Erling Haaland wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award
Thursday, August 31, 2023
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Manchester City's Erling Haaland has been named 2022/23 UEFA Men's Player of the Year.
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Manchester City's record-breaking striker Erling Haaland has been named 2022/23 UEFA Men's Player of the Year.
The 23-year-old was ruthless in front of goal, scoring 52 goals in 53 games across all competitions as Pep Guardiola's team achieved a remarkable treble of Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. Haaland finished as top scorer in both competitions, hitting 12 in Europe and 36 in the Premier League, the latter a new record.
The Norwegian saw off the challenge of team-mate Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi to scoop the award, which was announced during the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
Result of the vote
1 Erling Haaland (Norway & Manchester City) – 352 points
2 Lionel Messi (Argentina & Paris, now at Inter Miami) – 227 points
3 Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium & Manchester City) – 225 points
4 İlkay Gündoğan (Germany & Manchester City, now at Barcelona) – 129 points
5 Rodri (Spain & Manchester City) – 110 points
6 Kylian Mbappé (France & Paris) – 82 points
7 Luka Modrić (Croatia & Real Madrid) – 33 points
8 Marcelo Brozović (Croatia & Inter, now at Al Nassr) – 20 points
9 Declan Rice (England & West Ham, now at Arsenal) – 14 points
10 Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina & Brighton, now at Liverpool) – 12 points
11 Jesús Navas (Spain & Sevilla) – 6 points
Why did Haaland win the vote?
Haaland could not stop scoring in his first season at City, with an impressive 12 in the Champions League – four more than his nearest challenger, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah – and became only the third player to score five in a game. He added a record-breaking 36 in the Premier League, a tally that included four hat-tricks.
The Norwegian star also became the youngest and quickest player to make it to 35 Champions League goals in total, and picked up his – and his club's – first winners' medal in the competition to go with the ones he collected as City won the domestic double.
2022/23 in numbers
Achievements
UEFA Champions winner, Premier League winner, FA Cup winner
UEFA Champions League
Appearances: 11
Goals: 12
Assists: 1
Player of the Match awards: 1
Domestic League
Appearances: 35
Goals: 36
Assists: 8
Top three performances
Manchester City 7-0 Leipzig
Haaland ran riot in City's round of 16 second leg, becoming only the third man to score five goals in a single Champions League match after Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano.
Manchester City 3-0 Bayern
City blew Bayern away in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Haaland in inspired form. He set up a headed finish for Bernardo Silva with a delicious cross and then scored a cool close-range volley.
Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United
Haaland's first season in Manchester brought six hat-tricks, including one in his first local derby. The Norwegian became the first player to score three successive Premier League home trebles before setting up Phil Foden – who also scored three – for City's sixth.
How was he chosen?
The initial shortlist of players was selected by the UEFA technical study group based on their performance during the 2022/23 season at both club and national team level.
The top three nominees were then voted for by a jury composed of the coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, together with the coaches of the men's national teams of UEFA's member associations. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) were also part of the jury.
Coaches and journalists were asked to select their top three players from the shortlist by allocating them five points, three points and one point respectively. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.
Other 2022/23 award winners
Men's Coach of the Year: Pep Guardiola
Women's Player of the Year: Aitana Bonmatí
Women's Coach of the Year: Sarina Wiegman
President's Award: Miroslav Klose
Who was last year's winner?
Karim Benzema won the 2021/22 UEFA Men's Player of the Year award after driving Real Madrid to a record 14th European title, and his fifth since he joined from Lyon in 2009. His final tally of 15 goals – including a joint-record ten in the knockout stages – earned him top spot in the competition scoring charts, with 27 in the Spanish Liga also a domestic best. He started the campaign by helping France to UEFA Nations League glory.