Uefa to bring back European Player of the Year award
European football's governing body announces plan to revive original single-player prize this season
The European Footballer of the Year award will be reintroduced this season, Uefa president Michel Platini has revealed.
The award will be presented at Uefa’s European season kick-off event in Monaco in August and will replace the separate awards given to the season’s best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward.
The original European prize, created by France Football in 1956, has been incorporated into Fifa’s new-look Ballon d’Or award, which Lionel Messi won this year at a ceremony in Zurich in January.
Platini, a three-time winner of the original European prize, said: “Uefa will give a special prize to the best European player to revive the spirit of the old European Footballer of the Year award.”
The winner of the new award will be picked by representatives of all the 53 European national associations and journalists coordinated by the European Sports Magazines organisation.
Inter Milan enjoyed a clean sweep of all of last season’s prizes when goalkeeper Júlio Cesar, defender Maicon, midfielder Wesley Sneijder and striker Diego Milito were crowned winners in the wake of the Serie A side’s treble-winning campaign. Milito then scooped the Uefa Club Footballer of the Year prize.
