[1]
1996–97	Sonny Anderson	Forward	Brazil	Monaco§	[1]
1997–98	Marco Simone	Forward	Italy	Paris Saint-Germain	[1]
1998–99	Ali Benarbia	Midfielder	Algeria	Bordeaux§	[1]
1999–2000	Marcelo Gallardo	Midfielder	Argentina	Monaco§	[1]
2000–01	Eric Carrière	Midfielder	France	Nantes§	[1]
2001–02	Pauleta	Forward	Portugal	Bordeaux	[1]
2002–03	Pauleta (2)	Forward	Portugal	Bordeaux	[1]
2003–04	Didier Drogba	Forward	Ivory Coast	Marseille	[1]
2004–05	Michael Essien	Midfielder	Ghana	Lyon§	[1]
2005–06	Juninho	Midfielder	Brazil	Lyon§	[1]
2006–07	Florent Malouda	Midfielder	France	Lyon§	[1]
2007–08	Karim Benzema	Forward	France	Lyon§	[1]
2008–09	Yoann Gourcuff	Midfielder	France	Bordeaux§	[1]
2009–10	Lisandro López	Forward	Argentina	Lyon	[1]
2010–11	Eden Hazard	Midfielder	Belgium	Lille§	[1]
2011–12	Eden Hazard (2)	Midfielder	Belgium	Lille	[2]
2012–13	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Forward	Sweden	Paris Saint-Germain§
2013–14	Zlatan Ibrahimović (2)	Forward	Sweden	Paris Saint-Germain§
2014–15	Alexandre Lacazette	Forward	France	Lyon	[3]
2015–16	Zlatan Ibrahimović (3)	Forward	Sweden	Paris Saint-Germain§	[4]
2016–17	Edinson Cavani	Forward	Uruguay	Paris Saint-Germain	[5]
2017–18	Neymar	Forward	Brazil	Paris Saint-Germain§	[6]
2018–19	Kylian Mbappé	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain§	[7]
2019–20	Not awarded due to COVID-19 Pandemic				[8]
2020–21	Kylian Mbappé (2)	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain	[9]
2021–22	Kylian Mbappé (3)	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain§	[10]
2022–23	Kylian Mbappé (4)	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain§	[11]
2023–24	Kylian Mbappé (5)	Forward	France	Paris Saint-Germain§	[12]

Breakdown of winners

By country

Sonny Anderson was the first winner from outside of France.

Country	Wins	Winning seasons
France	13	1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
Brazil	3	1996–97, 2005–06, 2017–18
Sweden	3	2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16
Belgium	2	2010–11, 2011–12
Portugal	2	2001–02, 2002–03
Argentina	2	1999–2000, 2009–10
Ivory Coast	1	2004–05
Ghana	1	2005–06
Italy	1	1997–98
Algeria	1	1998–99
Uruguay	1	2016–17

By club

Eden Hazard won the award twice in two consecutive seasons playing for Lille.

Club	Wins	Winning seasons
Paris Saint-Germain	13	1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
Lyon	6	2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2014–15,
Bordeaux	5	1995–96, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2008–09
Monaco	2	1996–97, 1999–2000
Lille	2	2010–11, 2011–12
Marseille	1	2003–04
Nantes	1	2000–01

See also

• French Player of the Year
• Trophées UNFP du football