Mane, Messi, Ronaldo Up For UCL Player Of The Year As UEFA Announces Nominees

UEFA has today announced the names of the players shortlisted for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League positional awards.

The awards will honour the best Goalkeeper, Defender, Midfielder and Forward from the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season, and will be presented during the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 29 August.

The jury comprised the coaches of the 32 clubs that participated in the group stage of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League, together with 55 journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, and selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams.

Both coaches and journalists were requested to select a shortlist of three players in each category 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 three players who received the most points overall in each positional category, in alphabetical order, are:

GOALKEEPERS:
Alisson Becker (Brazil – Liverpool FC)

Hugo Lloris (France – Tottenham Hotspur FC)

Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany – FC Barcelona)

DEFENDERS:
Trent Alexander-Arnold (England – Liverpool FC)

Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands – AFC Ajax, now Juventus)

Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands – Liverpool FC)

MIDFIELDERS:
Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands – AFC Ajax, now FC Barcelona)

Christian Eriksen (Denmark – Tottenham Hotspur FC)

Jordan Henderson (England – Liverpool FC)

FORWARDS:
Sadio Mané (Senegal – Liverpool FC)

Lionel Messi (Argentina – FC Barcelona)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal – Juventus)

UEFA has also announced the shortlist for the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season award, to be presented during the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stage draw, which will also take place in Monaco on Friday 30 August.

The jury for this award was composed of the coaches of the 48 clubs which participated in the group stage of the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League, together with 55 journalists from the ESM group. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams.

Both 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 three players who received the most points overall are:

PLAYERS:
Olivier Giroud (France – Chelsea FC)
Eden Hazard (Belgium – Chelsea FC, now at Real Madrid CF)

Luka Jović (Serbia – Eintracht Frankfurt, now at Real Madrid CF)