Chelsea Stars Jorginho, Kante, Rüdiger,Mendy, Azpilicueta, Shortlisted For UEFA 2021 Award

Chelsea stars Jorginho and Ngolo Jante and Manchester City midfielder, Kevin De Bryune top the list of UEFA top 10 nominees for the 2021 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award.

Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowksi have made UEFA’s shortlist for the best men’s forward in the Champions League last season; Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Edouard Mendy receive nominations along with Manchester City’s Ruben Dias

 

Others in the list are Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Kylian Mbappé among others.

De Bryune appears in the three-man shortlist for the second consecutive year after helping Manchester City win both the Premier League and Carabao Cup last season

The Manchester Club also got into the Champions League final but lost 1-0 Chelsea which had Jorginho and Ngolo Kante

Jorginho also played a pivotal role in helping Italy, his national team to win the Euro 2020.

For UEFA best coach of the year award, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel and Italy coach Roberto Mancini were nominated.

Some other coaches who were nominated are Unai Emery, Diego Simeone, Antonio Conte among others.

UEFA Men’s Player of the Year nominees

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium)
Runner-up for this award 12 months ago, the Belgian picked up where he left off as he inspired City to the Premier League title and through to the Champions League final where a facial injury forced him off.

Jorginho (Chelsea & Italy)
Became only the tenth player to win a European Cup and a EURO in the same year, starting every EURO 2020 game for Italy having missed just one in the Blues’ run to Champions League glory.

N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea & France)
Finished the Champions League season like a train, with Player of the Match performances in both legs of Chelsea’s semi-final win against Real Madrid and then the final against City.

The rest of the top ten

4 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, now at Paris & Argentina) – 148 points
5 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern & Poland) – 140 points
6 Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, now at Paris & Italy) – 49 points
7 Kylian Mbappé (Paris & France) – 31 points
8 Raheem Sterling (Man. City & England) – 18 points
9 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal) – 16 points
10 Erling Haaland (Dortmund & Norway) – 15 points

What is the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award?

For this award, players in Europe, irrespective of nationality, have been judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club, or national team level.

How were the players shortlisted?

The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the following:

• 24 coaches of the teams which participated in this summer’s UEFA EURO 2020
• 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48)
• 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each of UEFA’s member associations

Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

The other awards

Women’s Player of the Year: Hermoso, Martens, Putellas
Men’s Coach of the Year: Guardiola, Mancini, Tuchel
Women’s Coach of the Year: Cortés, Gerhardsson, Hayes

Goalkeeper of the Season: Courtois, Ederson, Mendy
Defender of the Season: Azpilicueta, Rúben Dias, Rüdiger
Midfielder of the Season: De Bruyne, Jorginho, Kanté
Forward of the Season: Haaland, Lewandowski, Mbappé

Women’s Goalkeeper of the Season: Berger, Endler, Paños
Women’s Defender of the Season: Eriksson, Mapi Léon, Paredes
Women’s Midfielder of the Season: Bonmatí, Ji, Putellas
Women’s Forward of the Season: Graham Hansen, Hermoso, Martens