Champions League winner Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has been named 2019 UEFA Men’s player of the year, beating star players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the title. On the other hand, Lucy Bronze who plays for Olympique Lyonnais bagged the 2019 UEFA Women’s player of the year award.
The Dutch International player Virgil received the trophy at the end of 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League group stage draw which was scheduled in Monaco. It is worth highlighting here that the 28-year-old player who plays as a center back played a key role in Liverpool’s Champions League win in a season which also saw them finish second in the Premier League with record 97 points, missing out to the eventual champions, Manchester City by just one point.
Van Dijk is thus the first defender to be named the Player of the year since the inception of the award in 2011. He also bagged the 2019 UEFA Defender of the Season trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the star players who were also in the race for the trophy have won the award a total of five times in the past. While Ronaldo had bagged the award in 2014, 2016 and 2017, Messi had managed to win it in 2011 and 2015.
Although Messi did not get the top recognition of the night, he did manage to get the Forward of the Season award as he was the top goal scorer in the 2018-19 Champions League.
Meanwhile, Liverpool goalie, Alisson Becker, was adjudged UEFA Goalkeeper of the Season while Frenkie de Jong, who shifted base to Barcelona earlier this summer, clinched the trophy for the Midfielder of the Season.
In the women’s set of awards, Olympique Lyonnais right-back Lucy Bronze was given the UEFA Women’s Player of the year title. She played a crucial role in England’s fourth-place finish at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The last award to be given in the ceremony was the 2019 UEFA President’s Award which went to Manchester United legend Eric Cantona who won the Premier League title four times with United.