Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year

Ligue 1 Young Player of the season
	Zinedine Zidane won the inaugural award in 1994 with Bordeaux.
Sport	Association football
League	Ligue 1
Awarded for	being the best performing player in a Ligue 1 season whilst aged 23 years or under at the start of the season.
Country	France
Presented by	Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels
History
First award	1994; 31 years ago
Editions	29 (as of 2023)
First winner	Zinedine Zidane
Most wins	Kylian Mbappé (3 awards)
Most recent	Warren Zaïre-Emery (2023–24)

The UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year is an official award given by the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP) to a player aged 23 years or under at the start of the season whose performances are considered to be the best in Ligue 1, France's top professional football league. The inaugural award was handed to midfielder Zinedine Zidane of Bordeaux, following the 1993–94 Division 1 season.^[1] It has been awarded ever since its inception, with the exception of the 2019−20 season, where the competition was abruptly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

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The award has been given to 27 different players over the course of 30 seasons, with only Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé winning the award on more than one occasion. Of these players, only Mbappé has won the award three times. Hazard (Belgium), Marco Verratti (Italy), Younès Belhanda (Morocco), and Nuno Mendes (Portugal) are the only recipients of the award who represent a nation other than France.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery is the most recent winner of the award, which was awarded to him for his performances in the 2023–24 Ligue 1 season.^[3]

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[2]

[3]

Season	Player	Nationality	Club	Position	Ref.
1993–94	Zinedine Zidane	France	Bordeaux	Midfielder	^[1]
1994–95	Florian Maurice	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
1995–96	Robert Pires	France	Metz	Forward	^[1]
1996–97	Thierry Henry	France	Monaco	Forward	^[1]
1997–98	David Trezeguet	France	Monaco	Forward	^[1]
1998–99	Olivier Monterrubio	France	Nantes	Midfielder	^[1]
1999–2000	Philippe Christanval	France	Monaco	Defender	^[1]
2000–01	Sidney Govou	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
2001–02	Djibril Cissé	France	Auxerre	Forward	^[1]
2002–03	Lionel Mathis	France	Auxerre	Midfielder	^[1]
2003–04	Patrice Evra	France	Monaco	Defender	^[1]
2004–05	Jérémy Toulalan	France	Nantes	Midfielder	^[1]
2005–06	Franck Ribéry	France	Marseille	Forward	^[1]
2006–07	Samir Nasri	France	Marseille	Midfielder	^[1]
2007–08	Hatem Ben Arfa	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
2008–09	Eden Hazard	Belgium	Lille	Forward	^[1]
2009–10	Eden Hazard (2)	Belgium	Lille	Forward	^[1]
2010–11	Mamadou Sakho	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Defender	^[1]
2011–12	Younès Belhanda	Morocco	Montpellier	Midfielder	^[4]
2012–13	Florian Thauvin	France	Bastia	Forward	^[5]
2013–14	Marco Verratti	Italy	Paris Saint-Germain	Midfielder	^[6]
2014–15	Nabil Fekir	France	Lyon	Forward	^[7]
2015–16	Ousmane Dembélé	France	Rennes	Forward	^[8]
2016−17	Kylian Mbappé	France	Monaco	Forward	^[9]
2017−18	Kylian Mbappé (2)	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Forward	^[10]
2018−19	Kylian Mbappé (3)	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Forward	^[11]
2019−20	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic				^[2]
2020−21	Aurélien Tchouaméni	France	Monaco	Midfielder	^[12]
2021−22	William Saliba	France	Marseille	Defender	^[13]
2022−23	Nuno Mendes	Portugal	Paris Saint-Germain	Defender	^[3]
2023−24	Warren Zaïre-Emery	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Midfielder	^[14]

Rank	Player	Total	Seasons
1	Kylian Mbappé (FRA)	3	2016−17, 2017−18, 2018−19
2	Eden Hazard (BEL)	2	2008−09, 2009−10

Club	Total
Monaco	6
Paris Saint-Germain	6
Lyon	4
Marseille	3
Auxerre	2
Lille	2
Nantes	2
Bastia	1
Bordeaux	1
Metz	1
Montpellier	1
Rennes	1

Position	Total
Forward	16
Midfielder	9
Defender	5
Goalkeeper	0

Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year

Winners

Multiple wins

Awards won by club

Awards won by nationality

Awards won by playing position

References

Wikiwand - on