Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year

French football award

Ligue 1 Young Player of the season
History
Zinedine Zidane won the inaugural award in 1994 with Bordeaux.
Sport	Association football
League	Ligue 1
Awarded for	being the best performing player in a Ligue 1 season whilst aged 23 years or under at the start of the season.
Country	France
Presented by	Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels
First award	1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Editions	29 (as of 2023)
First winner	Zinedine Zidane
Most wins	Kylian Mbappé (3 awards)
Most recent	Nuno Mendes (2022–23)

The UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year is an official award given by the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP) to a player aged 23 years or under at the start of the season whose performances are considered to be the best in Ligue 1, France's top professional football league. The inaugural award was handed to French midfielder Zinedine Zidane of Bordeaux, following the 1993–94 French Division 1 season.^[1] It has been awarded ever since its inception, with the exception of the 2019−20 season, where the competition was abruptly cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[2]

The award has been given to 26 different players over the course of 29 seasons, with only Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé winning the award on more than one occasion. Of these players, only Mbappé has won the award three times. Hazard (Belgium), Marco Verratti (Italy), Younès Belhanda (Morocco) and Nuno Mendes (Portugal) are the only awardees who do not represent France at an international level.

During the 2019−20 season, Mbappé became the first and only player in the history of the UNFP Awards to win both; Young Player and Player of the Season, in the same edition

Paris Saint-Germain defender Nuno Mendes is the most recent winner of the award, which was awarded to him for his performances in the 2022–23 Ligue 1 season.^[3]

Winners

Award recipients
Season	Player	Nationality	Club	Position	Ref.
1993–94	Zinedine Zidane	France	Bordeaux	Midfielder	^[1]
1994–95	Florian Maurice	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
1995–96	Robert Pires	France	Metz	Forward	^[1]
1996–97	Thierry Henry	France	Monaco	Forward	^[1]
1997–98	David Trezeguet	France	Monaco	Forward	^[1]
1998–99	Olivier Monterrubio	France	Nantes	Midfielder	^[1]
1999–2000	Philippe Christanval	France	Monaco	Defender	^[1]
2000–01	Sidney Govou	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
2001–02	Djibril Cissé	France	Auxerre	Forward	^[1]
2002–03	Lionel Mathis	France	Auxerre	Midfielder	^[1]
2003–04	Patrice Evra	France	Monaco	Defender	^[1]
2004–05	Jérémy Toulalan	France	Nantes	Midfielder	^[1]
2005–06	Franck Ribéry	France	Marseille	Forward	^[1]
2006–07	Samir Nasri	France	Marseille	Midfielder	^[1]
2007–08	Hatem Ben Arfa	France	Lyon	Forward	^[1]
2008–09	Eden Hazard	Belgium	Lille	Forward	^[1]
2009–10	Eden Hazard (2)	Belgium	Lille	Forward	^[1]
2010–11	Mamadou Sakho	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Defender	^[1]
2011–12	Younès Belhanda	Morocco	Montpellier	Midfielder	^[4]
2012–13	Florian Thauvin	France	Bastia	Forward	^[5]
2013–14	Marco Verratti	Italy	Paris Saint-Germain	Midfielder	^[6]
2014–15	Nabil Fekir	France	Lyon	Forward	^[7]
2015–16	Ousmane Dembélé	France	Rennes	Forward	^[8]
2016−17	Kylian Mbappé	France	Monaco	Forward	^[9]
2017−18	Kylian Mbappé (2)	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Forward	^[10]
2018−19	Kylian Mbappé (3)	France	Paris Saint-Germain	Forward	^[11]
2019−20	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic				^[2]
2020−21	Aurélien Tchouaméni	France	Monaco	Midfielder	^[12]
2021−22	William Saliba	France	Marseille	Defender	^[13]
2022−23	Nuno Mendes	Portugal	Paris Saint-Germain	Defender	^[3]

Multiple wins

Multiple wins
Rank	Winner	Total	Seasons
1	Kylian Mbappé (FRA)	3	2016−17, 2017−18, 2018−19
2	Eden Hazard (BEL)	2	2008−09, 2009−10

Awards won by club

Awards won by club
Club	Total
Monaco	6
Paris Saint-Germain	5
Lyon	4
Marseille	3
Auxerre	2
Lille	2
Nantes	2
Bastia	1
Bordeaux	1
Metz	1
Montpellier	1
Rennes	1

Awards won by nationality

Awards won by nationality
Nationality	Total
France	24
Belgium	2
Italy	1
Morocco	1
Portugal	1

Awards won by playing position

Awards won by playing position
Position	Total
Forward	16
Midfielder	8
Defender	5
Goalkeeper	0

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "Palmarès Trophées UNFP - Oscars du football - Meilleur espoir de Ligue 1" [UNFP Trophies - Football Oscars - Best Ligue 1 hopeful]. Sport Palmares (in French). Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Ligue 1 & 2: France's top two divisions will not resume this season". BBC Sport. 28 April 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b Losada, Antonio (29 May 2023). "Nuno Mendes named Young Player of the Year for 2022/23 season". MSN. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
^ "Player of the Year Hazard Chooses Manchester". Ligue 1. 15 May 2012. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ "Ibrahimovic takes Player of the Year Gong". Ligue 1. 20 May 2013. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
^ Bosse-Platière, Raphaël (11 May 2014). "Trophées UNFP : Marco Verratti sacré meilleur espoir" [UNFP Trophies: Marco Verratti crowned best hope] (in French). RTL. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ "Alexandre Lacazette beats PSG stars to Ligue 1 Player of the Year award". ESPN FC. 18 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ "Ibrahimovic named Player of the Year". Ligue 1. 8 May 2016. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^ "Trophées UNFP: Cavani, Jardim, Mbappé... Le palmarès complet" [UNFP Trophies: Cavani, Jardim, Mbappé... The full prize list] (in French). RTL. 15 May 2017. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
^ "Trophées UNFP: Neymar, Mbappé... Découvrez le palmarès 2018" [UNFP Trophies: Neymar, Mbappé... Discover the 2018 prize list] (in French). RTL. 13 May 2018. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
^ "Mbappé wins awards double". Ligue 1. 19 May 2019. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
^ "Aurélien Tchouameni named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year". AS Monaco. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
^ Bosher, Luke (16 May 2022). "William Saliba wins Ligue 1 young player of the year". The Athletic. Retrieved 5 June 2022.