FWA Footballer of the Year

Erling Haaland won the award in 2023.
Sport	Association football
Competition	All levels of English football
Country	England and Wales
Presented by	FWA
History
First award	1947–48
Editions	76
First winner	Stanley Matthews
Most wins	Thierry Henry (3 awards)
Most recent	Erling Haaland
Website	footballwriters.co.uk/awards

The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year (often called the FWA Footballer of the Year, or in England simply the Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in English football.^[1] The award has been presented since the 1947–48 season, with the inaugural winner being Blackpool winger Stanley Matthews. The latest winner of the award as of 2022–23 is Erling Haaland of Manchester City. Nine players have won the award on more than one occasion, with Thierry Henry having won the award on the most occasions, with three wins in four seasons.

The winner is selected by a vote amongst the members of the Football Writers' Association (FWA), which comprises around 400 football journalists based throughout England.^[2] The award was instigated at the suggestion of Charles Buchan, a former professional footballer turned journalist and one of the Association's founders.^[3]

Winners

The award has been presented on 76 occasions as of 2023, to 67 players. On one occasion two players shared the award for a season.^[4] The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in English football, namely the Professional Footballers' Association's Players' Player of the Year award (PPY),^[5][6][7] Fans' Player of the Year award (FPY),^[8] the Young Player of the Year award (YPY),^[6][7][9] the Premier League Player of the Season award (PPS),^[10],the Premier League Young Player of the Season award (PYPS),^[10] and the Football Supporters' Association Player of the Year (FSA).^[11][12]

Winners of the FWA Footballer of the Year

Year		Player	Club	Also won	Notes
1947–48		Stanley Matthews	Blackpool
1948–49		Johnny Carey	Manchester United		[13]
1949–50		Joe Mercer	Arsenal
1950–51		Harry Johnston	Blackpool
1951–52		Billy Wright	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1952–53		Nat Lofthouse	Bolton Wanderers
1953–54		Tom Finney	Preston North End
1954–55		Don Revie	Manchester City
1955–56		Bert Trautmann	Manchester City
1956–57		Tom Finney (2)	Preston North End		[14]
1957–58		Danny Blanchflower	Tottenham Hotspur
1958–59		Syd Owen	Luton Town
1959–60		Bill Slater	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1960–61		Danny Blanchflower (2)	Tottenham Hotspur
1961–62		Jimmy Adamson	Burnley
1962–63		Stanley Matthews (2)	Stoke City		[15]
1963–64		Bobby Moore	West Ham United
1964–65		Bobby Collins	Leeds United
1965–66		Bobby Charlton	Manchester United
1966–67		Jack Charlton	Leeds United
1967–68		George Best	Manchester United
1968–69		Tony Book Dave Mackay	Manchester City Derby County
1969–70		Billy Bremner	Leeds United
1970–71		Frank McLintock	Arsenal
1971–72		Gordon Banks	Stoke City
1972–73		Pat Jennings	Tottenham Hotspur		[16]
1973–74		Ian Callaghan	Liverpool
1974–75		Alan Mullery	Fulham
1975–76		Kevin Keegan	Liverpool
1976–77		Emlyn Hughes	Liverpool
1977–78		Kenny Burns	Nottingham Forest
1978–79		Kenny Dalglish	Liverpool
1979–80		Terry McDermott	Liverpool	PPY	[17]
1980–81		Frans Thijssen	Ipswich Town
1981–82		Steve Perryman	Tottenham Hotspur
1982–83		Kenny Dalglish (2)	Liverpool	PPY
1983–84		Ian Rush	Liverpool	PPY
1984–85		Neville Southall	Everton
1985–86		Gary Lineker	Everton	PPY
1986–87		Clive Allen	Tottenham Hotspur	PPY
1987–88		John Barnes	Liverpool	PPY
1988–89		Steve Nicol	Liverpool
1989–90		John Barnes (2)	Liverpool
1990–91		Gordon Strachan	Leeds United
1991–92		Gary Lineker (2)	Tottenham Hotspur
1992–93		Chris Waddle	Sheffield Wednesday
1993–94		Alan Shearer	Blackburn Rovers
1994–95		Jürgen Klinsmann	Tottenham Hotspur
1995–96		Eric Cantona	Manchester United
1996–97		Gianfranco Zola	Chelsea
1997–98		Dennis Bergkamp	Arsenal	PPY
1998–99		David Ginola	Tottenham Hotspur	PPY
1999–2000		Roy Keane	Manchester United	PPY
2000–01		Teddy Sheringham	Manchester United	PPY
2001–02		Robert Pires	Arsenal
2002–03		Thierry Henry	Arsenal	PPY, FPY
2003–04		Thierry Henry (2)	Arsenal	PPY, FPY, PPS	[18]
2004–05		Frank Lampard	Chelsea	FPY, PPS	[19]
2005–06		Thierry Henry (3)	Arsenal	PPS	[20]
2006–07		Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	PPY, FPY, YPY, PPS	[21]
2007–08		Cristiano Ronaldo (2)	Manchester United	PPY, FPY, PPS
2008–09		Steven Gerrard	Liverpool	FPY	[22]
2009–10		Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	PPY, FPY, PPS	[23]
2010–11		Scott Parker	West Ham United		[24]
2011–12		Robin van Persie	Arsenal	PPY, FPY	[25]
2012–13		Gareth Bale	Tottenham Hotspur	PPY, YPY, PPS	[26]
2013–14		Luis Suárez	Liverpool	PPY, FPY, PPS, FSA	[11]
2014–15		Eden Hazard	Chelsea	PPY, PPS	[27]
2015–16		Jamie Vardy	Leicester City	PPS	[28]
2016–17		N'Golo Kanté	Chelsea	PPY, PPS	[29]
2017–18		Mohamed Salah	Liverpool	PPY, FPY, PPS, FSA	[30]
2018–19		Raheem Sterling	Manchester City	YPY	[31]
2019–20		Jordan Henderson	Liverpool		[32]
2020–21		Rúben Dias	Manchester City	PPS	[33]
2021–22		Mohamed Salah (2)	Liverpool	PPY, FPY	[34]
2022–23		Erling Haaland	Manchester City	PPY, PPS, PYPS	[35]

Breakdown of winners

By country

Winners of the FWA Footballer of the Year by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning years
England	38	1947–48, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69‡, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2019–20
Scotland	9	1964–65, 1968–69‡, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1990–91
France	7	1995–96, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2016–17
Northern Ireland	4	1957–58, 1960–61, 1967–68, 1972–73
Netherlands	3	1980–81, 1997–98, 2011–12
Wales	3	1983–84, 1984–85, 2012–13
Portugal	3	2006–07, 2007–08, 2020–21
Egypt	2	2017–18, 2021–22
West Germany / Germany	2	1955–56, 1994–95
Republic of Ireland	2	1948–49, 1999–2000
Italy	1	1996–97
Uruguay	1	2013–14
Belgium	1	2014–15
Norway	1	2022–23

‡ — two winners

Winners by club