Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe up for UCL awards; Barcelona lead UWCL nominations
Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe have been shortlisted for the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League awards, while UWCL champions Barcelona lead the women’s nominations with eight players recognised.
Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes were picked alongside Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno for the Europa League Player of the Season award.
Chelsea are well represented on both Champions League lists with five nominations in the men’s category and three in the women’s.
The awards nominate the three best goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards in the European competition.
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Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, who won the award for the 2019-20 season, has also been nominated in the forwards category alongside Haaland and Mbappe.
Haaland scored the most goals in the 2020-21 season with 10 while Mbappe scored eight.
Thibaut Courtois, Ederson and Edouard Mendy have been nominated for the best Champions League goalkeeper while Cesar Azpilicueta, Ruben Dias and Antonio Rudiger get the nod in the defenders category.
Winner of the 2019-20 Midfielder of the Year award Kevin De Bruyne has been nominated again alongside Chelsea’s Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.
Barcelona swept the UWCL forward awards with Caroline Graham Hansen, Jennifer Hermoso and Lieke Martens making the top three.
Hermoso was the tournament’s joint top scorer on six goals with Chelsea’s Fran Kirby while Martens finished one behind on five.
They also had strong representation in the midfielders and defenders category with Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas nominated in the former and Mapi Leon and Irene Paredes nominated in the latter.
Chelsea, who were beaten by Barcelona in the final, make up the rest of the top three with Ji So-yun and captain Magdalena Eriksson.
In the goalkeepers category, Ann-Katrin Berger, Christiane Endler and Sandra Panos were nominated.
The winners of the Champions League awards will be announced during the group stage draw on Aug. 26 while the Europa League winners will be announced on Aug. 27.
Men’s nominees
Goalkeepers
Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid
Ederson, Manchester City
Edouard Mendy, Chelsea
Defenders
Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea
Ruben Dias, Manchester City
Antonio Rudiger, Chelsea
Midfielders
Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City
Jorginho, Chelsea
N’Golo Kante, Chelsea
Forwards
Erling Haaland, Borussia Dortmund
Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain
Robert Lewandowksi, Bayern Munich
Women’s nominees
Goalkeepers
Ann-Katrin Berger, Chelsea Women
Christiane Endler, Paris Saint-Germain, now at Lyon
Sandra Panos, Barcelona
Defenders
Magdalena Eriksson, Chelsea Women
Maria Pilar Leon, Barcelona
Irene Paredes, Barcelona
Midfielders
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Aitana Bonmati, Barcelona
Alexia Putellas, Barcelona
Ji So-yun, Chelsea Women
Forwards
Caroline Graham Hansen, Barcelona
Jennifer Hermoso, Barcelona
Lieke Martens, Barcelona