UEFA have now officially announced the final three nominees for the 2020-21 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award.
2020-21 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year nominees
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium)
De Bruyne is the current holder of this award. He has once again been nominated for this year due to inspiring City to the Premier League title and the Champions League final.
Jorginho (Chelsea & Italy)
The Italian became only the tenth player to win a European Cup and a EURO in the same year. He started every EURO 2020 game for Italy and just missed just one match in Chelsea’s Champions League glory.
N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea & France)
The Frenchman was one of the crucial players in Chelsea winning the Champions League trophy. He was the Player of the Match in both legs of Chelsea’s semi-final win against Real Madrid and then the final against Manchester City.
Rest of the top 10
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
The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award is given to the players playing in Europe, irrespective of nationality. They are judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club, or national team level.
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
The Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. However, coaches are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.
The winner of the 2020-21 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year 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 26th August.
The 2020-21 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season will be announced the following day.
