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UEFA Awards

Alexia Putellas and Karim Benzema with their 2021/22 Player of the Year awards
Alexia Putellas and Karim Benzema with their 2021/22 Player of the Year awards UEFA via Getty Images

At the start of each new season, UEFA stages an annual awards ceremony to recognise the best player and coach performances from the previous editions of its mens’ and women’s club competitions.

Since 1998, the UEFA President’s award has also acknowledged an outstanding individual or group achievement, whose impact transcends the game.

What are the categories for UEFA’s player awards?

  • UEFA Men’s Player of the Year
  • UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year
  • UEFA Women’s Player of the Year
  • UEFA Women’s Coach of the Year

When and where were the 2021/22 player awards announced?

The 2021/22 UEFA Awards ceremony took place on 25 August 2022 in Istanbul. Karim Benzema and Alexia Putellas were named the winners.

Who decides the player awards?

UEFA Men's Player of the Year

For the men’s player award, an initial shortlist of 15 players was selected by the UEFA technical study group based on their performance during the 2021/22 season at both club and national team level. The top three nominees were voted for by a jury composed of coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) were also part of the jury.

UEFA Women's Player of the Year

For the women’s player award, an initial shortlist of 22 players was selected by the UEFA technical study group based on their performance during the 2021/22 season at club and/or national team level. The top three nominees were voted for by a jury composed of the coaches of the teams which participated in this summer’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, together with the coaches of the clubs which played in the group stage of the 2021/22 UEFA Women’s Champions League. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) were also part of the jury.

Coaches and journalists voting for both awards were asked to select their top three players from the shortlist by allocating them five points, three points and one point respectively. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

Previous winners