UEFA announced the last three contenders for its Player of the Year trophy on Wednesday and with Kevin De Bruyne, Manuel Neuer or Robert Lewandowski there will be a different winner this year than last season, when Virgil van Dijk took home the prize. was allowed to take. It is also the first time since 2010 that both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are missing from the podium.

The prize is awarded on the basis of the votes of 55 journalists plus the 80 coaches of the clubs who participated in the group stages of the Champions League and the Europa League. After counting all votes, De Bruyne, Lewandowski and Neuer emerged as the three last contenders. Lionel Messi and Neymar ended with an equal number of votes in a shared fourth place. Thomas Müller, Kylian Mbappé, Thiago Alcántara, Joshua Kimmich and Ronaldo complete the top ten.

Bayern Munich is particularly well represented with five players in the top ten and coach Hansi Flick of the Champions League winner can also win prizes. The coach has been nominated as Coach of the Year, together with fellow countrymen Jürgen Klopp and Julian Nagelsmann. The only chance for Dutch success falls in the Attacker of the Year category – as Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema is one of the nominees here. She has to deal with Delphine Cascarino from Olympique Lyon and Pernille Harder, who recently left VfL Wolfsburg for Chelsea.

The final winners will be announced on October 1. In addition to the draw for the group stage of the Champions League, UEFA will also reveal who can call themselves the best player of the past season.

All nominees for the UEFA awards:
Player of the Year: Lewandowski, De Bruyne and Neuer
Player of the Year: Bronze, Harder, Renard
Coach of the Year: Flick, Klopp, Nagelsmann
Coach of the Year for women: Cortés, Lerch, Vasseur
Goalkeeper of the Year: Navas, Neuer, Oblak
Defender of the Year: Alaba, Davies, Kimmich
Midfielder of the Year: De Bruyne, Thomas Müller, Thiago Alcântara
Forward of the Year: Lewandowski, Mbappé, Neymar
Goaless of the Year: Bouhaddi, Endler, Paños
Defender of the Year: Bronze, Goessling, Renard
Midfielder of the Year: Gunnarsdóttir, Marozsán, Popp
Attacker of the Year: Cascarino, Harder, Miedema
Europa League Player of the Year: Banega, Bruno Fernandes, Lukaku