UEFA Men's Player of the Year nominees: De Bruyne, Jorginho, Kanté
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Article summary
The shortlist for the 2020/21 UEFA Men's Player of the Year award has been announced.
Article top media content
Article body
One of Kevin De Bruyne, Jorginho or N'Golo Kanté will be named UEFA Men's Player of the Year for 2020/21 – the first all-midfield shortlist in the prize's 11-year history.
The winner will be named – along with the UEFA Women's Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award winners – during the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League draw ceremony in Istanbul on Thursday 26 August. The 2020/21 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season will be announced the following day.
UEFA Men's Player of the Year nominees
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium)
Runner-up for this award 12 months ago, the Belgian picked up where he left off as he inspired City to the Premier League title and through to the Champions League final where a facial injury forced him off.
Jorginho (Chelsea & Italy)
Became only the tenth player to win a European Cup and a EURO in the same year, starting every EURO 2020 game for Italy having missed just one in the Blues' run to Champions League glory.
N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea & France)
Finished the Champions League season like a train, with Player of the Match performances in both legs of Chelsea's semi-final win against Real Madrid and then the final against City.
The rest of the top ten
4 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, now at Paris & Argentina) – 148 points
5 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern & Poland) – 140 points
6 Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, now at Paris & Italy) – 49 points
7 Kylian Mbappé (Paris & France) – 31 points
8 Raheem Sterling (Man. City & England) – 18 points
9 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal) – 16 points
10 Erling Haaland (Dortmund & Norway) – 15 points
What is the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award?
For this award, players in Europe, irrespective of nationality, have been judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club, or national team level.
How were the players shortlisted?
The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the following:
- 24 coaches of the teams which participated in this summer’s UEFA EURO 2020
- 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48)
- 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each of UEFA's member associations
Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.
The other awards
Women's Player of the Year: Hermoso, Martens, Putellas
Men's Coach of the Year: Guardiola, Mancini, Tuchel
Women's Coach of the Year: Cortés, Gerhardsson, Hayes
Goalkeeper of the Season: Courtois, Ederson, Mendy
Defender of the Season: Azpilicueta, Rúben Dias, Rüdiger
Midfielder of the Season: De Bruyne, Jorginho, Kanté
Forward of the Season: Haaland, Lewandowski, Mbappé
Women's Goalkeeper of the Season: Berger, Endler, Paños
Women's Defender of the Season: Eriksson, Mapi Léon, Paredes
Women's Midfielder of the Season: Bonmatí, Ji, Putellas
Women's Forward of the Season: Graham Hansen, Hermoso, Martens
Europa League Player of the Season: Cavani, Bruno Fernandes, Gerard Moreno
Last year's winner
Robert Lewandowski won the 2019/20 UEFA Men's Player of the Year award. The Bayern striker scored in every game en route to the UEFA Champions League final in Lisbon, picking up 15 goals and six assists as well as the trophy he had coveted for so long. He also hit 34 goals in 31 Bundesliga matches and six in five German Cup games.
