The last 25 winners of the FWA Footballer of the Year award

Keane is perhaps best known to younger folks as the primary inspiration for Roy Kent from “Ted Lasso,” but the Irishman was one of the best box-to-box midfielders of his generation. A staple of the Manchester United lineup, Keane was the first winner of this award of the new millennium, taking it for the 1999-2000 season. One wonders how much enthusiasm he mustered because, like Kent, Keane was known for a less-than-cheery temperament.

Many players on this list have names that have lived on in football conversation. Sheringham is one of those guys who was such a stellar player in his time but for whatever reason doesn’t get mentioned as often. Had he not decided to spend his early years playing for Millwall in the lower divisions he might have had more goals, but the striker still tallied 146 Premier League goals. While Sheringham’s best years were with Spurs, he won Footballer of the Year while at Manchester United thanks to a club-leading 15 goals in 29 games. Yes, Man U had back-to-back winners of this award. No surprise there in this era.

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal had kicked it into high gear by the early 2000s. The 2001-02 season was the second Premier League title he won with the club, and the Gunners also were represented here with the Footballer of the Year award. It went to a Frenchman, but maybe not the one you would have imagined. Pires, a venerated winger in his own right, became the second Arsenal player under Wenger to win.

Okay, you didn’t have to wait long for us to get to the French Gunner that springs to mind first. Henry is one of the best strikers to ever do it. Interestingly, Henry’s 24 goals in the 2002-23 season was the same number he hit in 2001-02, and he did it in four more games. However, Pires missed almost half the season this year, leaving Henry with no intrasquad competition.

Henry then became the first back-to-back winner in the history of the FWA’s Footballer of the Year award. There was no feasible consideration for anybody else, really. Not only is this the Invincibles season for Arsenal, but Henry scored 30 Premier League goals. Nobody else had more than 22. Henry was an easy choice as the best player from the league’s best club.

Lampard ended the Arsenal run thanks to being the best player on Chelsea’s first title-winning team in half a century. Like Keane, he’s known as one of the best box-to-box midfielders ever to do it (and one of the lesser managers of recent vintage, but we digress). Somewhat surprisingly, this is the only time Lampard won this award, but he did at least grab one.

And then Henry went ahead and won it again. Henry is, to date, the only three-time winner of this award. Although, that “to date” is truly necessary here, for reasons we will get to. Henry could have potentially added a fourth FWA FOTY award, but he missed more than half the next season and then jetted off to Barcelona.

Or, perhaps, Henry would have lost out to the arrival of Peak Cristiano Ronaldo. After a few years getting up to speed in the Premier League, Ronaldo broke through in a major way for Manchester United in the 2006-07 season. Ronaldo potted 17 goals while delivering dynamic dribbling all over the pitch.

Like Henry, Ronaldo won this award in back-to-back years. There was no debate about who would win the favor of the FWA this season. Ronaldo scored a whopping 31 goals. While the waning days of Ronaldo’s career saw him working as a goal-poaching striker, do recall back in the day he often worked as an attacking midfielder or supporting forward. His game was much more robust. We’re Lionel Messi partisans in the “best player of the new millennium” debate, but Ronaldo is one of the greatest players in history, and this was one of the best campaigns anybody has ever had.

Manchester United eked past Liverpool for the title in the 2008-09 season, but Liverpool legend (and club captain) Gerrard was named Footballer of the Year. It was the campaign for the midfielder to do it. Gerrard scored a personal-best 16 goals — again, as a midfielder — and did that in only 31 games. Of course, some might argue the seven missed games hindered his value, but it was still a great campaign.

The shoe was on the other foot this season. It was Manchester United who fell just short of winning the title, finishing behind Chelsea by all of one point. However, Rooney took home what is his only Footballer of the Year award. Interestingly, he had 26 goals, which is a fine number, but Didier Drogba had 29 for the league-winning side. Perhaps the voters felt Rooney, one of the all-time best goalscorers in Premier League history, was “due” an award one of these years.

This is one of the true “huh?” wins, and perhaps the most surprising win in this award’s history. It’s not just that Parker, a midfielder who earned all of 18 caps for England in his career, won. Had he played for a title-winning side, maybe we could see that. There is a future winner for which that is true. Parker, though, played for West Ham United. A West Ham team that got relegated. Carlos Tevez led the league with 26 goals plus assists for a surging Manchester City team. Dmitar Berbatov scored 20 goals, none of them penalties, for league-winning Manchester United. This is a very strange choice in hindsight.

