SFWA Footballer of the Year

SFWA Footballer of the Year
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
Presented by	Scottish Football Writers' Association
First award	1965
Final award	202
Footballer of the Year	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. ^[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. 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. ^[3]

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 PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year because the winner of the PFA Scotland award is chosen by his fellow professionals. ^[4]

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. ^[5] The table also indicates where the winning player also won the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year award (SPFA). ^[6] 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. ^[7]

Henrik Larsson won the award twice.

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	Billy McNeill	Celtic		[5]
1965–66	SCO	John Greig	Rangers		[5]
1966–67	SCO	Ronnie Simpson	Celtic		[5]
1967–68	SCO	Gordon Wallace	Raith Rovers		[5]
1968–69	SCO	Bobby Murdoch	Celtic		[5]
1969–70	SCO	Pat Stanton	Hibernian		[5]
1970–71	SCO	Martin Buchan	Aberdeen		[5]
1971–72	SCO	Dave Smith	Rangers		[5]
1972–73	SCO	George Connelly	Celtic		[5]
1973–74	SCO	Scotland World Cup squad	N/A		[5]
1974–75	SCO	Sandy Jardine	Rangers		[5]
1975–76	SCO	John Greig	Rangers		[note 1] [5]
1976–77	SCO	Danny McGrain	Celtic		[5]
1977–78	SCO	Derek Johnstone	Rangers	SPFA	[note 2] [5]
1978–79	SCO	Andy Ritchie	Morton		[5]
1979–80	SCO	Gordon Strachan	Aberdeen		[5]
1980–81	SCO	Alan Rough	Partick Thistle		[5]
1981–82	SCO	Paul Sturrock	Dundee United		[5]
1982–83	SCO	Charlie Nicholas	Celtic	SPFA	[5]
1983–84	SCO	Willie Miller	Aberdeen	SPFA	[8]
1984–85	SCO	Hamish McAlpine	Dundee United		[5]
1985–86	SCO	Sandy Jardine	Heart of Midlothian		[note 3] [5]
1986–87	SCO	Brian McClair	Celtic	SPFA	[5]
1987–88	SCO	Paul McStay	Celtic	SPFA	[9]
1988–89	SCO	Richard Gough	Rangers		[5]
1989–90	SCO	Alex McLeish	Aberdeen		[5]
1990–91	SCO	Maurice Malpas	Dundee United		[5]
1991–92	SCO	Ally McCoist	Rangers	SPFA	[5]
1992–93	SCO	Andy Goram	Rangers	SPFA	[5]
1993–94	ENG	Mark Hateley	Rangers	SPFA	[note 4] [5]
1994–95	DEN	Brian Laudrup	Rangers	SPFA	[note 5] [5]
1995–96	ENG	Paul Gascoigne	Rangers	SPFA	[5]
1996–97	DEN	Brian Laudrup	Rangers		[5]
1997–98	SCO	Craig Burley	Celtic		[5]
1998–99	SWE	Henrik Larsson	Celtic	SPFA	[5]
1999–00	SCO	Barry Ferguson	Rangers		[5]
2000–01	SWE	Henrik Larsson	Celtic	SPFA	[5]
2001–02	SCO	Paul Lambert	Celtic		[5]
2002–03	SCO	Barry Ferguson	Rangers	SPFA	[5]
2003–04	SCO	Jackie McNamara	Celtic		[5]
2004–05	WAL	John Hartson	Celtic	SPFA	[note 6] [5]
2005–06	SCO	Craig Gordon	Heart of Midlothian		[5]
2006–07	JPN	Shunsuke Nakamura	Celtic	SPFA	[note 7] [5]
2007–08	ESP	Carlos Cuéllar	Rangers		[5]
2008–09	SCO	Gary Caldwell	Celtic		[10] [5]
2009–10	SCO	David Weir	Rangers		[11] [5]
2010–11	HON	Emilio Izaguirre	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[12] [5]
2011–12	SCO	Charlie Mulgrew	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[13] [5]
2012–13	SCO	Leigh Griffiths	Hibernian		[7] [5]
2013–14	SCO	Kris Commons	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[14] [5]
2014–15	SCO	Craig Gordon	Celtic		[15] [5]
2015–16	SCO	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[16]
2016–17	ENG	Scott Sinclair	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[17]
2017–18	SCO	Scott Brown	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[5]
2018–19	SCO	James Forrest	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[5]
2019–20	FRA	Odsonne Edouard	Celtic		[18] [19]
2020–21	NIR	Steven Davis	Rangers		[20] [21]
2021–22	SCO	Craig Gordon	Heart of Midlothian		[3]
2022–23	JPN	Kyogo Furuhashi	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[22]
2023–24	SCO	Lawrence Shankland	Heart of Midlothian	PFA Scotland	[23]
2024–25	JPN	Daizen Maeda	Celtic	PFA Scotland	[24]

