Haaland was named UEFA's best player, beating Messitudine to set a record for the next Ballon d'Or
At an awards ceremony at UEFA headquarters, Haaland was named UEFA's European Player of the Year for 2022-23, the first time he has received such an important honour in his career and the first Manchester City, Norway and Northern European player in history to do so.
Why was Haaland elected?
In the 2022-23 season, Manchester City won the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, giving City a huge advantage in this selection. Of the top five players, four are from Manchester City: Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Gundogan and Rodri.
Despite being split by his teammates, Haaland was voted the best player as he wished. Haaland was elected for a simple reason, in the words of UEFA's official website: "goals, goals and more." ”
Indeed, in his first season with Manchester City, Haaland broke numerous goal records, scoring 52 goals in 53 appearances. In the Premier League, Haaland won the Golden Boot with 36 goals and broke the Premier League single-season goal record.
In the Champions League, Haaland scored 12 goals in 11 games and also won the Golden Boot. At the same time, Haaland became the fastest and youngest player in Champions League history to score 35 goals.
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During his career, Haaland has been named Footballer of the Year five times (three times for Norway, one time for England and one time for Austria), six times for the Golden Boot and two times named Player of the Season.
However, being voted UEFA's European Player of the Year is the first time Haaland has won a major honour. After beating Mbappe to win this honor, Haaland is one step closer to such supreme honors as the Ballon d'Or and the World Footballer of the Year.
It is worth highlighting that Haaland also became the first Manchester City, Norwegian player and Nordic player to win this honor. After the restructuring, a total of 9 players including Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta were previously selected as UEFA's best European player, and Haaland became the 10th player to receive this honor.
Haaland also became the third Premier League player to receive this honor after the restructuring, and in the first 8 selections after the restructuring, the Premier League player was not elected. However, since Van Dijk's 2018-19 season, Premier League players have been elected three times in five seasons. At the same time, La Liga was only elected in the 2021-22 season, a trend that also reflects the changing status of the Premier League and La Liga.
After receiving the first major honor of his career, Haaland's next goal will be the Ballon d'Or and World Footballer of the Year!