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SFWA Footballer of the Year

Field	Value
name	SFWA Footballer of the Year
subheader
image	File:Craig S Gordon.jpg
image_size
caption	Craig Gordon is the only player to have won the award three times
awarded_for	The outstanding player in each given Scottish football season
country	Scotland
presenter	Scottish Football Writers' Association
year	1965
year2	202
holder_label	Footballer of the Year
holder	Daizen Maeda
most_awards	Craig Gordon (3)

The Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year (often called the SFWA Footballer of the Year, or simply the Scottish Footballer 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 1964–65 season, and the winner is selected by a vote amongst the members of the Scottish Football Writers' Association (SFWA), which comprises over 100 football journalists based throughout Scotland. The first winner was Celtic's Billy McNeill, and the first non-Scottish winner was Mark Hateley of Rangers in 1994. Seven players have won the award on more than one occasion, and one, Craig Gordon, three times, winning his third award in the 2021–22 season.

The award was instigated in 1965, eight years after the association was founded, and committee member Allan Herron was charged with obtaining the permission of the Scottish Football Association to make the first award. Each member of the association casts one vote and also nominates a runner-up. In the event of a tie for first place the number of runner-up votes is taken into consideration. Although it is the older of the two awards, the SFWA award is considered by the players themselves to be of secondary importance to the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year because the winner of the PFA Scotland award is chosen by his fellow professionals.

List of winners

The award has been presented on 61 occasions as of 2025, with 52 different individual players winning. Craig Gordon has won the award a record three times; six players (John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsson, Barry Ferguson and Leigh Griffiths) have won the award twice; and on one occasion the award was presented collectively to the Scotland national squad. The table also indicates where the winning player also won the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year award (SPFA). In 2012–13, Leigh Griffiths became the first player to win the SFWA award and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award in the same season.

[[Brian McClair]] won the award in 1987.

[[Shunsuke Nakamura]] was the 2007 winner.

Season	Club	Also won	Notes
1964–65		Celtic
1965–66		Rangers
1966–67		Celtic
1967–68		Raith Rovers
1968–69		Celtic
1969–70		Hibernian
1970–71		Aberdeen
1971–72		Rangers
1972–73		Celtic
1973–74	Scotland World Cup squad	N/A
1974–75		Rangers
1975–76		Rangers
1976–77		Celtic
1977–78		Rangers	SPFA
1978–79		Morton
1979–80		Aberdeen
1980–81		Partick Thistle
1981–82		Dundee United
1982–83		Celtic	SPFA
1983–84		Aberdeen	SPFA
1984–85		Dundee United
1985–86		Heart of Midlothian
1986–87		Celtic	SPFA
1987–88		Celtic	SPFA
1988–89		Rangers
1989–90		Aberdeen
1990–91		Dundee United
1991–92		Rangers	SPFA
1992–93		Rangers	SPFA
1993–94		Rangers	SPFA
1994–95		Rangers	SPFA
1995–96		Rangers	SPFA
1996–97		Rangers
1997–98		Celtic
1998–99		Celtic	SPFA
1999–00		Rangers
2000–01		Celtic	SPFA
2001–02		Celtic
2002–03		Rangers	SPFA
2003–04		Celtic
2004–05		Celtic	SPFA
2005–06		Heart of Midlothian
2006–07		Celtic	SPFA
2007–08		Rangers
2008–09		Celtic
2009–10		Rangers
2010–11		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2011–12		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2012–13		Hibernian
2013–14		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2014–15		Celtic
2015–16		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2016–17		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2017–18		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2018–19		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2019–20		Celtic
2020–21		Rangers
2021–22		Heart of Midlothian
2022–23		Celtic	PFA Scotland
2023–24		Heart of Midlothian	PFA Scotland
2024–25		Celtic	PFA Scotland

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
		1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24
		1993–94, 1995–96, 2016–17
		2006–07, 2022–23, 2024–25
		1994–95, 1996–97
		1998–99, 2000–01
		2019–20
		2010–11
		2020–21
		2007–08
		2004–05

Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic		1964–65, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2022–23, 2024–25
Rangers		1965–66, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2020–21
Aberdeen		1970–71, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90
Heart of Midlothian		1985–86, 2005–06, 2021–22, 2023–24
Dundee United		1981–82, 1984–85, 1990–91
Hibernian		1969–70, 2012–13
Greenock Morton		1978–79
Partick Thistle		1980–81
Raith Rovers		1967–68
Scotland		1973–74

Notes

References

Neil Cameron. (10 April 2008). "I Would Have Voted For Ranger Alan Hutton As Best Player, Reveals Shunsuke Nakamura". Daily Record.
Jim Black. (October 2017). "Fifty years of passion and prose". Sunday Herald.
Stuart Lovell. (7 April 2008). "Why Aiden should run away with player prize". The Scotsman.
Brown, Alan. (19 August 2022). "Scotland – Player of the Year". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
Barnes, Stuart. (2007). "News of the World Football Annual 2007–08". Invincible Press.
Paul, Ian. (11 May 1984). "McStay up for two awards". [[Glasgow Herald]].
(2 May 1988). "A word in your ear – from one law man to another". Glasgow Herald.
(10 May 2009). "Celtic ace Gary Caldwell scoops football writers award". Sunday Mail.
Halliday, Stephen. (8 May 2010). "Walter Smith hails player of the year David Weir as 'best professional I have worked with' award". Johnston Press.
(15 May 2011). "More awards for Izaguirre, Goodwillie and Paatelainen". BBC Sport.
(3 May 2012). "Charlie Mulgrew caps fine season by being named Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year". The Daily Telegraph.
Forsyth, Roddy. (17 May 2013). "Hibs striker Leigh Griffiths nets another accolade". The Daily Telegraph.
Smith, Andrew. (11 May 2014). "Kris Commons voted writers' player of the year". Scotland on Sunday.
Halliday, Stephen. (20 May 2015). "Craig Gordon named writers' Player of the Year". The Scotsman.
Mullen, Scott. (9 May 2016). "Leigh Griffiths named SFWA Player of the Year for second time – and looks for a third". Herald & Times Group.
(21 May 2017). "Celtic: Scott Sinclair named player of the year by football writers". BBC Sport.
(1 June 2020). "Shankland, Edouard, McGregor & Morelos in writers' award frame". BBC.
(13 June 2020). "King Eddy is our top man". SFWA.
(6 May 2021). "Rangers quartet nominated for player of the year award". STV.
(16 May 2021). "Davis crowned Player of the Year". SFWA.
Collin, Iain. (4 May 2022). "Craig Gordon: I wanted to show I could still do it". The Times.
(28 May 2023). "Kyogo crowned SFWA Player of the Year". SFWA.
(17 May 2024). "Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland named SFWA Player of the Year". SFWA.
(16 May 2025). "Maeda is SFWA Player of the Year". SFWA.

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