UEFA today announced the introduction of five new players’ awards, which are aimed at recognising the top performers in UEFA club competitions during the 2016/17 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 at the traditional season kick-off draw ceremonies in Monaco at the end of August.
The first four additional awards will crown the best Goalkeeper, Defender, Midfielder and Attacker of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season and will be presented during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw on 24 August. Another award for the UEFA Europa League Player of the 2016/17 season will be presented during the following day’s UEFA Europa League group stage draw, which also takes place in Monaco.
These awards will complement the existing UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year awards, which will also be presented at the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony, as in previous years. For these two overall awards, players who have played in Europe, irrespective of their nationality, will be judged for their performance during the 2016/17 season in all competitions, both domestically and internationally, at either club or national team level.
The jury will be composed of the coaches of the clubs in the group stages of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League and 2016/17 UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists from the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA’s member associations. The coaches are not allowed to vote for players of their own team.
The shortlist for all four positional UEFA Champions League awards, along with the shortlist for the UEFA Europa League award will be announced on 4 August. The three nominees for the overall UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year awards will be announced on 15 August, upon completion of the 2017 UEFA Women’s EURO.
Finally, the 2017 UEFA President’s Award, will also be presented in Monaco to Francesco Totti, in recognition of the Italian footballer’s outstanding career.