Ligue 1 Player of the Year

French football award

Ligue 1 Player of the season
Zlatan Ibrahimović won the award three times playing for París Saint-Germain.
SportAssociation football
LeagueLigue 1
Awarded forbeing the best performing player in a Ligue 1 season.
CountryFrance
Presented byUnion Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels
History
First award1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Editions29 (as of 2023)
First winnerFrance David Ginola
Most winsFrance Kylian Mbappé (4 awards)
Most recentFrance Kylian Mbappé

The UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year is an official award given by the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP) to the Ligue 1 player whose performances are considered to be the best of the season. The award has been presented since the 1993–94 season and the first winner of the award was Paris Saint-Germain winger David Ginola. The current holder and record winner is Kylian Mbappé, who won the award for his performances throughout the 2022–23 campaign for Paris Saint-Germain, his fourth consecutive award.

Key

  • Player (X) denotes the number of times a player has won the award (if more than one)
  •  §  Clubs with this background and symbol were Ligue 1 champions in the same season

Winners

David Ginola won the inaugural award in 1994.
Kylian Mbappé has the most wins by a single player in the history of the awards, with four.

This award has been presented 29 times as of 2023, with all winners being different aside from Pauleta who was the first two-time winner in 2001–02 and 2002–03, as well as the only other multiple-time winners Eden Hazard (in 2010–11 and 2011–12), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2012–13, 2013–14 and 2015–16) and Kylian Mbappé (a record four consecutive awards in 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23).

Season Player Position Nationality Club Ref.
1993–94 David Ginola Forward  France Paris Saint-Germain§ [1]
1994–95 Vincent Guérin Midfielder  France Paris Saint-Germain [1]
1995–96 Zinedine Zidane Midfielder  France Bordeaux [1]
1996–97 Sonny Anderson Forward  Brazil Monaco§ [1]
1997–98 Marco Simone Forward  Italy Paris Saint-Germain [1]
1998–99 Ali Benarbia Midfielder  Algeria Bordeaux§ [1]
1999–2000 Marcelo Gallardo Midfielder  Argentina Monaco§ [1]
2000–01 Eric Carrière Midfielder  France Nantes§ [1]
2001–02 Pauleta Forward  Portugal Bordeaux [1]
2002–03 Pauleta (2) Forward  Portugal Bordeaux [1]
2003–04 Didier Drogba Forward  Ivory Coast Marseille [1]
2004–05 Michael Essien Midfielder  Ghana Lyon§ [1]
2005–06 Juninho Midfielder  Brazil Lyon§ [1]
2006–07 Florent Malouda Midfielder  France Lyon§ [1]
2007–08 Karim Benzema Forward  France Lyon§ [1]
2008–09 Yoann Gourcuff Midfielder  France Bordeaux§ [1]
2009–10 Lisandro López Forward  Argentina Lyon [1]
2010–11 Eden Hazard Midfielder  Belgium Lille§ [1]
2011–12 Eden Hazard (2) Midfielder  Belgium Lille [2]
2012–13 Zlatan Ibrahimović Forward  Sweden Paris Saint-Germain§
2013–14 Zlatan Ibrahimović (2) Forward  Sweden Paris Saint-Germain§
2014–15 Alexandre Lacazette Forward  France Lyon [3]
2015–16 Zlatan Ibrahimović (3) Forward  Sweden Paris Saint-Germain§ [4]
2016–17 Edinson Cavani Forward  Uruguay Paris Saint-Germain [5]
2017–18 Neymar Forward  Brazil Paris Saint-Germain§ [6]
2018–19 Kylian Mbappé Forward  France Paris Saint-Germain§ [7]
2019–20 Not awarded due to COVID-19 Pandemic [8]
2020–21 Kylian Mbappé (2) Forward  France Paris Saint-Germain [9]
2021–22 Kylian Mbappé (3) Forward  France Paris Saint-Germain§ [10]
2022–23 Kylian Mbappé (4) Forward  France Paris Saint-Germain§ [11]

Breakdown of winners

By country

Sonny Anderson was the first winner from outside of France.
Country Wins Winning seasons
 France
12
1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
 Brazil
3
1996–97, 2005–06, 2017–18
 Sweden
3
2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16
 Belgium
2
2010–11, 2011–12
 Portugal
2
2001–02, 2002–03
 Argentina
2
1999–2000, 2009–10
 Ivory Coast
1
2004–05
 Ghana
1
2005–06
 Italy
1
1997–98
 Algeria
1
1998–99
 Uruguay
1
2016–17

By club

Eden Hazard won the award twice in two consecutive seasons playing for Lille.
Club Wins Winning seasons
Paris Saint-Germain
12
 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
Lyon
6
 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2014–15,
Bordeaux
5
 1995–96, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2008–09
Monaco
2
 1996–97, 1999–2000
Lille
2
 2010–11, 2011–12
Marseille
1
 2003–04
Nantes
1
 2000–01

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Palmares Trophées UNFP - Oscars du football - Meilleur joueur de Ligue 1 ( > Football > Trophées > Trophées UNFP - Oscars du foot) sur SportPalmares, tous les palmares du sport se trouvent ici !!". Sportpalmares.eu. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Player of year Hazard chooses Manchester". Ligue1.com. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Lacazette wins player of year". Ligue1.com. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Ibrahimovic named Player of the Year". Ligue1.com. 8 May 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe scoop up top Ligue 1 awards". ESPN. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Neymar voted player of the year". Ligue1.com. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Mbappé wins awards double". Ligue1.com. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  8. ^ "UNFP awards cancelled". Ligue1.com. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Kylian Mbappé élu meilleur joueur de Ligue 1" [Kylian Mbappé elected best player in Ligue 1] (in French). Eurosport. 23 May 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Kylian Mbappé (PSG) élu meilleur joueur de Ligue 1 aux trophées UNFP pour la troisième fois" [Kylian Mbappé (PSG) elected best player in Ligue 1] (in French). L'Équipe. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Puissance 4 !" [Power 4!] (in French). National Union of Professional Footballers. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Clubs
2023–24
Former
OrganisationsCompetitionStatistics and awardsFinances
Associated competitions
Category