Okay, sanity is restored. Van Persie, the acclaimed Dutch striker, led the Premier League with 30 goals. It was a good year for van Persie to do that, because this would be his last season for Arsenal. The Dutchman was able to make the move to Manchester United as the reigning Footballer of the Year, and then proceeded to lead the Premier League in goals again the following campaign.

Ah, but van Persie was not able to repeat as Footballer of the Year as well. Bale emerged as one of the best wingers in the world for Spurs this season. In the 2011-12 season, Bale had scored nine goals. This season he made the leap all the way to 21 goals. Like van Persie, Bale won Footballer of the Year and then changed clubs. This was the Welshman’s campaign prior to his momentous move to Real Madrid.

Yes, he dove a ridiculous amount even by the standards of modern football. Undeniably he bit opposing players on multiple occasions, which is utterly bizarre. Suarez was an incredible player all the same. The 2013-14 season was the one where Gerrard’s slip may have cost Liverpool the Premier League title, but Suarez did his best to help the club get tantalizingly close. So close they could taste it, like the taste of an opposing player’s shoulder, perhaps. Jokes aside, Suarez potted 31 goals in 33 games and was truly a dynamic force on the pitch.

Does it feel to you like Hazard’s reputation is slipping remarkably fast? Is it because he was injured all the time during his Real Madrid tenure? Or that Belgium never won anything with him at the forefront of its Golden Generation? Hazard was an elite player, and a star at Chelsea. Whether on the wing or attacking from the middle of the pitch, Hazard was crucial to the club’s success, and he added 14 goals during the 2014-15 campaign for good measure.

Vardy was the leading light and the face of a Leicester City team that truly, legitimately came out of nowhere to win the Premier League title. Had anybody else taken Footballer of the Year home, it would have felt silly. Sure, Harry Kane scored one more goal than Vardy, 25 to 24, but Kane didn’t lift a trophy when all was said and done. Plus, Vardy scored in 11-straight matches, which was a new Premier League record.

Vardy is a Leicester icon through and through, and he was never going to leave the club (and to date he hasn’t). Kante was also on Leicester’s title-winning squad, but it was his first year there. Also, his last. The Frenchman moved to Chelsea and then won Footballer of the Year. He’s the only defensive midfielder on this list, but at his peak he was considered the best defensive midfielder in the world.

Salah is the best transfer decision in the history of the Premier League. When Jurgen Klopp brought him over from Roma it was a coup. Salah made the move and then immediately scored 32 goals in 36 games. The Egyptian had made one of the best first impressions in Premier League history.

Salah’s arrival also helped erase any lingering frustration about Sterling’s leaving of his first club to transfer to Manchester City. Oh, he’ll be booed by Liverpool fans the rest of his life, but Liverpool turned out just fine. To be fair, Sterling’s move worked out as well. Though he was a “the rich get richer” addition to City, the winger justified the move, and his contract, by winning Footballer of the Year in the 2018-19 season.

This one is something of a surprise, but there is a logic you can follow, unlike with Parker. Henderson was the captain of Liverpool’s league-winning side, the club’s first title since before the Premier League existed. Now, Henderson was also a central midfielder who only contributed a handful of goals and assists. There were probably better options on Liverpool, but Henderson was the captain of the champions. Also, this was the COVID-19 season. Maybe we should give voters some slack as a result.

By winning this award as a defender, Dias is a true outlier. He’s the only defender on this list, and a centre-back at that, and even going into the past one doesn’t really see defenders taking home this award. Dias actually joined Manchester City from Benfica early in the 2020-21 season, but he still got to play 32 games and was still a defensive force — enough to earn Footballer of the Year.

When we said Henry’s time as the only three-time winner of Footballer of the Year is likely running out, we were referring to Salah. “The Egyptian King” led Liverpool with 23 Premier League goals, but also with 13 Premier League assists. He’s also the heavy favorite to win Footballer of the Year for the 2024-25 season, so later this year Salah could have his third trophy.

So many goals. City signing Haaland from Borussia Dortmund was greeted with dread by the club’s fellow title contender, and with good reason. Haaland scored 36 goals in 35 games. Those 36 goals are a Premier League record. He jumped ahead of guys who played in the days of 42 Premier League games per season. There’s more to football than goals, but 36 goals is more than enough.

Haaland passed Footballer of the Year off to his teammate Foden for the 2023-24 season. Granted, Foden “only” had 19 goals compared to Haaland’s 27, but he had eight assists to Haaland’s five. Plus, Foden played midfield, while Haaland was an out-and-out striker who didn’t do much but score goals (though he scored a lot of them, clearly). Really, it just speaks to how spoiled for choice the Manchester City offense was.