The Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year (often called the NIFWA Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

. It is one of two

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Player of the Year awards in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, with the other being the

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is an association football player of the year award in Northern Ireland. One of two player of the year awards in Northern Ireland, the other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award. The Ulst ...

award. The award has been presented since the 1969–70 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst members of the association. The first winner of the award was Des Dickson of

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

. The player to have received the award more than any other is

Glenn Ferguson Glenn Ferguson (born 10 July 1969) is a Northern Irish former football player and manager. Ferguson amassed over 1,000 domestic appearances in a career where he played for Ards, Glenavon, Linfield and Lisburn Distillery, and scored a tot ...

, who has collected the award on three occasions, the last of which was in 2006.M. Brodie (ed.), ''Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2009-2010'', p. 102. Belfast: Ulster Tatler Publications Two other players have won the award twice; Ivan Murray was the first in 1975 and Vinny Arkins was the most recent, in 2002.

List of winners

Wins by player (multiple)

Wins by country

Wins by club

Footnotes

:A. : Player also won the

award. :B. : Sourced to the official website of the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association unless otherwise stated."Player of the Year"
Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association. Retrieved 20 August 2010. :C. : Won the award on two occasions. :D. : Won the award three times.

References

External links

Official websiteIrish League Archive - Player Awards
{{Football in Northern Ireland Association footballers in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland 2 European football trophies and awards Football mass media in the United Kingdom Association football player non-biographical articles Awards established in 1969 1969 establishments in Northern Ireland