SFWA Footballer of the Year

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Henrik Larsson has won the award twice.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] The first winner was Celtic's Billy McNeill, and the first non-Scottish winner was Mark Hateley of Rangers in 1994. The latest winner of the award as of 2008 is Carlos Cuellar of Rangers. Five players have won the award on more than one occasion, the most recent being Barry Ferguson, who won his second award in the 2002–03 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.^[2] 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 SPFA Players' Player of the Year, due to the fact that the winner of the SPFA award is chosen by his fellow professionals.^[3]

1 List of winners
2 Breakdown of winners
- 2.1 Winners by country
- 2.2 Winners by club
3 See also
4 References

[edit] List of winners

The award has been presented on 43 occasions as of 2007, with 37 different individual players winning. On one occasion the award was presented collectively to the Scotland national squad.^[4] The table also indicates where the winning player also won the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association's Players' Player of the Year award (SPWA).^[5] No player has ever won the SFWA award and the SPFA Young Player of the Year award in the same season.

Brian McClair won the award in 1987.

Ally McCoist was the 1992 winner.

Shunsuke Nakamura was the 2007 winner.

Season		Player	Club	Also won	Notes
1964–65	SCO	McNeill, BillyBilly McNeill	Celtic
1965–66	SCO	Greig, JohnJohn Greig	Rangers
1966–67	SCO	Simpson, RonnieRonnie Simpson	Celtic
1967–68	SCO	Wallace, GordonGordon Wallace	Raith Rovers
1968–69	SCO	Murdoch, BobbyBobby Murdoch	Celtic
1969–70	SCO	Stanton, PatPat Stanton	Hibernian
1970–71	SCO	Buchan, MartinMartin Buchan	Aberdeen
1971–72	SCO	Smith, DaveDave Smith	Rangers
1972–73	SCO	Connelly, GeorgeGeorge Connelly	Celtic
1973–74	SCO	Scotland World Cup squad
1974–75	SCO	Jardine, SandySandy Jardine	Rangers
1975–76	SCO	Greig, JohnJohn Greig	Rangers		^[6]
1976–77	SCO	McGrain, DannyDanny McGrain	Celtic
1977–78	SCO	Johnstone, DerekDerek Johnstone	Rangers	SPFA	^[7]
1978–79	SCO	Ritchie, AndyAndy Ritchie	Greenock Morton
1979–80	SCO	Strachan, GordonGordon Strachan	Aberdeen
1980–81	SCO	Rough, AlanAlan Rough	Partick Thistle
1981–82	SCO	Sturrock, PaulPaul Sturrock	Dundee United
1982–83	SCO	Nicholas, CharlieCharlie Nicholas	Celtic	SPFA
1983–84	SCO	Miller, WillieWillie Miller	Aberdeen	SPFA
1984–85	SCO	McAlpine, HamishHamish McAlpine	Dundee United
1985–86	SCO	Jardine, SandySandy Jardine	Heart of Midlothian		^[8]
1986–87	SCO	McClair, BrianBrian McClair	Celtic	SPFA
1987–88	SCO	McStay, PaulPaul McStay	Celtic	SPFA
1988–89	SCO	Gough, RichardRichard Gough	Rangers
1989–90	SCO	McLeish, AlexAlex McLeish	Aberdeen
1990–91	SCO	Malpas, MauriceMaurice Malpas	Dundee United
1991–92	SCO	McCoist, AllyAlly McCoist	Rangers	SPFA
1992–93	SCO	Goram, AndyAndy Goram	Rangers	SPFA
1993–94	ENG	Hateley, MarkMark Hateley	Rangers	SPFA	^[9]
1994–95	DEN	Laudrup, BrianBrian Laudrup	Rangers	SPFA	^[10]
1995–96	ENG	Gascoigne, PaulPaul Gascoigne	Rangers	SPFA
1996–97	DEN	Laudrup, BrianBrian Laudrup	Rangers
1997–98	SCO	Burley, CraigCraig Burley	Celtic
1998–99	SWE	Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson	Celtic	SPFA
1999–00	SCO	Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson	Rangers
2000–01	SWE	Larsson, HenrikHenrik Larsson	Celtic	SPFA
2001–02	SCO	Lambert, PaulPaul Lambert	Celtic
2002–03	SCO	Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson	Rangers	SPFA
2003–04	SCO	McNamara, JackieJackie McNamara	Celtic
2004–05	WAL	Hartson, JohnJohn Hartson	Celtic	SPFA^[11]
2005–06	SCO	Gordon, CraigCraig Gordon	Heart of Midlothian
2006–07	JPN	Nakamura, ShunsukeShunsuke Nakamura	Celtic	SPFA	^[12]
2007–08	ESP	Cuellar, CarlosCarlos Cuellar	Rangers

[edit] Breakdown of winners

[edit] Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Scotland	35	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
Sweden	2	1998–99, 2000–01
Denmark	2	1994–95, 1996–97
England	2	1993–94, 1995–96
Spain	1	2007–08
Japan	1	2006–07
Wales	1	2004–05

[edit] Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic	15	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
Rangers	15	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
Aberdeen	4	1970–71, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90
Dundee United	3	1981–82, 1984–85, 1990–91
Heart of Midlothian	2	1985–86, 2005–06
Partick Thistle	1	1980–81
Morton	1	1978–79
Hibernian	1	1979–80
Raith Rovers	1	1967–68

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Neil Cameron (2008-04-10). I Would Have Voted For Ranger Alan Hutton As Best Player, Reveals Shunsuke Nakamura. The Daily Record. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. “We all have opinions about who is the season's best player and a year ago it was Nakamura who came out on top in voting for both the PFA and Football Writers' award.”
^ ^a ^b Jim Black. Fifty years of passion and prose. Sunday Herald. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
^ Stuart Lovell (2008-04-07). Why Aiden should run away with player prize. The Scotsman. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
^ Scotland – Player of the Year. RSSSF (2008-02-06). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
^ Barnes, Stuart (2007). News of the World Football Annual 2007/2008. Invincible Press, p63. ISBN 0-0072-5555-9.
^ First player to win the award twice.
^ First player to win SFWA and SPFA awards in the same season.
^ First player to win the award twice with two different clubs.
^ First non-Scottish winner.
^ First winner from outside the British Isles
^ Hartson shared the SPFA award with Fernando Ricksen.
^ First winner from outside Europe.