PFA Players' Player of the Year

This article is about the men's award. For the women's award, see PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year.

PFA Men's Players' Player of the Year
2024 winner Phil Foden
SportAssociation football
CompetitionAll levels of English football
CountryEngland and Wales
Presented byPFA
History
First award1973–74
Editions51
First winnerEngland Norman Hunter
Most recentEngland Phil Foden (2024)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Professional Footballers' Association Men's Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Men's Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English football.[1] The award has been presented since the 1973–74 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA).[2] The current holder is Phil Foden of Manchester City, who won the award for the first time on 20 August 2024.[3]

The first winner of the award was Leeds United defender Norman Hunter. As of 2024, only Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah have won the award on two occasions, and only Henry, Ronaldo and De Bruyne have won the award in consecutive seasons. Of the seven, only Shearer won his two awards playing for different teams. Although there is a separate PFA Young Player of the Year award, young players remain eligible to win the senior award, and on three occasions the same player has won both awards for a season, Andy Gray in 1976–77, Ronaldo in 2006–07 and Bale in 2012–13. Only three non-European players have won the award: Luis Suárez (Uruguay) in 2013–14, Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) in 2015–16, and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) in 2017–18 and 2021–22.

Every spring, each member of the association votes for two players.[4] A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of the PFA's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in London.[5] The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with Teddy Sheringham describing it in 2001 as "the biggest personal award you can get in the game",[6] and John Terry stating in 2005 that he considered it "the ultimate accolade to be voted for by your fellow professionals whom you play against week-in and week-out".[7]

  1. ^ "England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year". England Football Online. 19 June 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  2. ^ McGrath, Mike (29 June 2020). "PFA remain confident annual Player of the Year awards will go ahead". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference recent was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Gerrard named player of the year". BBC Sport. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  5. ^ "United trio lead nominations for PFA award". The Times. London. 16 April 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2008.[dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Sheringham wins second award". BBC Sport. 29 April 2001. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  7. ^ "Terry claims player of year award". BBC Sport. 24 April 2005. Retrieved 24 March 2008.