UEFA has announced the ten-player shortlist for the second round of voting for the 2014/15 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, an initiative by UEFA President Michel Platini in conjunction with the European Sports Media (ESM) group.
This season marks the fifth edition of the men’s award, won last season by Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF and Portugal.
As in previous years, journalists from each of UEFA’s 54 member associations provided a list of their five best-ranked players ordered from one to five, with the first receiving five points, the second four and so on. The ten players with the most points advanced to the second round of voting, which will determine the three finalists to be named on Wednesday, 12 August 2015.
The jury will then cast their votes for the outright winner during the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
The shortlist of ten players for the 2014/15 season’s award in alphabetical order is: Gianluigi Buffon (ITA – Juventus); Eden Hazard (BEL – Chelsea FC); Lionel Messi (ARG – FC Barcelona); Neymar (BRA – FC Barcelona); Paul Pogba (FRA – Juventus); Andrea Pirlo (ITA – Juventus, now New York City FC); Cristiano Ronaldo (POR – Real Madrid CF); Luis Suárez (URU – FC Barcelona); Carlos Tévez (ARG – Juventus, now CA Boca Juniors); Arturo Vidal (CHI – Juventus).
The full list of 35 players included in the initial vote is available here: uefa.to/1I2wDWJ
UEFA has also announced the ten-player shortlist for the 2014/15 UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe AwardThe shortlist has been selected by the coaches of the eight teams which took part in last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, together with the eight coaches of the European teams which participated at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Nadine Kessler of VfL Wolfsburg and Germany won last season’s award.
The shortlist of the ten players (twelve due to three players in tenth place on equal points) in alphabetical order is: Nadine Angerer (GER – Portland Thorns FC); Ramona Bachmann (SUI – FC Rosengård); Verónica Boquete (ESP – 1. FFC Frankfurt, now FC Bayern München); Amandine Henry (FRA – Olympique Lyonnais); Simone Laudehr (GER – 1. FFC Frankfurt); Eugénie Le Sommer (FRA – Olympique Lyonnais); Wendie Renard (FRA – Olympique Lyonnais); Dzsenifer Marozsán (GER – 1. FFC Frankfurt); Anja Mittag (GER – FC Rosengård, now Paris Saint-Germain); Alexandra Popp (GER – VfL Wolfsburg); Celia Šašić (GER – 1. FFC Frankfurt, currently unattached); Caroline Seger (SWE – Paris Saint-Germain).
The full list of 35 players included in the initial vote is available here: uefa.to/1HuACId
The jury for the second round of voting is selected by ESM and will be composed of 18 journalists committed to supporting women’s football, with the final three nominees scheduled to be revealed on Wednesday, 12 August 2015.
The same jury will then cast their votes live during the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 28 August, with an electronic system used to determine the outright winner.
Similarly to the men’s award, the jury will then cast their votes for the outright winner during the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
You can read an interview with UEFA president Michel Platini, by clicking here.
