Erling Haaland, Aitana Bonmati win UEFA Player of the Year Awards
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati wins the UEFA Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year prizes respectively at a ceremony held on Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, France.
Unsurprisingly, Haaland's record-breaking debut season with Man City lands him the Men's Player of the Year award.
The 23-year-old Norwegian striker scored 52 goals in 53 games to help City win the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
Haaland beat his club colleague Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi were also shortlisted for the award.
Messi was at PSG last season but has since left to join Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
Haaland succeeds Karim Benzema who won Men's Player of the Year last year at Real Madrid, before moving to join Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad.
“I am kind of living a dream. This was my dream when I was young, so to be able to do this together with my teammates is something special,” Haaland said after collecting his award.
Just a couple of weeks after Bonmati fired Spain to their first ever Women's World Cup triumph she picks up UEFA's Women's Player of the Year.
It has been a remarkable season for the Barcelona's Femenà footballer, as she secured the Champions League, the Supercopa de Espana Femenina, and Liga F, in addition to the Women's World Cup.
The 25-year-old lady starred as Barca won the Women’s Champions League last season and was then named player of the tournament for her role in Spain’s World Cup triumph in Australia and New Zealand.
She pipped her Spain teammate Olga Carmona who plays for Real Madrid, scorer of the winning goal in the World Cup final against England, and Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr to win the UEFA prize.
“It was a season I will never forget,” Bonmati said.
On the other hand, Pep Guardiola's historic treble secures him the UEFA men's coach of the year award, with England women's head coach Sarina Wiegman winning the women's gong after leading the Lionesses to the World Cup final this month.
Spain national team coach Jorge Vilda, and Barcelona Femenà boss Jonatan Giraldez missed out to Wiegman for the women’s coach of the year prize.
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