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 Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

. 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 A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

, the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

(PFA). The current holder is

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt na ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, who won the award for a second time on 9 June 2022. The first winner of the award was

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

defender Norman Hunter. As of 2022, only

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players ...

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

Kevin De Bruyne Kevin De Bruyne (born 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City and the Belgium national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world. Pundits have often desc ...

and

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 The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the s ...

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 Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Pistolero'' ('The Gunman'), he is ...

(Uruguay) in 2013–14,

Riyad Mahrez Riyad Karim Mahrez ( ar, رياض كريم محرز, Riyāḍ Karīm Maḥraz; born 21 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Manchester City and captains the Algeria national team. Mahrez began his career ...

(Algeria) in 2015–16, and

(Egypt) in 2017–18 and 2021–22. Every spring, each member of the association votes for two players. 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 London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where he ...

describing it in 2001 as "the biggest personal award you can get in the game", and

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

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".

Winners

The award has been presented on 49 occasions as of 2022, with 42 different winners. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in English football, namely the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award (FWA), the

PFA Fans' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Fans' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, or simply the Fans' Player of the Year) award is given to footballers in the top four flights of English football, the Premier Leag ...

award (FPY), the

award (YPY), the

Premier League Player of the Season The Premier League Player of the Season is an annual association football award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding player in the Premier League each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the ...

award (PPS), and the Football Supporters’ Federation

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

award (FSF). Andy Gray 2004-10-23

Thierry Henry Arsenal U19s Vs Olympiacos (cropped)

{, class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , +Winners of the PFA Players' of the Year , - !Year ! !Player!!Club!!class="unsortable", Also won!!class="unsortable" align=center, Notes , - , 1973–74 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1974–75 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, , , , , - , 1975–76 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, , , , , - , 1976–77 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, , YPY, , , - , 1977–78 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, , , , , - , 1978–79 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, , , , , - , 1979–80 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1980–81 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, , , , , - , 1981–82 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, , , , , - , 1982–83 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1983–84 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1984–85 , , , , align=left, , , align=left, Everton, , , , , - , 1985–86 , , , , align=left, , , align=left, Everton , , FWA, , , - , 1986–87 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1987–88 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1988–89 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, , , , , - , 1989–90 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1990–91 , , , , align=left, (2) , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1991–92 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1992–93 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1993–94 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1994–95 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, , PPS , , , - , 1995–96 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, , , , , - , 1996–97 , , , , align=left, (2) , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 1997–98 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1998–99 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 1999–2000 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 2000–01 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, , , - , 2001–02 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FPY, , , - , 2002–03 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, , , - , 2003–04 , , , , align=left, (2), , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, PPS, , , - , 2004–05 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, , , , , - , 2005–06 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 2006–07 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, YPY, PPS, , , - , 2007–08 , , , , align=left, (2) , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, PPS, , , - , 2008–09 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 2009–10 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, PPS , , , - , 2010–11 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , , , , - , 2011–12 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY , , , - , 2012–13 , , , , align=left, (2) , , align=left,

, , FWA, YPY, PPS , , , - , 2013–14 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, FPY, PPS, FSF , , , - , 2014–15 , , , , align=left, , , align=left,

, , FWA, PPS , , , - , 2015–16 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, ALG, , align="left" , {{sortname, Riyad, Mahrez , , align="left" ,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, , FPY , , , - , 2016–17 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, FRA, , align="left" , {{sortname, N'Golo, Kanté , , align="left" ,

, , FWA, PPS , , , - , 2017–18 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, EGY, , align="left" , {{sortname, Mohamed, Salah , , align="left" ,

, , FWA, FPY, PPS, FSF , , , - , 2018–19 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, NED, , align="left" , {{sortname, Virgil, van Dijk , , align="left" ,

, , PPS, FSF , , , - , 2019–20 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, Belgium, , align="left" , {{sortname, Kevin, De Bruyne , , align="left" ,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, , PPS , , {{Cite web, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54044861, title=PFA Player of the Year: Kevin de Bruyne and Beth England named 2020 winners, publisher=BBC Sport , date=8 September 2020, access-date=8 September 2020 , - ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, , {{sort, {{flagicon, Belgium, , align="left" , {{sortname, Kevin, De Bruyne (2) , , align="left" ,

, , , , - , 2021–22 , , {{sort, {{flagicon, EGY, , align="left" ,

(2), , align="left" ,

, , FWA, FPY , ,

Breakdown of winners

By country

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="width:90%" , +Winners of the PFA Players' Player of the Year by country , - !Width=32%, Country!!Width=18%, Number of wins!!Width=50% class="unsortable", Winning years , - , {{flagicon, ENG

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, , {{center, 18 , , 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10 , - , {{flagicon, WAL

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, , {{center, 6 , , 1983–84, 1988–89, 1990–91, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13 , - , {{flagicon, FRA

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, , {{center, 5 , , 1993–94, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2016–17 , - , {{flagicon, NED

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, , {{center, 4, , 1997–98, 2001–02, 2011–12, 2018–19 , - , {{flagicon, SCO

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, , {{center, 3 , , 1976–77, 1980–81, 1982–83 , - , {{flagicon, IRE

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, , {{center, 3 , , 1978–79, 1992–93, 1999–2000 , - , {{flagicon, BEL

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, , {{center, 3 , , 2014–15, 2019–20, 2020-21 , - , {{flagicon, POR

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, , {{center, 2 , , 2006–07, 2007–08 , - , {{flagicon, EGY

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, , {{center, 2 , , 2017–18, 2021–22 , - , {{flagicon, NIR

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, , {{center, 1 , , 1975–76 , - , {{flagicon, URU

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, , {{center, 1 , , 2013–14 , - , {{flagicon, ALG

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, , {{center, 1 , , 2015–16

By club

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="width:90%" , +Winners of the PFA Players' Player of the Year by club , - !width=32%, Club!!Width=18%, Number of wins!!Width=50% class="unsortable", Winning years , - ,