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

Country	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Scotland	46	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
England	3	1993–94, 1995–96, 2016–17
Japan	3	2006–07, 2022–23, 2024–25
Denmark	2	1994–95, 1996–97
Sweden	2	1998–99, 2000–01
France	1	2019–20
Honduras	1	2010–11
Northern Ireland	1	2020–21
Spain	1	2007–08
Wales	1	2004–05

Winners by club

Club	Number of wins	Winning seasons
Celtic	27	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	17	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	4	1970–71, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90
Heart of Midlothian	4	1985–86, 2005–06, 2021–22, 2023–24
Dundee United	3	1981–82, 1984–85, 1990–91
Hibernian	2	1969–70, 2012–13
Greenock Morton	1	1978–79
Partick Thistle	1	1980–81
Raith Rovers	1	1967–68
Scotland	1	1973–74

See also

• PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year
• PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year
• PFA Scotland Team of the Year
• PFA Players' Player of the Year
• FWA Footballer of the Year
• PFAI Players' Player of the Year
• Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year
• SFWA International Player of the Year
• SFWA Manager of the Year
• SFWA Young Player of the Year

Notes

1. First player to win the award twice.
2. First player to win SFWA and SPFA awards in the same season.
3. First player to win the award twice with two different clubs.
4. First non-Scottish winner.
5. First winner from outside the British Isles
6. Hartson shared the SPFA award with Fernando Ricksen.
7. First winner from outside Europe.

References

1. Neil Cameron (10 April 2008). "I Would Have Voted For Ranger Alan Hutton As Best Player, Reveals Shunsuke Nakamura". Daily Record. Scotland. Retrieved 29 February 2008. 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.
2. Jim Black. "Fifty years of passion and prose". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 11 April 2008.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
3. Collin, Iain (4 May 2022). "Craig Gordon: I wanted to show I could still do it". The Times. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
4. Stuart Lovell (7 April 2008). "Why Aiden should run away with player prize". The Scotsman. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
5. Brown, Alan (19 August 2022). "Scotland – Player of the Year". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
6. Barnes, Stuart (2007). News of the World Football Annual 2007–08. Invincible Press. p. 63. ISBN   978-0-00-725555-9.
7. Forsyth, Roddy (17 May 2013). "Hibs striker Leigh Griffiths nets another accolade". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
8. Paul, Ian (11 May 1984). "McStay up for two awards". Glasgow Herald . p. 9. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
9. "A word in your ear – from one law man to another". Glasgow Herald. 2 May 1988. p. 9. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
10. "Celtic ace Gary Caldwell scoops football writers award". Sunday Mail. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
11. Halliday, Stephen (8 May 2010). "Walter Smith hails player of the year David Weir as 'best professional I have worked with' award". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
12. "More awards for Izaguirre, Goodwillie and Paatelainen". BBC Sport. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
13. "Charlie Mulgrew caps fine season by being named Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year". The Daily Telegraph. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
14. Smith, Andrew (11 May 2014). "Kris Commons voted writers' player of the year". Scotland on Sunday. Archived from the original on 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
15. Halliday, Stephen (20 May 2015). "Craig Gordon named writers' Player of the Year". The Scotsman. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
16. Mullen, Scott (9 May 2016). "Leigh Griffiths named SFWA Player of the Year for second time – and looks for a third". Evening Times. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
17. "Celtic: Scott Sinclair named player of the year by football writers". BBC Sport. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
18. "Shankland, Edouard, McGregor & Morelos in writers' award frame". BBC Sport. BBC. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
19. "King Eddy is our top man". SFWA. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
20. "Rangers quartet nominated for player of the year award". STV Sport. STV. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
21. "Davis crowned Player of the Year". SFWA. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
22. "Kyogo crowned SFWA Player of the Year". scottishfwa.com. SFWA. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
23. "Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland named SFWA Player of the Year". scottishfwa.com. SFWA. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
24. "Maeda is SFWA Player of the Year". scottishfwa.com. SFWA. 16 May 2025. Retrieved 17 May 2025.