The Manchester City striker was voted ahead of Kevin de Bruyne and Lionel Messi..
The 23-year-old was ruthless in front of goal, scoring 52
goals in 53 games across all competitions as Pep Guardiola's team achieved a
remarkable treble of Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. Haaland
finished as top scorer in both competitions, hitting 12 in Europe and 36 in the
Premier League, the latter a new record.
The Norwegian saw off the challenge of team-mate Kevin De
Bruyne and Lionel Messi to scoop the award, which was announced during the
2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
Result of the vote
1 Erling Haaland (Norway & Manchester City) – 352 points
2 Lionel Messi (Argentina & Paris, now at Inter Miami) –
227 points
3 Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium & Manchester City) – 225
points
4 İlkay Gündoğan (Germany & Manchester City, now at
Barcelona) – 129 points
5 Rodri (Spain & Manchester City) – 110 points
6 Kylian Mbappé (France & Paris) – 82 points
7 Luka Modrić (Croatia & Real Madrid) – 33 points
8 Marcelo Brozović (Croatia & Inter, now at Al Nassr) –
20 points
9 Declan Rice (England & West Ham, now at Arsenal) – 14
points
10 Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina & Brighton, now at
Liverpool) – 12 points
11 Jesús Navas (Spain & Sevilla) – 6 points.
Haaland could not stop scoring in his first season at City,
with an impressive 12 in the Champions League – four more than his nearest challenger,
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah – and became only the third player to score five in a
game. He added a record-breaking 36 in the Premier League, a tally that
included four hat-tricks.
The Norwegian star also became the youngest and quickest
player to make it to 35 Champions League goals in total, and picked up his –
and his club's – first winners' medal in the competition to go with the ones he
collected as City won the domestic double.
2022/23 in numbers
Achievements
- UEFA Champions winner
- Premier League winner
- FA Cup winner
UEFA Champions League
- Appearances: 11
- Goals: 12
- Assists: 1
- Player of the Match awards: 1
Domestic League
- Appearances: 35
- Goals: 36
- Assists: 8
Top three performances
Manchester City 7-0 Leipzig
Haaland ran riot in City's round of 16 second leg, becoming
only the third man to score five goals in a single Champions League match after
Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano.
Manchester City 3-0 Bayern
City blew Bayern away in the first leg of their Champions
League quarter-final with Haaland in inspired form. He set up a headed finish
for Bernardo Silva with a delicious cross and then scored a cool close-range
volley.
Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United
Haaland's first season in Manchester brought six hat-tricks,
including one in his first local derby. The Norwegian became the first player
to score three successive Premier League home trebles before setting up Phil
Foden – who also scored three – for City's sixth.
How was he chosen?
The initial shortlist of players was selected by the UEFA
technical study group based on their performance during the 2022/23 season at
both club and national team level.
The top three nominees were then voted for by a jury
composed of the coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the
2022/23 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference
League, together with the coaches of the men's national teams of UEFA's member
associations. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media
(ESM) were also part of the jury.
Coaches and journalists were asked to select their top three
players from the shortlist by allocating them five points, three points and one
point respectively. The final result was based on the total number of votes
cast by the coaches and journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for
players from their own team.
Other 2022/23 award winners
- Men's Coach of the Year: Pep Guardiola
- Women's Player of the Year: Aitana Bonmatí
- Women's Coach of the Year: Sarina Wiegman
- President's Award: Miroslav Klose
The last 10 winners of the prestigious UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award
- Karim Benzema (2021/22)
- Jorginho (2020/21)
- Robert Lewandowski (2019/20)
- Virgil van Dijk (2018/19)
- Luka Modrić (2017/18)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2016/17)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2015/16)
- Lionel Messi (2014/15)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2013/14)
- Franck Ribéry (2012/13)