UEFA has announced the names of the nominees shortlisted for the 2018/19 UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year Awards. The awards will be presented at the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony, which will take place in Monaco on Thursday 29 August.

For the men’s award, the shortlist of three players was selected by a jury composed of 80 coaches of the clubs which participated in the group stages of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group.

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:

Lionel MESSI (Argentina – FC Barcelona)
Cristiano RONALDO (Portugal – Juventus)
Virgil VAN DIJK (Netherlands – Liverpool FC)

For the women’s award, the shortlist of three players was selected by a jury composed of the coaches of the 12 highest-ranked teams in the latest UEFA women’s national team rankings, which also comprised the nine European teams which took part in the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, together with the coaches of the eight clubs which participated in the quarter-finals of the 2018/19 UEFA Women’s Champions League. Twenty journalists specialising in women’s football and selected by the ESM group are also part of the jury.

Similarly to the men’s accolade, 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 from this voting procedure, in alphabetical order, are:

Lucy BRONZE (England – Olympique Lyonnais)
Ada HEGERBERG (Norway – Olympique Lyonnais)
Amandine HENRY (France – Olympique Lyonnais)

The UEFA Player of the Year awards complement the four UEFA Champions League positional awards, which will crown the best Goalkeeper, Defender, Midfielder and Forward of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season, and which will also be presented during the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 29 August.

(UEFA)