Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has been crowned the 2026 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) — narrowly beating Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice to the award.
Fernandes, 31, secured 45 per cent of the votes of the English football media and edged out Rice by just 28 votes to become the first United player to receive the award since Wayne Rooney in 2010.
Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, who won the award in 2023, came third in the voting, while Arsenal’s David Raya, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Magalhães all registered a significant number of votes.
No other United player received a vote in the polling.
Portugal international Fernandes goes into United’s final three Premier League games of the season needing one assist to equal the league’s all-time record of 20 in a season — a record jointly held by former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry and ex-City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.
Fernandes has also registered eight league goals for United this season and been the team’s inspiration as they have overcome the January dismissal of former head coach Ruben Amorim to secure Champions League qualification under Michael Carrick.
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The FWA Footballer of the Year award dates back to 1948 when Sir Stanley Matthews was the first winner of a vote which aims to recognise the player who, “by precept and example is considered to be the footballer of the year.”
Fernandes becomes the tenth United recipient — previous Old Trafford winners include Bobby Charlon, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo — and moves the club to second in the all-time list behind Liverpool, who took their haul to sixteen wins when Mohamed Salah won the award for the third time in 2025.
Manchester City forward Bunny Shaw has won the women’s Footballer of the Year award in a landslide victory after scoring 19 goals in the team’s WSL title win this season.
Jamaica international Shaw, who is expected to leave City when her contract expires this summer, wins the award for the second time after receiving the honour in 2023.
