PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year

Henrik Larsson is the only player to win the award twice.

The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish football.^[1] The award has been presented since the 1977–78 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland).^[2] The award was formerly known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year, but was renamed after the SPFA merged with the (English) Professional Footballers' Association to become PFA Scotland.

The first winner of the award was Rangers striker Derek Johnstone, and the first non-Scottish winner was Aberdeen goalkeeper Theo Snelders eleven years later. As of 2010, only Henrik Larsson has won the award on more than one occasion. Although there is a separate PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award, young players remain eligible to win the senior award, and in the 2005–06 season Shaun Maloney became the first player to win both awards in the same season, a feat repeated by McGeady two years later.

A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of PFA Scotland's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in Glasgow a few days later.^[3] The award is regarded by the players themselves as extremely prestigious, with John Hartson commenting in 2005 that "the award means a lot because it's voted by your fellow professionals"^[4] and Shaun Maloney stating in 2006 that "there is no better accolade than to be voted for by your peers and it does mean a lot to me".^[5] In 2007 the SPFA was replaced by a new body, PFA Scotland,^[6] but the new organisation's awards are considered to be a direct continuation of the SPFA awards.^[7][8]

Winners

The award has been presented on 39 occasions as of 2016, with two players sharing the award on one occasion.^[9] There have been 39 different winners, with Henrik Larsson being the only player to have won the award more than once. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award (SFWA),^[10] and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award (SYPY).^[9]

Ally McCoist was the 1992 winner.

Scott Brown was the 2009 winner.

Season	Nat	Player	Club	Also won	Notes
1977–78		Johnstone, DerekDerek Johnstone	Rangers	SFWA	[note 1]
1978–79		Hegarty, PaulPaul Hegarty	Dundee United
1979–80		Provan, DavieDavie Provan	Celtic
1980–81		McGhee, MarkMark McGhee	Aberdeen
1981–82		Clark, SandySandy Clark	Airdrieonians
1982–83		Nicholas, CharlieCharlie Nicholas	Celtic	SFWA
1983–84		Miller, WillieWillie Miller	Aberdeen	SFWA
1984–85		Duffy, JimJim Duffy	Morton
1985–86		Gough, RichardRichard Gough	Dundee United
1986–87		McClair, BrianBrian McClair	Celtic	SFWA
1987–88		McStay, PaulPaul McStay	Celtic	SFWA
1988–89		Snelders, TheoTheo Snelders	Aberdeen		[note 2]
1989–90		Bett, JimJim Bett	Aberdeen
1990–91		Elliott, PaulPaul Elliott	Celtic
1991–92		McCoist, AllyAlly McCoist	Rangers	SFWA
1992–93		Goram, AndyAndy Goram	Rangers	SFWA
1993–94		Hateley, MarkMark Hateley	Rangers	SFWA
1994–95		Laudrup, BrianBrian Laudrup	Rangers	SFWA
1995–96		Gascoigne, PaulPaul Gascoigne	Rangers	SFWA
1996–97		Di Canio, PaoloPaolo Di Canio	Celtic
1997–98		McNamara, JackieJackie McNamara	Celtic
1998–99		Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson	Celtic	SFWA
1999–00		Viduka, MarkMark Viduka	Celtic		[note 3]
2000–01		Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson	Celtic	SFWA	[note 4]
2001–02		Amoruso, LorenzoLorenzo Amoruso	Rangers
2002–03		Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson	Rangers	SFWA
2003–04		Sutton, ChrisChris Sutton	Celtic
2004–05		Ricksen, FernandoFernando Ricksen (joint winner)	Rangers
		Hartson, JohnJohn Hartson (joint winner)	Celtic	SFWA
2005–06		Maloney, ShaunShaun Maloney	Celtic	SYPY	[note 5]
2006–07		Nakamura, ShunsukeShunsuke Nakamura	Celtic	SFWA
2007–08		McGeady, AidenAiden McGeady	Celtic	SYPY	[11]
2008–09		Brown, ScottScott Brown	Celtic		[12]
2009–10		Davis, StevenSteven Davis	Rangers		[13]
2010–11		Izaguirre, EmilioEmilio Izaguirre	Celtic	SFWA	[14]
2011–12		Mulgrew, CharlieCharlie Mulgrew	Celtic	SFWA	[15]
2012–13		Higdon, MichaelMichael Higdon	Motherwell		[16]
2013–14		Commons, KrisKris Commons	Celtic	SFWA	[17]
2014–15		Johansen, StefanStefan Johansen	Celtic		[18]
2015–16		Griffiths, LeighLeigh Griffiths	Celtic		[19]

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Scotland	21	1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16
England	5	1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2012–13
Netherlands	2	1988–89, 2004–05 (shared)
Italy	2	1996–97, 2001–02
Sweden	2	1998–99, 2000–01
Norway	1	2014–15
Honduras	1	2010–11
Northern Ireland	1	2009–10
Republic of Ireland	1	2007–08
Japan	1	2006–07
Wales	1	2004–05 (shared)
Australia	1	1999–00
Denmark	1	1994–95

Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic	21	1979–80, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 (shared), 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
Rangers	10	1977–78, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 (shared), 2009–10
Aberdeen	4	1980–81, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90
Dundee United	2	1978–79, 1985–86
Motherwell	1	2012–13
Greenock Morton	1	1984–85
Airdrieonians	1	1981–82

See also

• PFA Scotland Team of the Year
• PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year
• SFWA Footballer of the Year
• PFA Players' Player of the Year
• FWA Footballer of the Year
• PFAI Players' Player of the Year
• Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year

Notes

1. First player to win SPFA and SFWA awards in the same season.
2. First winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom.
3. First winner of the award from outside Europe.
4. First two-time winner of the award.
5. First player to win both SPFA awards in the same season.

References

1. Fisher, Stewart (2 May 2004). "Jackie named player of the year". Sunday Herald (Herald & Times Group). Retrieved 31 March 2008.
2. "Amoruso is players' choice". BBC. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
3. "SPFA Player of the Year nominations". The Scottish Premier League. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
4. "Hartson and Ricksen share award". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
5. "Maloney in historic awards double". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 May 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
6. Greig, Martin (5 July 2007). "Fraser Wishart is promising a new kind of players union". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
7. "McGeady picks up double prize at football awards". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 April 2008. Celtic winger Aiden McGeady has pulled off an awards double by winning the PFA Scotland Player Of The Year and Young Player Of The Year awards....McGeady follows in the footsteps of former Parkhead team-mate Shaun Maloney, who won both awards in a single season in 2006.
8. "McGeady happy with Hoops". www.teamtalk.com. Retrieved 24 April 2008. The only other player to have claimed the PFA Scotland double was Shaun Maloney, the Celtic midfielder who went on to carve out a career in the Premier League with Aston Villa.
9. Barnes, Stuart (2007). News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. Invincible Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-00-725555-1.
10. Barnes, Stuart. News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. p. 62.
11. Bailey, Graeme (2008-04-20). "McGeady claims PFA double". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
12. Graham Spiers (2009-05-04). "Celtic's Scott Brown claims player of the year prize". The Times. News International. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
13. "Davis crowned player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
14. "Izaguirre lands top gong". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
15. "Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
16. "Motherwell: Michael Higdon named player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
17. "Celtic's Kris Commons named Premiership player of year". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
18. "Celtic's Stefan Johansen named Scottish PFA player of the year". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
19. "Leigh Griffiths: Celtic forward named PFA Scotland Player of the Year". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.