UEFA rewards excellence and achievement within European football with a series of awards in various sectors, with the major individual accolades traditionally handed out in late August.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the late finish to the 2019/20 season, the player awards ceremony took place in Switzerland on 1 and 2 October.
Player Awards
Created in partnership with European Sports Media (ESM) group, these awards recognise the best players, irrespective of nationality, who played for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season.
Players are judged on their performances across all matches – in both domestic, UEFA and international competitions.
UEFA Men’s Player of the Year
Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern München was awarded the 2019/20 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award.
The jury was composed of the 80 coaches of the clubs which participated in the group stages of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group from each of UEFA’s member associations.
The final result was based on the total number of points from the votes cast by the coaches and journalists. Coaches could not vote for players from their own team.
Previous winners:
2019 – Virgil van Dijk
2018 – Luka Modric
2017 – Cristiano Ronaldo
2016 – Cristiano Ronaldo
2015 – Lionel Messi
UEFA Women’s Player of the Year
Pernille Harder, finalist with Wolfsburg, now with Chelsea, won the 2019/20 UEFA Women’s Player of the Year, her second time taking the accolade after her success in 2018.
The jury was composed of the coaches of the eight clubs which participated in the 2019/20 UEFA Women’s Champions League final tournament in Spain, together with the coaches of the 12 highest-ranked teams in the latest UEFA women’s national team rankings.
Also on the panel were 20 journalists specialising in women’s football, who were selected by the ESM group. The final result was based on the total number of points from the votes cast by the coaches and journalists. Coaches could not vote for players from their own team.
Previous winners:
2019 – Lucy Bronze
2018 – Pernille Harder
2017 – Lieke Martens
2016 – Ada Hegerberg
2015 – Célia Šašić
Positional awards
UEFA also present positional awards for the UEFA Champions League, and from the 2019/20 season onwards, the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
UEFA Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season: Manuel Neuer
UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season: Joshua Kimmich
UEFA Champions League Midfielder of the Season: Kevin De Bruyne
UEFA Champions League Forward of the Season: Robert Lewandowski
UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: to be announced on 2 October
UEFA Women’s Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season: Sarah Bouhaddi
UEFA Women’s Champions League Defender of the Season: Wendie Renard
UEFA Women’s Champions League Midfielder of the Season: Dzsenifer Marozsán
UEFA Women’s Champions League Forward of the Season: Pernille Harder
Coach Awards
On the same occasion, and also for the first time in 2020, UEFA honoured the coaches who had the biggest impact over the previous season.
UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year
Bayern coach Hans-Dieter Flick received the UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year 2019/20 award.
The jury was composed of 80 coaches of the clubs which participated in the group stages of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group.
UEFA Women’s Coach of the Year
Lyon coach Jean-Luc Vasseur received the UEFA Women’s Coach of the Year 2019/20 award.
The jury was composed of the coaches of the eight clubs which participated in the 2019/20 UEFA Women’s Champions League final tournament, together with the coaches of the 12 highest-ranked teams in the latest UEFA women’s national team rankings.
Twenty journalists specialising in women’s football and selected by the ESM group were also part of the jury.Volume 0% Didier Drogba: UEFA President’s Award winner
UEFA President’s Award
This prestigious award recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities.
In 2020, the President’s Award winner was Didier Drogba.
Great players such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Sir Bobby Charlton, Raymond Kopa, Gianni Rivera, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and Josef Masopust have won the award in recent years. Eric Cantona was the most recent recipient, in 2019.