Haaland Wins First Award, Who is UEFA's Most Awarded Player of All Time?

Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland, won the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award for the 2022-2023 season. The Norwegian player beat out Lionel Messi and Kevin De Bruyne, who were also nominated for the award.

The UEFA Men's Player of the Year award is given to the best male football player playing for a European club in the past season. This award was established in 2011 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in collaboration with European Sports Media (ESM).

UEFA explained that Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 matches across all competitions as his team achieved a treble last season: the Premier League, FA Cup, and the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League.

“Haaland finished as top scorer in both competitions, scoring 12 goals in Europe and 36 goals in the English League, the latter being a new record,” as quoted from UEFA.com, Thursday (31/7/2023).

Lionel Messi was the first recipient of the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award in 2011.

However, Messi still trails Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the record for the most UEFA Men's Player of the Year awards. According to Sports Brief data, CR7 has won three awards, while Messi has won two.

Other recipients of the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award have each won only one award, including Haaland.

The award winner is determined by a jury of sports journalists representing each of UEFA's national member associations. The voting process involves selecting three nominated players based on their performance throughout the season.

Coaches and journalists are asked to award five points, three points, and one point to the top three players respectively. The final result is determined by the highest number of votes.

The award winner is announced during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw.

Besides Haaland, here is a list of other UEFA award winners for the 2022-2023 season:

* 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

Here is a list of UEFA Men's Player of the Year award winners from 2010-2023:

* Lionel Messi (Barcelona, 2010-2011)
* Andreas Iniesta (Barcelona, 2011-2012)
* Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich, 2012-2013)
* Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 2013-2014)
* Lionel Messi (Barcelona, 2014-2015)
* Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 2015-2016)
* Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 2016-2017)
* Luka Modri? (Real Madrid, 2017-2018)
* Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, 2018-2019)
* Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, 2019-2020)
* Jorginho (Chelsea, 2020-2021)
* Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, 2021-2022)
* Erling Haaland (Manchester City, 2022-2023)