PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year

This article is about the men's award. For the women's award, see PFA Scotland Women's Players' Player of the Year.

The PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish football.^[1] The award has been presented since the 1977–78 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland).^[2] The award was formerly known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year, but was renamed after the SPFA became affiliated with the (English) Professional Footballers' Association and rebranded PFA Scotland.

PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year
Henrik Larsson won the award twice
Awarded for	The outstanding player in each given Scottish football season
Country	Scotland
Presented by	PFA Scotland
First award	1978
Player of the Year	Daizen Maeda
Most awards	Scott Brown Henrik Larsson (2 wins each)

The first winner of the award was Rangers striker Derek Johnstone, and the first non-Scottish winner was Aberdeen goalkeeper Theo Snelders eleven years later. Although there is a separate PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award, young players remain eligible to win the senior award, and in the 2005–06 season Shaun Maloney became the first player to win both awards in the same season, a feat repeated by Aiden McGeady two years later.

A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of PFA Scotland's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in Glasgow a few days later.^[3] The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with John Hartson commenting in 2005 that "the award means a lot because it's voted by your fellow professionals"^[4] and Shaun Maloney stating in 2006 that "there is no better accolade than to be voted for by your peers and it does mean a lot to me".^[5] In 2007 the SPFA was replaced by a new body, PFA Scotland,^[6] but the new organisation's awards are considered to be a direct continuation of the SPFA awards.^[7][8]

Winners

The award has been presented on 47 occasions as of 2025, with two players sharing the award on one occasion (2004–05).^[9] There have been 46 different winners, with Scott Brown and Henrik Larsson being the only players to have won the award more than once. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award (SFWA),^[10] and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award (SYPY).^[9]

Ally McCoist was the 1992 winner.

In 2018, Scott Brown became the second player to win the award twice.

James Forrest won the award in 2019, the sixth consecutive Celtic player to be named Player of the Year.

Season	Nat	Player	Club	Notes	Ref
1977–78		Derek Johnstone	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award. First player to win SPFA and SFWA awards in the same season.
1978–79		Paul Hegarty	Dundee United
1979–80		Davie Provan	Celtic
1980–81		Mark McGhee	Aberdeen
1981–82		Sandy Clark	Airdrieonians
1982–83		Charlie Nicholas	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award.
1983–84		Willie Miller	Aberdeen	Also won the SFWA award
1984–85		Jim Duffy	Morton		[11]
1985–86		Richard Gough	Dundee United
1986–87		Brian McClair	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
1987–88		Paul McStay	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[12]
1988–89		Theo Snelders	Aberdeen	First winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom
1989–90		Jim Bett	Aberdeen
1990–91		Paul Elliott	Celtic
1991–92		Ally McCoist	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1992–93		Andy Goram	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1993–94		Mark Hateley	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1994–95		Brian Laudrup	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1995–96		Paul Gascoigne	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1996–97		Paolo Di Canio	Celtic
1997–98		Jackie McNamara	Celtic
1998–99		Henrik Larsson	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
1999–00		Mark Viduka	Celtic	First winner of the award from outside Europe
2000–01		Henrik Larsson	Celtic	First two-time winner of the award. Also won the SFWA award.
2001–02		Lorenzo Amoruso	Rangers
2002–03		Barry Ferguson	Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
2003–04		Chris Sutton	Celtic
2004–05		Fernando Ricksen (joint winner)	Rangers
		John Hartson (joint winner)	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2005–06		Shaun Maloney	Celtic	Also won the SYPY award. First player to win both PFA Scotland awards in the same season.
2006–07		Shunsuke Nakamura	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2007–08		Aiden McGeady	Celtic	Also won the SYPY award	[13]
2008–09		Scott Brown	Celtic		[14]
2009–10		Steven Davis	Rangers		[15]
2010–11		Emilio Izaguirre	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[16]
2011–12		Charlie Mulgrew	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[17]
2012–13		Michael Higdon	Motherwell		[18]
2013–14		Kris Commons	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[19]
2014–15		Stefan Johansen	Celtic		[20]
2015–16		Leigh Griffiths	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[21]
2016–17		Scott Sinclair	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[22]
2017–18		Scott Brown	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[23]
2018–19		James Forrest	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[24]
2019–20	—	—	—	Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PFA Scotland cancelled their awards for the 2019–20 season.	[25]
2020–21		James Tavernier	Rangers		[26]
2021–22		Callum McGregor	Celtic		[27]
2022–23		Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[28]
2023–24		Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	Also won the SFWA award	[29]
2024–25		Daizen Maeda	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award	[30]

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Scotland	25	1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24
England	7	1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2016–17, 2020–21
Japan	3	2006–07, 2022–23, 2024–25
Italy	2	1996–97, 2001–02
Netherlands	2	1988–89, 2004–05 (shared)
Sweden	2	1998–99, 2000–01
Australia	1	1999–00
Denmark	1	1994–95
Honduras	1	2010–11
Northern Ireland	1	2009–10
Norway	1	2014–15
Republic of Ireland	1	2007–08
Wales	1	2004–05 (shared)

Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic	27	1979–80, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 (shared), 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2024–25
Rangers	11	1977–78, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 (shared), 2009–10, 2020–21
Aberdeen	4	1980–81, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90
Dundee United	2	1978–79, 1985–86
Airdrieonians	1	1981–82
Greenock Morton	1	1984–85
Motherwell	1	2012–13
Heart of Midlothian	1	2023–24

See also

• PFA Scotland Team of the Year
• PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year
• SFWA Footballer of the Year
• PFA Players' Player of the Year
• FWA Footballer of the Year
• PFAI Players' Player of the Year
• Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year