Kessler wins Best Women's Player award

Nadine Kessler was voted the winner of the UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award for season 2013/14 ahead of VfL Wolfsburg team-mates Nilla Fischer and Martina Müller.

Kessler topped the vote from a jury composed of 12 journalists each committed to supporting women's football, and selected by the European Sports Media Group (ESM). Kessler succeeds Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, who claimed the inaugural award last year. Müller was second in the vote.

Captain of Wolfsburg as they won the UEFA Women's Champions League and Frauen Bundesliga for the second year running, Kessler was ever-present in both competitions and ran the midfield alongside Lena Goessling, just as she did in Germany's UEFA Women's EURO 2013 victory a year ago. Kessler set up Müller's late winner in the 4-3 UEFA Women's Champions League final defeat of Tyresö FF in Lisbon.

Kessler received her award from UEFA President Michael Platini in Monaco. She said: "It is a great feeling to win this award. I want to thank the team and the 'team behind the team' – this award is for everyone."

Voting process
For the award, players were judged on their performances during the 2013/14 campaign in all competitions, both domestic and international, and at club and national team levels. The initial shortlist of the top ten players had been provided by the coaches of the teams taking part in last season's UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals. Each coach supplied a list of their five leading players, with the first getting five points, the second four points, the third three points, the fourth two points and the fifth one point.

That list of players was then passed to the panel of 12 journalists, who in turn voted for their top three players, giving the first three points, the second two points and third one point. In alphabetical order, the top three were: Fischer, Kessler and Müller.

UEFA also revealed the list of players placed fourth to tenth in Europe as a consequence of the second round of voting by the aforementioned panel:

4 Lena Goessling (GER, VfL Wolfsburg) – number of points, 6
5= Verónica Boquete (ESP, Tyresö FF/Portland Thorns) – 5
5= Lotta Schelin (SWE, Olympique Lyonnais) – 5
7= Marta (BRA, Tyresö FF/FC Rosengård) – 3
7= Alexandra Popp (GER, VfL Wolfsburg) – 3
7= Caroline Seger (SWE, Tyresö FF/Paris Saint-Germain) – 3
10 Christen Press (US, Tyresö FF/Chicago Red Stars) – 2