Premier League Player Of The Season
The Premier League was founded in 1992, when the clubs of the First Division left the Football League and established a new commercially independent league that negotiated its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The newly formed league had no sponsor for its inaugural season until Carling agreed to a four-year £12 million deal that started the following season. That same season, Carling introduced individual awards for players, such as the Golden Boot. However, the Player of the Month and Player of the Season awards were only first bestowed during the 1994–95 season. The first Player of the Season award was given to Blackburn Rovers striker Alan Shearer, who won the Premier League title with his team and the Golden Boot that season.
Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidić and Kevin De Bruyne have been Player of the Season on two occasions each and are the only players to have won the award more than once, with Ronaldo having achieved this in consecutive years (2007 and 2008). Eight players were the Premier League's leading goalscorer and won the Golden Boot alongside the Player of the Season award. Four of these players – Kevin Phillips, Henry, Ronaldo and Luis Suárez – went on to win the European Golden Shoe in the same season. 11 players have won the Premier League trophy with their respective clubs in the same year they received the award, with Ronaldo and Vidić each accomplishing the feat on two occasions with Manchester United. Ronaldo is the only player to be named Player of the Season and win the FIFA World Player of the Year; when he accomplished this in 2008, he became the first player from the Premier League to be voted the world's top footballer. In 2023 Manchester City's Erling Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to win both Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season awards for the same campaign.
The current holder of the award is Manchester City's Phil Foden.
Winners
![Alan Shearer wearing a black jumper with a white collar visible.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Alan_Shearer_2008.jpg/220px-Alan_Shearer_2008.jpg)
![Cristiano Ronaldo – wearing a long-sleeved red jersey, white shorts with a number 7 on the left-leg side and a white armband on the left arm – prepares to take a free kick.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/C_Ronaldo.jpg/220px-C_Ronaldo.jpg)
![Luis Suárez – wearing a red Liverpool FC jersey with the Standard Chartered sponsor logo at the front centre and shorts with a number 7 partially obscured on the left-leg side and the club crest on the right – lifts his hand with his mouth partly opened.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Luis_Su%C3%A1rez_D%C3%ADaz.jpg/220px-Luis_Su%C3%A1rez_D%C3%ADaz.jpg)
Player (X) | Name of the player and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one) |
---|---|
† | Indicates player also won the European Golden Shoe in the same season |
‡ | Indicates player also won the European Golden Shoe and FIFA World Player of the Year in the same season |
# | Indicates player also won the European Golden Shoe and Premier League Young Player of the Season award in the same season |
§ | Denotes the club were Premier League champions in the same season |
Multiple awards won by players
The following table lists the number of awards won by players who have won at least two Player of the Season awards.
Players in bold are still active in the Premier League.
Awards | Player | Country | Seasons |
---|---|---|---|
2 | Kevin De Bruyne | ![]() |
2019–20, 2021–22 |
Thierry Henry | ![]() |
2003–04, 2005–06 | |
Cristiano Ronaldo | ![]() |
2006–07, 2007–08 | |
Nemanja Vidić | ![]() |
2008–09, 2010–11 |
Awards won by nationality
Country | Players | Total |
---|---|---|
![]() |
7 | 7 |
![]() |
3 | 4 |
![]() |
3 | 4 |
![]() |
2 | 3 |
![]() |
2 | 2 |
![]() |
1 | 2 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 |
Awards won by position
Position | Players | Total |
---|---|---|
Forward | 12 | 14 |
Midfielder | 9 | 10 |
Defender | 4 | 5 |
Goalkeeper | 1 | 1 |
Awards won by club
Club | Players | Total |
---|---|---|
Manchester United | 6 | 8 |
Manchester City | 5 | 6 |
Arsenal | 3 | 4 |
Liverpool | 4 | 4 |
Chelsea | 3 | 3 |
Leicester City | 1 | 1 |
Blackburn Rovers | 1 | 1 |
Middlesbrough | 1 | 1 |
Sunderland | 1 | 1 |
Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | 1 |
See also
- Most Valuable Player
- Premier League Player of the Month
- FWA Footballer of the Year
- PFA Players' Player of the Year
- Premier League Young Player of the Season
- Premier League Manager of the Season
- Premier League Playmaker of the Season
- Premier League Goal of the Season
- Premier League Save of the Season
- Premier League Most Powerful Goal