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PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year

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This article is about the men's award. For the women's award, see PFA Scotland Women's Players' Player of the Year.

PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year
Henrik Larsson won the award twice
Awarded forThe outstanding player in each given Scottish football season
CountryScotland
Presented byPFA Scotland
First awarded1978
Last awarded2024
Player of the YearLawrence Shankland
Most awardsScott Brown
Henrik Larsson
(2 wins each)

The PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish football.[1] The award has been presented since the 1977–78 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland).[2] The award was formerly known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year, but was renamed after the SPFA became affiliated with the (English) Professional Footballers' Association and rebranded PFA Scotland.

The first winner of the award was Rangers striker Derek Johnstone, and the first non-Scottish winner was Aberdeen goalkeeper Theo Snelders eleven years later. Although there is a separate PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award, young players remain eligible to win the senior award, and in the 2005–06 season Shaun Maloney became the first player to win both awards in the same season, a feat repeated by Aiden McGeady two years later.

A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of PFA Scotland's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in Glasgow a few days later.[3] The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with John Hartson commenting in 2005 that "the award means a lot because it's voted by your fellow professionals"[4] and Shaun Maloney stating in 2006 that "there is no better accolade than to be voted for by your peers and it does mean a lot to me".[5] In 2007 the SPFA was replaced by a new body, PFA Scotland,[6] but the new organisation's awards are considered to be a direct continuation of the SPFA awards.[7][8]

Winners

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The award has been presented on 46 occasions as of 2024, with two players sharing the award on one occasion (2004–05).[9] There have been 45 different winners, with Scott Brown and Henrik Larsson being the only players to have won the award more than once. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award (SFWA),[10] and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award (SYPY).[9]

Ally McCoist was the 1992 winner.
In 2018, Scott Brown became the second player to win the award twice.
James Forrest won the award in 2019, the sixth consecutive Celtic player to be named Player of the Year.
Season Nat Player Club Notes Ref
1977–78 Scotland Derek Johnstone Rangers Also won the SFWA award. First player to win SPFA and SFWA awards in the same season.
1978–79 Scotland Paul Hegarty Dundee United
1979–80 Scotland Davie Provan Celtic
1980–81 Scotland Mark McGhee Aberdeen
1981–82 Scotland Sandy Clark Airdrieonians
1982–83 Scotland Charlie Nicholas Celtic Also won the SFWA award.
1983–84 Scotland Willie Miller Aberdeen Also won the SFWA award
1984–85 Scotland Jim Duffy Morton [11]
1985–86 Scotland Richard Gough Dundee United
1986–87 Scotland Brian McClair Celtic Also won the SFWA award
1987–88 Scotland Paul McStay Celtic Also won the SFWA award [12]
1988–89 Netherlands Theo Snelders Aberdeen First winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom
1989–90 Scotland Jim Bett Aberdeen
1990–91 England Paul Elliott Celtic
1991–92 Scotland Ally McCoist Rangers Also won the SFWA award
1992–93 Scotland Andy Goram Rangers Also won the SFWA award
1993–94 England Mark Hateley Rangers Also won the SFWA award
1994–95 Denmark Brian Laudrup Rangers Also won the SFWA award
1995–96 England Paul Gascoigne Rangers Also won the SFWA award
1996–97 Italy Paolo Di Canio Celtic
1997–98 Scotland Jackie McNamara Celtic
1998–99 Sweden Henrik Larsson Celtic Also won the SFWA award
1999–00 Australia Mark Viduka Celtic First winner of the award from outside Europe
2000–01 Sweden Henrik Larsson Celtic First two-time winner of the award. Also won the SFWA award.
2001–02 Italy Lorenzo Amoruso Rangers
2002–03 Scotland Barry Ferguson Rangers Also won the SFWA award
2003–04 England Chris Sutton Celtic
2004–05 Netherlands Fernando Ricksen (joint winner) Rangers
Wales John Hartson (joint winner) Celtic Also won the SFWA award
2005–06 Scotland Shaun Maloney Celtic Also won the SYPY award. First player to win both PFA Scotland awards in the same season.
2006–07 Japan Shunsuke Nakamura Celtic Also won the SFWA award
2007–08 Republic of Ireland Aiden McGeady Celtic Also won the SYPY award [13]
2008–09 Scotland Scott Brown Celtic [14]
2009–10 Northern Ireland Steven Davis Rangers [15]
2010–11 Honduras Emilio Izaguirre Celtic Also won the SFWA award [16]
2011–12 Scotland Charlie Mulgrew Celtic Also won the SFWA award [17]
2012–13 England Michael Higdon Motherwell [18]
2013–14 Scotland Kris Commons Celtic Also won the SFWA award [19]
2014–15 Norway Stefan Johansen Celtic [20]
2015–16 Scotland Leigh Griffiths Celtic Also won the SFWA award [21]
2016–17 England Scott Sinclair Celtic Also won the SFWA award [22]
2017–18 Scotland Scott Brown Celtic Also won the SFWA award [23]
2018–19 Scotland James Forrest Celtic Also won the SFWA award [24]
2019–20 — — — Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PFA Scotland cancelled their awards for the 2019–20 season. [25]
2020–21 England James Tavernier Rangers [26]
2021–22 Scotland Callum McGregor Celtic [27]
2022–23 Japan Kyogo Furuhashi Celtic Also won the SFWA award [28]
2023–24 Scotland Lawrence Shankland Heart of Midlothian Also won the SFWA award [29]

