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PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year

Sports award in Scotland

Field	Value
name	PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year
subheader
image	File:Henrik larsson snorsjoabalen 2007 1.jpg
image_size
caption	Henrik Larsson won the award twice
awarded_for	The outstanding player in each given Scottish football season
country	Scotland
presenter	PFA Scotland
year	1978
holder_label	Player of the Year
holder	Daizen Maeda
most_awards	Scott Brown
Henrik Larsson
(2 wins each)

Note

the men's award

Henrik Larsson (2 wins each) The PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called 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. 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). The award was formerly known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year, but was renamed after the SPFA became affiliated with the (English) Professional Footballers' Association and rebranded 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. 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 Aiden 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. 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" 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". In 2007 the SPFA was replaced by a new body, PFA Scotland, but the new organisation's awards are considered to be a direct continuation of the SPFA awards.

Winners

The award has been presented on 47 occasions as of 2025, with two players sharing the award on one occasion (2004–05). There have been 46 different winners, with Scott Brown and Henrik Larsson being the only players 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), and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award (SYPY).

Season	Nat	Player	Club	Notes
1977–78			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award. First player to win SPFA and SFWA awards in the same season.
1978–79			Dundee United
1979–80			Celtic
1980–81			Aberdeen
1981–82			Airdrieonians
1982–83			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award.
1983–84			Aberdeen	Also won the SFWA award
1984–85			Morton
1985–86			Dundee United
1986–87			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
1987–88			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
1988–89			Aberdeen	First winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom
1989–90			Aberdeen
1990–91			Celtic
1991–92			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1992–93			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1993–94			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1994–95			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1995–96			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
1996–97			Celtic
1997–98			Celtic
1998–99			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
1999–00			Celtic	First winner of the award from outside Europe
2000–01			Celtic	First two-time winner of the award. Also won the SFWA award.
2001–02			Rangers
2002–03			Rangers	Also won the SFWA award
2003–04			Celtic
2004–05		(joint winner)	Rangers
	(joint winner)	Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2005–06			Celtic	Also won the SYPY award. First player to win both PFA Scotland awards in the same season.
2006–07			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2007–08			Celtic	Also won the SYPY award
2008–09			Celtic
2009–10			Rangers
2010–11			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2011–12			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2012–13			Motherwell
2013–14			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2014–15			Celtic
2015–16			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2016–17			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2017–18			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2018–19			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2019–20				Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PFA Scotland cancelled their awards for the 2019–20 season.
2020–21			Rangers
2021–22			Celtic
2022–23			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award
2023–24			Heart of Midlothian	Also won the SFWA award
2024–25			Celtic	Also won the SFWA award

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
SCO Scotland		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, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24
ENG England		1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2016–17, 2020–21
JPN Japan		2006–07, 2022–23, 2024–25
ITA Italy		1996–97, 2001–02
NED Netherlands		1988–89, 2004–05 (shared)
SWE Sweden		1998–99, 2000–01
AUS Australia		1999–00
DEN Denmark		1994–95
HON Honduras		2010–11
NIR Northern Ireland		2009–10
NOR Norway		2014–15
IRL Republic of Ireland		2007–08
WAL Wales		2004–05 (shared)

Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic		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, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2024–25
Rangers		1977–78, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 (shared), 2009–10, 2020–21
Aberdeen		1980–81, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90
Dundee United		1978–79, 1985–86
Airdrieonians		1981–82
Greenock Morton		1984–85
Motherwell		2012–13
Heart of Midlothian		2023–24

References

Fisher, Stewart. (2 May 2004). "Jackie named player of the year". Herald & Times Group.
(29 April 2002). "Amoruso is players' choice". BBC Sport.
"SPFA Player of the Year nominations". The Scottish Premier League.
(25 April 2005). "Hartson and Ricksen share award". BBC Sport.
(1 May 2006). "Maloney in historic awards double". BBC Sport.
Greig, Martin. (5 July 2007). "Fraser Wishart is promising a new kind of players union". Herald & Times Group.
(21 April 2008). "McGeady picks up double prize at football awards". Herald & Times Group.
"McGeady happy with Hoops". teamtalk.com.
Barnes, Stuart. (2007). "News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008". Invincible Press.
Barnes, Stuart. "News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008".
Paul, Ian. (20 May 1985). "Morton's Jim Duffy is player's player". [[Glasgow Herald]].
Traynor, James. (16 May 1988). "A triumph for common sense". Glasgow Herald.
Bailey, Graeme. (20 April 2008). "McGeady claims PFA double". BSkyB.
Graham Spiers. (4 May 2009). "Celtic's Scott Brown claims player of the year prize". The Times.
(2 May 2010). "Davis crowned player of the year". BBC.
(1 May 2010). "Izaguirre lands top gong". BSkyB.
(6 May 2012). "Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew named player of the year". BBC.
(6 May 2013). "Motherwell: Michael Higdon named player of the year". BBC.
(27 April 2014). "Celtic's Kris Commons named Premiership player of year". BBC.
(3 May 2015). "Celtic's Stefan Johansen named Scottish PFA player of the year". BBC.
(1 May 2016). "Leigh Griffiths: Celtic forward named PFA Scotland Player of the Year". BBC.
(7 May 2017). "Scott Sinclair named SPFA player of the year as Celtic win four awards". BBC.
(29 April 2018). "Scott Brown: Celtic captain voted PFA Scotland player of the year 2017/18". BBC.
(5 May 2019). "James Forrest, Steve Clarke & Ryan Kent win PFA Scotland annual awards". BBC.
McKay, Gabriel. (19 May 2020). "Celtic and Rangers stars in line for end of season gongs as SFWA awards go ahead as planned". Daily Record.
(16 May 2021). "Rangers: Steven Gerrard and James Tavernier win PFA Scotland awards".
(1 May 2022). "Celtic take five prizes at PFA Scotland awards, including manager of the year".
(14 May 2023). "Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi and Caitlin Hayes win PFA Scotland player of the year awards".
(5 May 2024). "Lawrence Shankland, David Watson & Rangers trio win PFA awards".
Wilson, Fraser. (4 May 2025). "Every PFA Scotland award winner as John McGlynn pips Brendan Rodgers to make it 2 in a row". Daily Record.

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