UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award

This article is about the men's award. For the women's award, see UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award.

The UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award (previously known as the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award) is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a men's football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season of both club and national team competition. The award, created in 2011 by UEFA in partnership with European Sports Media (ESM) group, was initially aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or),^[2][3] which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or.^[4] It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.^[5]

UEFA Men's Player of the Year
UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award
Sponsored by	ESM[1]
Presented by	UEFA
Formerly called	UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (1998–2010) UEFA Best Player in Europe (2011–16)
First award	2011
Final award	2023
Current holder	Erling Haaland (1st award)
Most wins	Cristiano Ronaldo (3 awards)
Website	UEFA.com
UEFA Club Football Awards

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award the most time with 3 awards and is the only player to win it twice in a row.^[6][7] Female players are awarded the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, introduced in 2013.^[8]

UEFA partnered with Groupe Amaury to co-organise the Ballon d'Or awards from 2024. The partnership means UEFA's awards for the best player and best coach will cease to exist. But UEFA will continue to present the President's Award as well as prizes for the best player in each of their competitions.^[9]

Criteria

According to UEFA, the award "recognise[s] the best player playing for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season."^[2] Players are judged by their performances in all competitions, domestic and international, and at club and national team levels throughout the season.^[2]

Voting

At the beginning, the award's voting format was a return to the old Ballon d'Or, which was decided purely by journalists.^[3]

In the first round of voting, 53 sports journalists representing each of the UEFA national associations provided a list of their three best-ranked players from one to three, with the first player receiving five points, the second three points and the third one point. The three players with the most points overall were shortlisted.^[2] The jury comprised renowned sports journalists representing each of UEFA's national associations, from RTV Albania to the Daily Post in Wales via members of European Sports Media, with whom UEFA collaborated on this award. The final vote, also by the journalists, then took place live via electronic voting during the presentation ceremony.^[2]

In 2017, however, UEFA added 80 coaches, from the clubs that participated in the group stages of that year's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, to its jury. The amount of journalists selected by European Sports Media was also increased to 55, representing each of UEFA's member associations.^[10]

In 2020/21 UEFA National Team Coaches were added to the jury ^[11]

In 2022/23 the Coaches from the UEFA Conference League Group stages were added to the jury^[12]

Award history

For the 1997–2010 award, see UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the most UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award in history, with three.

Lionel Messi is the only non-European player to win the award and one of the two players to win it more than once.

Karim Benzema won the award with a record number of points.

Winners

Season	Player	Club
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award
2010–11	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2011–12	Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona
2012–13	Franck Ribéry	Bayern Munich
2013–14	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2014–15	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2015–16	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award
2016–17	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2017–18	Luka Modrić	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

Finalists

  Winner   Shortlisted

2010–11

Rank	Player	First round[5]	Final round[13]	Club
1	Lionel Messi	–	38	Barcelona
2	Xavi	–	11	Barcelona
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	3	Real Madrid
4	Andrés Iniesta	33	–	Barcelona
5	Radamel Falcao	17	–	Porto
6	Wayne Rooney	15	–	Manchester United
7	Nemanja Vidić	5	–	Manchester United
8	Zlatan Ibrahimović	4	–	Milan
	Gerard Piqué		–	Barcelona
10	Manuel Neuer	3	–	Schalke 04

2011–12

Rank	Player	First round[14]	Final round[15]	Club
1	Andrés Iniesta	–	19	Barcelona
2	Lionel Messi	–	17	Barcelona
	Cristiano Ronaldo	–		Real Madrid
4	Andrea Pirlo	90	–	Juventus
5	Xavi	57	–	Barcelona
6	Iker Casillas	53	–	Real Madrid
7	Didier Drogba	31	–	Chelsea
8	Petr Čech	14	–	Chelsea
	Radamel Falcao		–	Atlético Madrid
10	Mesut Özil	10	–	Real Madrid

2012–13

Rank	Player	First round	Final round[16]	Club
1	Franck Ribéry	–	36	Bayern Munich
2	Lionel Messi	–	14	Barcelona
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	3	Real Madrid
4	Arjen Robben	57	–	Bayern Munich
5	Robert Lewandowski	39	–	Borussia Dortmund
6	Thomas Müller	38	–	Bayern Munich
7	Bastian Schweinsteiger	32	–	Bayern Munich
8	Gareth Bale	24	–	Tottenham Hotspur
9	Zlatan Ibrahimović	14	–	Paris Saint-Germain
10	Robin van Persie	10	–	Manchester United

2013–14

Rank	Player	First round[17]	Final round[18]	Club
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	26	Real Madrid
2	Manuel Neuer	–	19	Bayern Munich
3	Arjen Robben	–	9	Bayern Munich
4	Thomas Müller	39	–	Bayern Munich
5	Philipp Lahm	24	–	Bayern Munich
	Lionel Messi		–	Barcelona
7	James Rodríguez	16	–	Monaco
8	Luis Suárez	13	–	Liverpool
9	Ángel Di María	12	–	Real Madrid
10	Diego Costa	8	–	Atlético Madrid

2014–15

Rank	Player	First round[19]	Final round[20]	Club
1	Lionel Messi	–	49	Barcelona
2	Luis Suárez	–	3	Barcelona
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	2	Real Madrid
4	Gianluigi Buffon	24	–	Juventus
5	Neymar	23	–	Barcelona
6	Eden Hazard	21	–	Chelsea
7	Andrea Pirlo	12	–	Juventus
8	Arturo Vidal	11	–	Juventus
9	Carlos Tevez	8	–	Juventus
10	Paul Pogba	5	–	Juventus

