Arsenal Player of the Season Award

The Arsenal Player of the Season Award is an official award given by Arsenal Football Club to the best performing player from the club over the course of the season. The award is given based solely on the votes of Arsenal fans on Arsenal.com usually just before or after the last Premier League game of the season (start of May). The inaugural award was handed to Frank McLintock in 1967 and has been awarded in every season since.

Arsenal Player of the Year
The trophy is a replica of a cannon similar to those outside the Emirates Stadium
SportAssociation football
Awarded forbeing the best performing Arsenal player over the course of a season
History
First award1967 (1967)
Editions55 (as of 2021)
First winner Frank McLintock
Most wins Thierry Henry (4 times)
Most recent Bukayo Saka (2021)

The trophy resembles a replica of a cannon, referring to Arsenal's logo, and the statues of cannons outside the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's home ground. The 2015–16 and 2016–17 awards were officially called the Vitality Arsenal Player of the Season Awards for sponsorship purposes.

The award has been given to 41 different players over the course of 55 seasons, with 10 players being awarded 'best player' on more than one occasion. Of these players, only Thierry Henry has won the award 4 times, and is also the only player to have won the award in 3 consecutive years. Alexis Sánchez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are the only players from outside Europe to have won the award.

English people remain as the dominant nationality when receiving the award, most notably during the 1980's and 1990's. During Arsène Wenger's reign at the club during the early 21st century, recipients were regularly French, receiving a total of 8 awards.

Bukayo Saka is the most recent winner of the award, following the 2020−21 Arsenal season.

Winners
Frank McLintock won the inaugural award in 1967.
Alan Smith won the 1989 award, being the league's top scorer.
Dennis Bergkamp was the first Dutchman to win the award.
Cesc Fàbregas won the award in 2007 at 20 years of age
Aaron Ramsey won the award in 2014 and 2018.

Players in bold are still playing for Arsenal

Season Name Nationality Position Notes Ref.
1966−67 Frank McLintock  Scotland Defender [1]
1967−68 John Radford  England Forward First Arsenal Academy graduate and Englishman to win award [1]
1968−69 Peter Simpson  England Defender [1]
1969−70 George Armstrong  England Forward [1][2]
1970−71 Bob Wilson  Scotland Goalkeeper First goalkeeper to win the award [1]
1971−72 Pat Rice  Northern Ireland Defender [1]
1972−73 John Radford (2)  England Forward First player to win the award on two occasions [1]
1973−74 Alan Ball  England Midfielder [1]
1974−75 Jimmy Rimmer  England Goalkeeper [1]
1975−76 Liam Brady  Republic of Ireland Midfielder First winner from outside the United Kingdom [1]
1976−77 Frank Stapleton  Republic of Ireland Forward [1]
1977−78 Liam Brady (2)  Republic of Ireland Midfielder [1]
1978−79 Liam Brady (3)  Republic of Ireland Midfielder First player to win the award in consecutive years [1]
1979−80 Frank Stapleton (2)  Republic of Ireland Forward [1]
1980−81 Kenny Sansom  England Defender [1]
1981−82 John Hollins  England Defender [1]
1982−83 Tony Woodcock  England Forward [1]
1983−84 Charlie Nicholas  Scotland Forward [1]
1984−85 Stewart Robson  England Midfielder [1]
1985−86 David Rocastle  England Midfielder [1]
1986−87 Tony Adams  England Defender [1]
1987−88 Michael Thomas  England Midfielder [1]
1988−89 Alan Smith  England Forward [1]
1989−90 Tony Adams (2)  England Defender [1]
1990−91 Steve Bould  England Defender [1]
1991−92 Ian Wright  England Forward [1]
1992−93 Ian Wright (2)  England Forward [1]
1993−94 Tony Adams (3)  England Defender [1]
1994−95 David Seaman  England Goalkeeper [1]
1995−96 Martin Keown  England Defender [1]
1996−97 Dennis Bergkamp  Netherlands Forward First winner from outside the British Isles [1]
1997−98 Ray Parlour  England Midfielder [1]
1998−99 Nigel Winterburn  England Defender [1]
1999−2000 Thierry Henry  France Forward [1]
2000−01 Patrick Vieira  France Midfielder [1]
2001−02 Robert Pires  France Forward [1]
2002−03 Thierry Henry (2)  France Forward [1]
2003−04 Thierry Henry (3)  France Forward [1]
2004−05 Thierry Henry (4)  France Forward First player to win the award on four occasions [1]
2005–06 Jens Lehmann  Germany Goalkeeper [1]
2006–07 Cesc Fàbregas  Spain Midfielder [1]
2007–08 Mathieu Flamini  France Midfielder [1]
2008–09 Robin van Persie  Netherlands Forward [1]
2009–10 Cesc Fàbregas (2)  Spain Midfielder [1]
2010–11 Jack Wilshere  England Midfielder [3]
2011–12 Robin van Persie (2)  Netherlands Forward [4]
2012–13 Santi Cazorla  Spain Midfielder [5]
2013–14 Aaron Ramsey  Wales Midfielder [6]
2014–15 Alexis Sánchez  Chile Forward First winner from outside Europe and first South American [7]
2015–16 Mesut Özil  Germany Midfielder [8]
2016–17 Alexis Sánchez (2)  Chile Forward [9]
2017–18 Aaron Ramsey (2)  Wales Midfielder [10]
2018–19 Alexandre Lacazette  France Forward [11]
2019–20 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang  Gabon Forward First African winner [12]
2020–21 Bukayo Saka  England Forward [13]

Multiple wins
Thierry Henry holds the record for most wins and was the first to win the award for three consecutive seasons.
Rank Winner Total wins Year(s)
1 Thierry Henry 4 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005
2 Liam Brady 3 1976, 1978, 1979
Tony Adams 3 1987, 1990, 1994
3 John Radford 2 1968, 1973
Frank Stapleton 2 1977, 1980
Ian Wright 2 1992, 1993
Cesc Fàbregas 2 2007, 2010
Robin Van Persie 2 2009, 2012
Aaron Ramsey 2 2014, 2018
Alexis Sánchez 2 2015, 2017

Wins by nationality
Liam Brady was the first player from the Republic of Ireland to win the award.
Nationality Number of wins
 England 25
 France 8
 Republic of Ireland 5
 Netherlands 3
 Scotland 3
 Spain 3
 Chile 2
 Germany 2
 Wales 2
 Gabon 1
 Northern Ireland 1

Wins by playing position
Position Number of wins
Goalkeeper 4
Defender 11
Midfielder 17
Forward 23

References
  1. "Arsenal FC Player of the Year Award Winners". MFF. 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. Seager, Dave (20 November 2014). Geordie Armstrong on the Wing. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9781906796549.
  3. "Player of the Season - and the winner is... | News Archive | News | Arsenal.com". 5 March 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  4. "2011/12 Player Review: Robin van Persie | News Archive | News | Arsenal.com". 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  5. "Player of the Season: 1st Cazorla". www.arsenal.com. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  6. "Aaron Ramsey - Player of the Season". www.arsenal.com. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  7. "Player of the Season: The winner is..." www.arsenal.com. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  8. "Mesut Ozil named Arsenal player of the year". Evening Standard. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  9. "Vitality Player of Season - the winner." www.arsenal.com. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  10. "Player of the Season: Aaron Ramsey". www.arsenal.com. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  11. "2018/19 Player of the Season: Alex Lacazette". www.arsenal.com. 4 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  12. "Aubameyang is our 2019/20 Player of the Season". www.arsenal.com. 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  13. "Arsenal Player of the Season: In first place..." Arsenal F.C. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
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