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 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]
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]
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]
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.
Erling Haaland
Cristiano Ronaldo
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Franck Ribéry
Bayern Munich
Luka Modrić
Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool
Robert Lewandowski
Jorginho
Radamel Falcao
Nemanja Vidić
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Didier Drogba
Petr Čech
Gareth Bale
Luis Suárez
Neymar
Eden Hazard
Arturo Vidal
Mohamed Salah
Sadio Mané