2015–16

Rank	Player	First round[21]	Final round[6]	Club
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	40	Real Madrid
2	Antoine Griezmann	–	8	Atlético Madrid
3	Gareth Bale	–	7	Real Madrid
4	Luis Suárez	29	–	Barcelona
5	Lionel Messi	25	–	Barcelona
6	Gianluigi Buffon	19	–	Juventus
7	Pepe	9	–	Real Madrid
8	Manuel Neuer	6	–	Bayern Munich
9	Toni Kroos	5	–	Real Madrid
10	Thomas Müller	2	–	Bayern Munich

2016–17

Rank	Player	First round[22]	Final round[7]	Club
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	–	482	Real Madrid
2	Lionel Messi	–	141	Barcelona
3	Gianluigi Buffon	–	109	Juventus
4	Luka Modrić		–	Real Madrid
5	Toni Kroos		–	Real Madrid
6	Paulo Dybala		–	Juventus
7	Sergio Ramos		–	Real Madrid
8	Kylian Mbappé		–	Monaco
9	Robert Lewandowski		–	Bayern Munich
10	Zlatan Ibrahimović		–	Manchester United

2017–18

Rank	Player	Points[23]	Club
1	Luka Modrić	313	Real Madrid
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	223	Real Madrid
3	Mohamed Salah	134	Liverpool
4	Antoine Griezmann	72	Atlético Madrid
5	Lionel Messi	55	Barcelona
6	Kylian Mbappé	43	Paris Saint-Germain
7	Kevin De Bruyne	28	Manchester City
8	Raphaël Varane	23	Real Madrid
9	Eden Hazard	15	Chelsea
10	Sergio Ramos	12	Real Madrid

2018–19

Rank	Player	Points[24]	Club
1	Virgil van Dijk	305	Liverpool
2	Lionel Messi	207	Barcelona
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	74	Juventus
4	Alisson	57	Liverpool
5	Sadio Mané	51	Liverpool
6	Mohamed Salah	49	Liverpool
7	Eden Hazard	38	Chelsea
8	Frenkie de Jong	27	Ajax
	Matthijs de Ligt		Ajax
10	Raheem Sterling	12	Manchester City

2019–20

Rank	Player	Points[25]	Club
1	Robert Lewandowski	477	Bayern Munich
2	Kevin De Bruyne	90	Manchester City
3	Manuel Neuer	66	Bayern Munich
4	Lionel Messi	53	Barcelona
	Neymar		Paris Saint-Germain
6	Thomas Müller	41	Bayern Munich
7	Kylian Mbappé	39	Paris Saint-Germain
8	Thiago	27	Bayern Munich
9	Joshua Kimmich	26	Bayern Munich
10	Cristiano Ronaldo	25	Juventus

2020–21

Rank	Player	Points[26]	Club
1	Jorginho	175	Chelsea
2	Kevin De Bruyne	167	Manchester City
3	N'Golo Kanté	160	Chelsea
4	Lionel Messi	148	Barcelona
5	Robert Lewandowski	140	Bayern Munich
6	Gianluigi Donnarumma	49	Milan
7	Kylian Mbappé	31	Paris Saint-Germain
8	Raheem Sterling	18	Manchester City
9	Cristiano Ronaldo	16	Juventus
10	Erling Haaland	15	Borussia Dortmund

2021–22

Rank	Player	Points[27][28]	Club
1	Karim Benzema	523	Real Madrid
2	Kevin De Bruyne	122	Manchester City
3	Thibaut Courtois	118	Real Madrid
4	Robert Lewandowski	54	Bayern Munich
5	Luka Modrić	52	Real Madrid
6	Sadio Mané	51	Liverpool
7	Mohamed Salah	46	Liverpool
8	Kylian Mbappé	25	Paris Saint-Germain
9	Vinícius Júnior	21	Real Madrid
10	Virgil van Dijk	19	Liverpool
11	Bernardo Silva	7	Manchester City
12	Filip Kostić		Eintracht Frankfurt
13	Lorenzo Pellegrini	5	Roma
14	Trent Alexander-Arnold	2	Liverpool
15	Fabinho	1	Liverpool

2022–23

Rank	Player	Points[29][30]	Club
1	Erling Haaland	352	Manchester City
2	Lionel Messi	227	Paris Saint-Germain
3	Kevin De Bruyne	225	Manchester City
4	İlkay Gündoğan	129	Manchester City
5	Rodri	110	Manchester City
6	Kylian Mbappé	82	Paris Saint-Germain
7	Luka Modrić	33	Real Madrid
8	Marcelo Brozović	20	Inter Milan
9	Declan Rice	14	West Ham United
10	Alexis Mac Allister	12	Brighton & Hove Albion
11	Jesús Navas	6	Sevilla

By player

Player	Winner	Second place	Third place
Cristiano Ronaldo	3	1	5
Lionel Messi	2	5	—
Andrés Iniesta	1	—	—
Franck Ribéry	1	—	—
Luka Modrić	1	—	—
Virgil van Dijk	1	—	—
Robert Lewandowski	1	—	—
Jorginho	1	—	—
Karim Benzema	1	—	—
Erling Haaland	1	—	—
Kevin De Bruyne	—	3	1
Manuel Neuer	—	1	1
Xavi	—	1	—
Luis Suárez	—	1	—
Antoine Griezmann	—	1	—
Arjen Robben	—	–	1
Gareth Bale	—	–	1
Gianluigi Buffon	—	—	1
Mohamed Salah	—	—	1
N'Golo Kante	—	—	1
Thibaut Courtois	—	—	1

See also

• UEFA Club Footballer of the Year
• UEFA Club Football Awards
• UEFA Team of the Year