Kante, De Bruyne, Jorginho shortlisted for UEFA player of the year

The Union of European Football Associations has shortlisted Kevin DE Bruyne (Belgium – Manchester City FC) and two Chelsea players Jorginho (Italy) and N’Golo Kanté (France) for the 2020/21 UEFA men’s Player of the Year awards.

The award winners will be announced at the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony, which will take place on Thursday August 26 at the Haliç Congress Centre in Istanbul, Turkey.

On the same occasion, UEFA will also honour the coaches who have had the biggest impact over the previous season with the UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year and UEFA Women’s Coach of the Year Awards.

The three coaches shortlisted are Josep GUARDIOLA (Spain – Manchester City FC); Roberto MANCINI (Italy – Italian men’s national team) and Thomas TUCHEL (Germany – Chelsea FC).

UEFA Men’s Player of the Year

For the men’s player award, the shortlist of three players was selected by a jury composed of 24 coaches of the national teams which participated in this summer’s UEFA EURO 2020, together with 80 coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Fifty-five journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, were also part of the jury.

The coaches and journalists were requested to select a shortlist of three players by allocating respectively five points, three points and one point to each of them. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

The three players who received the most points overall following the conclusion of the voting, in alphabetical order, are:

Kevin DE BRUYNE (Belgium – Manchester City FC)

JORGINHO (Italy – Chelsea FC)

N’Golo KANTÉ (France – Chelsea FC)

The rest of the top ten

4 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, now at Paris & Argentina) – 148 points

5 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern & Poland) – 140 points

6 Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, now at Paris & Italy) – 49 points

7 Kylian Mbappé (Paris & France) – 31 points

8 Raheem Sterling (Man. City & England) – 18 points

9 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal) – 16 points

10 Erling Haaland (Dortmund & Norway) – 15 points

For this award, players in Europe, irrespective of nationality, have been judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club, or national team level.

The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising 24coaches of the teams which participated in this summer’s UEFA EURO 2020; 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48); 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each of UEFA’s member associations.

Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year

For the men’s coach award, the shortlist of three coaches was selected by a jury composed of 24 coaches of the national teams which participated in the recent UEFA EURO 2020, together with 80 coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Fifty-five journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, were also part of the jury.

The coaches and journalists were requested to select a shortlist of three coaches by allocating respectively five points, three points and one point to each of them. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for themselves.