UEFA has announced the introduction of five new players’ awards, aimed at recognizing the top performers in UEFA club competitions each season. These new accolades will be presented alongside the annual UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and UEFA Women’s Player of the Year awards in Monaco at the end of August.
According to UEFA, the voting for the winners will be conducted by “leading coaches and members of the media, which will be presented in Monaco in August.”
As per UEFA press release, the details of the awards are as follows:
New awards
The following will be presented during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw on 24 August:
- Goalkeeper of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season
- Defender of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season
- Midfielder of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season
- Attacker of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season
The following will be presented during the UEFA Europa League group stage draw on 25 August:
- UEFA Europa League Player of the 2016/17 season
Existing awards
The five new competition-specific prizes will complement the existing UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year awards, which will be presented during the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony as in previous years. These are for all players who have played in Europe and are based on performances during the previous season across all competitions, both domestically and internationally, at club and national-team levels.
How voting works
The jury consists of coaches of clubs in the 2016/17 group stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists from the European Sports Media (ESM) group representing each of UEFA’s member associations. Coaches are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.
The shortlist for all four positional UEFA Champions League awards, along with the shortlist for the UEFA Europa League accolade, will be announced on 4 August. The three nominees for the overall UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year honours will be revealed on 15 August following the 2017 UEFA Women’s EURO.
UEFA President’s Award
Finally, the 2017 UEFA President’s Award will be presented in Monaco to Francesco Totti, in recognition of the Italian footballer’s outstanding career.
