PFA Young Player of the Year


The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year is an annual award given to the player aged 23 or under at the start of the season who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in English football. The award has been presented since the 1973–74 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association. The first winner of the award was Ipswich Town defender Kevin Beattie. The current holder is Raheem Sterling, who won the award for his performances throughout the 2018–19 campaign for Manchester City.
Although the award is open to players at all levels, all winners to date have played in the highest division of the English football league system. As of 2017, only Ryan Giggs, Robbie Fowler, Wayne Rooney and Dele Alli have won the award on more than one occasion. Only seven players from outside the United Kingdom have won the trophy, compared with fifteen winners of the main PFA Players' Player of the Year award. Although they have their own dedicated award, players aged 23 or under at the start of the season remain eligible to win the Players' Player of the Year award, and on three occasions the same player has won both awards for a season. In 2018 Ryan Sessegnon of Fulham became the first player from outside the top division of English football to be nominated for the award.
A shortlist of nominees is published in April and the winner of the award, along with the winners of the PFA's other annual awards, is announced at a gala event in London a few days later. The players themselves consider the award to be highly prestigious, because the winner is chosen by his fellow professionals.

Winners

The award has been presented on 46 occasions as of 2019, with 42 different winners. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in English football, namely the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award, and the PFA Fans' Player of the Year award.
was the first player to win the award twice.
was the second two-time winner.
was the first player to win the Fans' Player of the Year award in the same season
was the third player to win the award in two consecutive seasons.
YearPlayerClubAlso wonNotes
1973–74Ipswich Town
1974–75West Ham United
1975–76Manchester City
1976–77Aston VillaPPY
1977–78Nottingham Forest
1978–79West Bromwich Albion
1979–80Tottenham Hotspur
1980–81Aston Villa
1981–82Southampton
1982–83Ian RushLiverpool
1983–84Luton Town
1984–85Manchester United
1985–86West Ham United
1986–87Arsenal
1987–88Newcastle United
1988–89Arsenal
1989–90Southampton
1990–91Manchester United
1991–92Manchester United
1992–93Manchester United
1993–94Newcastle United
1994–95Liverpool
1995–96Liverpool
1996–97Manchester United
1997–98Liverpool
1998–99Arsenal
1999–2000Leeds United
2000–01LiverpoolFPY
2001–02Newcastle United
2002–03Newcastle United
2003–04Charlton Athletic
Chelsea
2004–05Manchester United
2005–06Manchester UnitedFPY
2006–07Manchester UnitedPPY, FWA, FPY
2007–08Arsenal
2008–09Aston Villa
2009–10Aston Villa
2010–11Arsenal
2011–12Tottenham Hotspur
2012–13Tottenham HotspurPPY, FWA
2013–14Chelsea
2014–15Tottenham Hotspur
2015–16Tottenham Hotspur
2016–17Tottenham Hotspur
2017–18Manchester City
2018–19Manchester CityFWA

Breakdown of winners

By country

By club