UEFA Awards 2023: Haaland named Men’s Player of Year; Pep named coach of the season
Erling Haaland won the 2022/23 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award, and Pep Guardiola won the UEFA Coach of the Year award for his 2022/23 season.
Erling Haaland and Aitana Bonmati win UEFA Player of the Year awards
The Norwegian striker scored 52 goals in all competitions last season and guided Manchester City to their first-ever Treble. Moreover, this is his second award of the week, as he was also named PFA Player of the Year on Tuesday.
Haaland received 352 points, more than his teammate Kevin De Bryune, who received 227 points, and World Cup winner Lionel Messi came 3rd with 225 points.
The 23-year-old picked-up his award after the Champions League group stage draw for the 2023/34 campaign.
Aitana Bonmati won the 2022/23 UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award. She also received the Golden Ball award for the best player at this summer’s Women’s World Cup.
Moreover, she also won the World Cup with Spain. Bonmati won the Liga F title and the Champions League last season with Barcelona Femeni.
Pep Guardiola wins UEFA Coach of the Year award
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won the UEFA Coach of the Year award for his achievements in the 2022/23 season.
The 52-year-old won the award ahead of Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti. Guardiola received a mammoth 602 voting points compared to 252 for Spalletti and 84 for Inzaghi.
Furthermore, Guardiola also becomes the first coach to win two Trebles, having previously done so with Barcelona in the 2008/09 season.
Man City’s impressive 4-0 semi-final second-leg triumph over Real Madrid moved Guardiola onto 100 victories in the Champions League. He has become the fastest manager to reach that landmark (160 games) compared to Carlo Ancelotti (180 games) and Sir Alex Ferguson (184 games), who are the only two other managers to have reached a century of wins in the competition to date.