Breakdown of winners

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Winners by country

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Country Number of wins Winning seasons
Scotland Scotland
25
 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24
England England
7
 1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2016–17, 2020–21
Italy Italy
2
 1996–97, 2001–02
Japan Japan
2
 2006–07, 2022–23
Netherlands Netherlands
2
 1988–89, 2004–05 (shared)
Sweden Sweden
2
 1998–99, 2000–01
Australia Australia
1
 1999–00
Denmark Denmark
1
 1994–95
Honduras Honduras
1
 2010–11
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
1
 2009–10
Norway Norway
1
 2014–15
Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland
1
 2007–08
Wales Wales
1
 2004–05 (shared)

Winners by club

[edit]
Club Number of wins Winning seasons
Celtic
26
 1979–80, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 (shared), 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23
Rangers
11
 1977–78, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 (shared), 2009–10, 2020–21
Aberdeen
4
 1980–81, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90
Dundee United
2
 1978–79, 1985–86
Airdrieonians
1
 1981–82
Greenock Morton
1
 1984–85
Motherwell
1
 2012–13
Heart of Midlothian
1
 2023–24

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Fisher, Stewart (2 May 2004). "Jackie named player of the year". Sunday Herald. Herald & Times Group. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  2. ^ "Amoruso is players' choice". BBC Sport. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  3. ^ "SPFA Player of the Year nominations". The Scottish Premier League. Archived from the original on 19 September 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  4. ^ "Hartson and Ricksen share award". BBC Sport. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  5. ^ "Maloney in historic awards double". BBC Sport. 1 May 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  6. ^ Greig, Martin (5 July 2007). "Fraser Wishart is promising a new kind of players union". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  7. ^ "McGeady picks up double prize at football awards". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 April 2008. Celtic winger Aiden McGeady has pulled off an awards double by winning the PFA Scotland Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards....McGeady follows in the footsteps of former Parkhead team-mate Shaun Maloney, who won both awards in a single season in 2006.
  8. ^ "McGeady happy with Hoops". teamtalk.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2008. The only other player to have claimed the PFA Scotland double was Shaun Maloney, the Celtic midfielder who went on to carve out a career in the Premier League with Aston Villa.
  9. ^ a b Barnes, Stuart (2007). News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. Invincible Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-00-725555-9.
  10. ^ Barnes, Stuart. News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. p. 62.
  11. ^ Paul, Ian (20 May 1985). "Morton's Jim Duffy is player's player". Glasgow Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  12. ^ Traynor, James (16 May 1988). "A triumph for common sense". Glasgow Herald. p. 9. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  13. ^ Bailey, Graeme (20 April 2008). "McGeady claims PFA double". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  14. ^ Graham Spiers (4 May 2009). "Celtic's Scott Brown claims player of the year prize". The Times. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  15. ^ "Davis crowned player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  16. ^ "Izaguirre lands top gong". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  17. ^ "Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  18. ^ "Motherwell: Michael Higdon named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  19. ^ "Celtic's Kris Commons named Premiership player of year". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  20. ^ "Celtic's Stefan Johansen named Scottish PFA player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  21. ^ "Leigh Griffiths: Celtic forward named PFA Scotland Player of the Year". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Scott Sinclair named SPFA player of the year as Celtic win four awards". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  23. ^ "Scott Brown: Celtic captain voted PFA Scotland player of the year 2017/18". BBC Sport. BBC. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  24. ^ "James Forrest, Steve Clarke & Ryan Kent win PFA Scotland annual awards". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  25. ^ McKay, Gabriel (19 May 2020). "Celtic and Rangers stars in line for end of season gongs as SFWA awards go ahead as planned". Daily Record. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  26. ^ "Rangers: Steven Gerrard and James Tavernier win PFA Scotland awards". BBC Sport. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  27. ^ "Celtic take five prizes at PFA Scotland awards, including manager of the year". BBC Sport. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  28. ^ "Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi and Caitlin Hayes win PFA Scotland player of the year awards". BBC Sport. 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  29. ^ "Lawrence Shankland, David Watson & Rangers trio win PFA awards". BBC Sport. 5 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.

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