Eden Hazard has been named the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season. The 28-year-old Belgian attacking midfielder beat his former Chelsea club-mate Olivier Giroud and his current Real Madrid teammate Luka Jovi to win the third edition of the award, which was announced during the UEFA Europa League group stage draw on Friday, August 30,
In a judging panel of 48 club coaches and 55 journalists, Hazard finished 221 points ahead of his former Chelsea team-mate Olivier Giroud.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for me and I’d like to wish everybody playing in the Europa League good luck,” said Hazard after winning the award
Hazard was named man of the match as Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in May’s final in Baku after his impressive performance in the competition.
Top-10 Europa League Player of 2018/19.
1. Eden Hazard (Chelsea, now Real Madrid) – 340 points
2. Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) – 119 points
3. Luka Jovic (Eintracht, now Real Madrid) – 94 points
4. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) – 65 points
5. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) – 19 points
6. N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea) – 16 points
7. João Félix (Benfica, now Atlético) – 12 points
8. Willian (Chelsea) – 11 points
9. Pedro Rodríguez (Chelsea) – 9 points
10. Sébastien Haller (Eintracht, now West Ham) – 9 points
In related news, Virgil van Dijk has been named the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year for 2018-19, seeing off competition from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Liverpool defender was crowned at the ceremony for the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday.
Van Dijk kept five clean sheets in 12 appearances as well as scoring two goals and contributing two assists as the Merseyside club lifted the trophy for the sixth time.
That victory in Madrid capped a fine campaign for the former Celtic and Southampton defender, who was also named PFA Players’ Player of the Season as well as Liverpool Players’ and Fans’ Player of the Season.