UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award: The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award is given to the best footballers in Europe for their performance in both club and national team competitions. It was created in 2011 to replace the European Footballer of the Year Award. Cristiano Ronaldo has won it the most, with three wins, and is the only player to win it twice in a row.
According to UEFA, the award recognizes the best player from a football club in a UEFA member country during the previous season. Players are judged based on their performances in both club and national team competitions, including domestic and international games.
Since 1956, the French magazine France Football has awarded the Ballon d’Or to the best European footballer of the year. Initially, only European players in Europe were eligible. In 1995, the award was expanded to all players in Europe, with George Weah from Liberia becoming the first non-European winner. From 2007, all players worldwide were eligible, and the award began recognizing the “World Footballer of the Year.” There was no European Footballer of the Year between 2007 and 2010 until UEFA revived the award in 2011 as the UEFA Player of the Year.
In November 2023, UEFA partnered with France Football to handle the Ballon d’Or. UEFA will manage the commercial rights and organize the event, and it will also focus on the best player in the Champions League through the UEFA Club Football Awards. UEFA believes the best player in the world always plays in a European league.
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award
Season Player Nationality Club 2010-11 Lionel Messi Argentina Barcelona 2011-12 Andrés Iniesta Spain Barcelona 2012-13 Franck Ribéry France Bayern Munich 2013-14 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Real Madrid 2014-15 Lionel Messi Argentina Barcelona 2015-16 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Real Madrid
UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award
Season Player Nationality Club 2016-17 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Real Madrid 2017-18 Luka Modrić Croatia Real Madrid 2018-19 Virgil van Dijk Netherlands Liverpool 2019-20 Robert Lewandowski Poland Bayern Munich 2020-21 Jorginho Italy Chelsea 2021-22 Karim Benzema France Real Madrid 2022-23 Erling Haaland Norway Manchester City
Rank Player First Round Final Round 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 9 Gerard Piqué – – Barcelona 10 Manuel Neuer 3 – Schalke 04
Rank Player First Round Final Round Club 1 Andrés Iniesta – 19 Barcelona 2 Lionel Messi – 17 Barcelona 2 Cristiano Ronaldo – 17 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 9 Radamel Falcao 14 – Atlético Madrid 10 Mesut Özil 10 – Real Madrid
Rank Player First Round Final Round 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
Rank Player First Round Final Round 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 5 Lionel Messi 24 – Barcelona 7 James Rodríguez 16 – Monaco 8 Luis Suárez 13 – Liverpool 9 Ángel Di María 12 – Real Madrid 10 Diego Costa 8 – Atlético Madrid
Rank Player First Round Final Round 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
Rank Player First Round Final Round 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
Rank Player First Round Final Round Club 1 Cristiano Ronaldo – 482 Real Madrid 2 Lionel Messi – 141 Barcelona 3 Gianluigi Buffon – 109 Juventus 4 Luka Modrić 39 – Real Madrid 5 Toni Kroos 35 – Real Madrid 6 Paulo Dybala 27 – Juventus 7 Sergio Ramos 21 – Real Madrid 8 Kylian Mbappé 18 – Monaco 9 Robert Lewandowski 15 – Bayern Munich 10 Zlatan Ibrahimović 5 – Manchester United
Rank Player Points 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
Rank Player Points 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 9 Matthijs de Ligt 27 Ajax 10 Raheem Sterling 12 Manchester City
Rank Player Points 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 4 Neymar 53 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
Rank Player Points 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
Rank Player Points 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
Rank Player Points 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
Player Winner 2nd place 3rd place Cristiano Ronaldo 3 2 4 Lionel Messi 2 5 0 Andrés Iniesta 1 0 0 Franck Ribéry 1 0 0 Luka Modrić 1 0 0 Virgil van Dijk 1 0 0 Robert Lewandowski 1 0 0 Jorginho 1 0 0 Karim Benzema 1 0 0 Erling Haaland 1 0 0 Kevin De Bruyne 0 3 1 Manuel Neuer 0 1 1 Xavi 0 1 0 Luis Suárez 0 1 0 Antoine Griezmann 0 1 0 Arjen Robben 0 0 1 Gareth Bale 0 0 1 Gianluigi Buffon 0 0 1 Mohamed Salah 0 0 1 N’Golo Kante 0 0 1 Thibaut Courtois 0 0 1
